Why did FCPS screw up on Diwali?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Exactly. The calendar is now out literally years in advance. AND the number of school days is state mandated and observed, it's just that less days off are clustered in summer break. I wish people would stop freaking out and make a plan.

You can in fact have a plan and want to change a poor system. They aren't mutually exclusive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Exactly. The calendar is now out literally years in advance. AND the number of school days is state mandated and observed, it's just that less days off are clustered in summer break. I wish people would stop freaking out and make a plan.

Ask teachers if multiple random days off are conducive to learning.

[Anonymous]

All of these complainers will change their minds once their kids are in secondary school. My kids (and everyone I know) love these days off. High school is hard, especially with sports. They have a ton of work. A day to catch up, sleep, work on college applications, see friends, etc. etc. is very welcome at that age.

And, we get to make people in our community feel more included? Win win.

FCPS used to release the calendars late. I understood the frustration then. Now, if you didn't take the time to plan for this, it's on you. Get more organized and plan ahead.

[Anonymous]

I have known about this Calendar for a few years. It still doesn't change the fact it is a dumb Calendar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of these complainers will change their minds once their kids are in secondary school. My kids (and everyone I know) love these days off. High school is hard, especially with sports. They have a ton of work. A day to catch up, sleep, work on college applications, see friends, etc. etc. is very welcome at that age.

And, we get to make people in our community feel more included? Win win.

FCPS used to release the calendars late. I understood the frustration then. Now, if you didn't take the time to plan for this, it's on you. Get more organized and plan ahead.

My kids are in high school and I want them in school.

Couldn't care less about inclusion.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I thought this was why they created 0 days, so kids who want to take off the day to celebrate a religious holiday wouldn't miss any new material at school. The way they're doing the calendar these days makes no sense at all.

We should also not have an easter "spring" break.

Yes, the practicing Christians and Catholics agree that spring break should not be Easter Holy Week.

Unfortunately, every school district in northern Virginia schedules spring break during Holy Week, so when FCPS tried to move it away from Holy Week, it caused a lot of childcare issues for teachers and staff who live in other counties.

Don't blame the Christians for spring break being on Holy Week. We would prefer it to fall away from Holy Week and just be scheduled at the end of the quarter.

I mean I don't know why you're blaming Hindus for Diwali. We didn't ask for this day off, FCPS just gave it to us. Ask any Hindu family you know and they will tell you that they would much prefer their child to be in school on Diwali. I guarantee it.

Every Hindu family I know is happy about it. I'm not Hindu myself, but our family also enjoys all these days off - nice to catch up on schoolwork and sleep. Our younger one can't stay home alone. We plan ahead with a few other families and it ends up being a fun day for them as well. I prefer a shorter summer. No downside for us. I'm happy for everyone to have whatever days off they want. I can't imagine getting upset about this.

+1 I don't know why there's some people here think they have the knowledge to speak for all families who celebrate Diwali. We're happy about having the holidays, just as we're happy that there are days off for Rosh Hashanah, Eid etc.

Right, but you didn't ask for the day off, did you? Like this day off did not stem from a group of people actively lobbying for it, it was just given to us.

What’s your point? I actually do believe people lobbied for it here after some other districts were off for Diwali. And good they did. A good portion of the Asian population here is South Asian, most of whom are Hindu. I love how inclusive Fairfax is and really cannot understand being angry about this. I really don’t hear about people upset about this in real life, just here.

You should get our of your bubble. And educating students should take priority over being "inclusive*.

They’re being educated the same amount of time! If you are so worried about that, you should lobby for year-round school. So much brain drain after summer. A day here or there doesn’t matter. I’m not in a bubble. I’m talking about my school, my community, my county.

DP

Ok so lets agree that the number of educational hours in a year is the same under any system. Do kids learn more/better with a ton of random breaks, including mid school week or with regular 5 day weeks? There's studies with 4 day weeks but random days off?

