2023 - 2024 school calendar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Theres a calendar on there that has winter break starting on Dec 24th. Hard pass.

It's on brand for the school board to drop 2 week Christmas break when Christmas is finally going to fall on a day of the week that would justify it.

[Anonymous]

Is the idea that whichever calendar they adopt will be the pattern for the next few years? Will they specify how many years?

I'm a purple fan if I have to pick one!

[Anonymous]

Purple is pretty good - starts 2 weeks before labor day and still ends June 13 for students.

2 week winter break, good long weekends (October, January, February, and April).

What do people not like about that one?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:What’s wrong with starting 12/24? That’s what FCPS used to do.

Ick-NO!

Just how long do Christians need off for their holiday? They already get two weeks!

There’s also New Years in there. But I don’t think it’s even completely about the holidays, I think it’s also about the break itself. Personally I like having a mid-year (well, almost) break for teachers & kids, but I understand maybe others do not.

Then give 2-3 days off for Christmas and give a longer break at the end of the Semester when it makes the most sense. I hate having random weeks off right before the end of the quarter, it's so stupid and is absolutely not how the rest of the world does it. Even in Christian-centric countries.

This is actually false. Most European countries have more days in their school year and start way earlier. They end the semester with Christmas break. New semester starts in January.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:All the options suck but esp the one that goes way late into June. No way!

Look at the calendar. It doesn’t actually go to the end of June for students. The last week is a fake week with Monday AND Wednesday off. Students will be done by June 14th.

It does screw over teachers who work over the summer. It pushes out their last day of work by 6 days.

I will quit. 100%. I’m already getting fed up, and they keep adding days. One of the benefits of teaching is having that break during the summer, and if they keep adding on days to each end of it, I’m done. I’ve had enough of the meetings and the professional development. Enough.

I don't think I want my child to have a teacher who doesn't see the value in professional development.

DP
Well, the PD needs to be valuable. Sometimes it is, often it is not.

To the other PP, in my 30 years of teaching our contract was 194 days until this year when they added a day. I do agree though that I do not like starting at the end of the second week of August and ending June 20.

Welcome to adulthood. I'm not sure why teachers -who I generally support- say things like this as if they should be exempt from things other professions have.

The PP wrote, “ I don't think I want my child to have a teacher who doesn't see the value in professional development”. Don’t we all value PD that is worthwhile? I wasn’t saying we should be exempt from it, but I understand the frustration that comes from breaking up a week of school to attend PD that is indeed, not valuable.

I am a teacher and find most PD unnecessary. I’d much rather have one day for report cards and any extra time to work in my room. Everything FCPS makes us do is to check the box and make us look like we are forward thinking and equitable.

This!!!!
ES Teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Purple is pretty good - starts 2 weeks before labor day and still ends June 13 for students.

2 week winter break, good long weekends (October, January, February, and April).

What do people not like about that one?

I like purple too. But I would say a lot of people do not like having 177 school days instead of 180.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:All the options suck but esp the one that goes way late into June. No way!

Look at the calendar. It doesn’t actually go to the end of June for students. The last week is a fake week with Monday AND Wednesday off. Students will be done by June 14th.

It does screw over teachers who work over the summer. It pushes out their last day of work by 6 days.

I will quit. 100%. I’m already getting fed up, and they keep adding days. One of the benefits of teaching is having that break during the summer, and if they keep adding on days to each end of it, I’m done. I’ve had enough of the meetings and the professional development. Enough.

I don't think I want my child to have a teacher who doesn't see the value in professional development.

DP
Well, the PD needs to be valuable. Sometimes it is, often it is not.

To the other PP, in my 30 years of teaching our contract was 194 days until this year when they added a day. I do agree though that I do not like starting at the end of the second week of August and ending June 20.

Welcome to adulthood. I'm not sure why teachers -who I generally support- say things like this as if they should be exempt from things other professions have.

The PP wrote, “ I don't think I want my child to have a teacher who doesn't see the value in professional development”. Don’t we all value PD that is worthwhile? I wasn’t saying we should be exempt from it, but I understand the frustration that comes from breaking up a week of school to attend PD that is indeed, not valuable.

I am a teacher and find most PD unnecessary. I’d much rather have one day for report cards and any extra time to work in my room. Everything FCPS makes us do is to check the box and make us look like we are forward thinking and equitable.

This!!!!
ES Teacher

+1. The number of teacher workdays in the purple calendar is insane. If they were actual workdays, it would lighten the load, but anyone who has worked for fcps knows that they won’t be. It will be more meaningless training that I’ll sit in while making lists in my head of all the actually productive things I could be doing. It is insane that we’d be going down to 177 student days, starting two weeks before Labor Day, and still getting out several days after FCPS got out in the early 2000s when we started after Labor Day and had 3 built in snow days, giving us 183 instructional days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Jewish community was very outspoken avout needing their holidays off. They said absence data didn’t demonstrate the full need because many of their kids went to school anyway because they didn’t want to miss instruction.

I’m Indian American and we do not need Diwali off! There’s nothing that needs to be done during the day on Diwali. When I was a kid, we just celebrated on the closest weekend. Wasn’t an issue at all. But there were reps from the Indian community on the calendar committee and they seem to have a different opinion.

Funny! I'm originally from Mexico where everyone goes to school during Day of the Dead yet it was an O day last year. I was wondering where the Latino rep who proposed that came from.

It's not coming from parents/students/teacher who want it. These crazy holidays/O days are being scraped together by certain factions on the Board to "justify" giving religious holidays to certain preferred groups. They have to camouflage that by finding something -- anything -- to create a holiday for the other racial/cultural groups. They don't really care about Day of the Dead and Latino culture! They just want cover for submitting to other religious holidays.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:All the options suck but esp the one that goes way late into June. No way!

Look at the calendar. It doesn’t actually go to the end of June for students. The last week is a fake week with Monday AND Wednesday off. Students will be done by June 14th.

It does screw over teachers who work over the summer. It pushes out their last day of work by 6 days.

I will quit. 100%. I’m already getting fed up, and they keep adding days. One of the benefits of teaching is having that break during the summer, and if they keep adding on days to each end of it, I’m done. I’ve had enough of the meetings and the professional development. Enough.

I don't think I want my child to have a teacher who doesn't see the value in professional development.

DP
Well, the PD needs to be valuable. Sometimes it is, often it is not.

To the other PP, in my 30 years of teaching our contract was 194 days until this year when they added a day. I do agree though that I do not like starting at the end of the second week of August and ending June 20.

Welcome to adulthood. I'm not sure why teachers -who I generally support- say things like this as if they should be exempt from things other professions have.

The PP wrote, “ I don't think I want my child to have a teacher who doesn't see the value in professional development”. Don’t we all value PD that is worthwhile? I wasn’t saying we should be exempt from it, but I understand the frustration that comes from breaking up a week of school to attend PD that is indeed, not valuable.

I am a teacher and find most PD unnecessary. I’d much rather have one day for report cards and any extra time to work in my room. Everything FCPS makes us do is to check the box and make us look like we are forward thinking and equitable.

This!!!!
ES Teacher

+1. The number of teacher workdays in the purple calendar is insane. If they were actual workdays, it would lighten the load, but anyone who has worked for fcps knows that they won’t be. It will be more meaningless training that I’ll sit in while making lists in my head of all the actually productive things I could be doing. It is insane that we’d be going down to 177 student days, starting two weeks before Labor Day, and still getting out several days after FCPS got out in the early 2000s when we started after Labor Day and had 3 built in snow days, giving us 183 instructional days.

Yes I am crawling out of my skin with anxiety over all the things I could be doing.

[Anonymous]

Just remove all religious holidays and the O days from the calendar. If you want religious holidays, go to a private school.

It's that simple.

Bring back a rational school calendar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s wrong with starting 12/24? That’s what FCPS used to do.

Ick-NO!

You must be, ew, Christian.

I don’t think it is the Christian’s who want the 2 weeks off—it is the out of area travelers.

For the rest of us who do not have $🤑🤑, 🤑🤑🤑 to blow on a Christmas vacation getaway—we’d be fine getting out 12/24 and returning 1/2.

Yep bending to the whim of people who need their two week Euro and/or ski vacation. Immigrant families would prefer a longer spring break or a long break in January or February when it's cheaper to travel.

Those of us who want 2 weeks off aren’t all rich. Some of us drive across the US to be with family this one time a year. We need the two weeks for the extra travel days,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just remove all religious holidays and the O days from the calendar. If you want religious holidays, go to a private school.

It's that simple.

Bring back a rational school calendar.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just remove all religious holidays and the O days from the calendar. If you want religious holidays, go to a private school.

It's that simple.

Bring back a rational school calendar.

Even Christmas? Christmas is a religious holiday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just remove all religious holidays and the O days from the calendar. If you want religious holidays, go to a private school.

It's that simple.

Bring back a rational school calendar.

The issue is not the religious holidays. Most parents would be fine with them if other days such as Columbus Day and Veteran Day were school days. If they made those two school days and got rid of a few extra PD days, most people wouldn’t be upset. It is the fact that nothing was exchanged for these new holidays.

[Anonymous]

I thought purple at first, but the more I look at it, I think green is best overall. You get out late in June, but most of the families I know what family time in August rather than June. Anyone who does swim can't travel til August and that's just not enough time starting mid-month.