How the heck is any working family supposed to be able to take care of kids on random days off?

. The calendar came out ages ago. This was not a surprise. There was plenty of time to plan.

They added 2 new days at the start of the year, that was a surprise

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we had school on the religious holidays celebrated by a high percentage of the population you know that means all the teachers will be out too? You need teachers, staff, bus drivers to have a school day.

Finding subs is part of the challenge.

This is also part of why MoCo has always had Jewish holidays off. Higher percentage Jewish population in county means more teachers are Jewish and would be out.

It’s not about religion. It’s about staffing.

Correct. And the evidence showed there were no staffing issues in FCPS on any of these religious holidays.

I'm not sure that we saw any definitive proof of that. They released data about absences, but I don't recall seeing it by job category, which is what really matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we had school on the religious holidays celebrated by a high percentage of the population you know that means all the teachers will be out too? You need teachers, staff, bus drivers to have a school day.

Finding subs is part of the challenge.

This is also part of why MoCo has always had Jewish holidays off. Higher percentage Jewish population in county means more teachers are Jewish and would be out.

It’s not about religion. It’s about staffing.

Correct. And the evidence showed there were no staffing issues in FCPS on any of these religious holidays.

I'm not sure that we saw any definitive proof of that. They released data about absences, but I don't recall seeing it by job category, which is what really matters.

It just really doesn’t matter. No one is going to waste their time researching this to the ends of the earth. The kids are in school the same amount of time. You could have spent all the time you spent on this thread lining up childcare. Relax.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we had school on the religious holidays celebrated by a high percentage of the population you know that means all the teachers will be out too? You need teachers, staff, bus drivers to have a school day.

Finding subs is part of the challenge.

This is also part of why MoCo has always had Jewish holidays off. Higher percentage Jewish population in county means more teachers are Jewish and would be out.

It’s not about religion. It’s about staffing.

Correct. And the evidence showed there were no staffing issues in FCPS on any of these religious holidays.

I'm not sure that we saw any definitive proof of that. They released data about absences, but I don't recall seeing it by job category, which is what really matters.

It didn't matter because other random days had higher staffing shortages. It didn't support the argument for adding religious holidays at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we had school on the religious holidays celebrated by a high percentage of the population you know that means all the teachers will be out too? You need teachers, staff, bus drivers to have a school day.

Finding subs is part of the challenge.

This is also part of why MoCo has always had Jewish holidays off. Higher percentage Jewish population in county means more teachers are Jewish and would be out.

It’s not about religion. It’s about staffing.

Correct. And the evidence showed there were no staffing issues in FCPS on any of these religious holidays.

I'm not sure that we saw any definitive proof of that. They released data about absences, but I don't recall seeing it by job category, which is what really matters.

It just really doesn’t matter. No one is going to waste their time researching this to the ends of the earth. The kids are in school the same amount of time. You could have spent all the time you spent on this thread lining up childcare. Relax.

Thanks for missing the point. A consistent schedule is better for learning. And the days in June are a complete waste of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we had school on the religious holidays celebrated by a high percentage of the population you know that means all the teachers will be out too? You need teachers, staff, bus drivers to have a school day.

Finding subs is part of the challenge.

This is also part of why MoCo has always had Jewish holidays off. Higher percentage Jewish population in county means more teachers are Jewish and would be out.

It’s not about religion. It’s about staffing.

Correct. And the evidence showed there were no staffing issues in FCPS on any of these religious holidays.

I'm not sure that we saw any definitive proof of that. They released data about absences, but I don't recall seeing it by job category, which is what really matters.

It just really doesn’t matter. No one is going to waste their time researching this to the ends of the earth. The kids are in school the same amount of time. You could have spent all the time you spent on this thread lining up childcare. Relax.

Thanks for missing the point. A consistent schedule is better for learning. And the days in June are a complete waste of time.

Nope, you missed the point. And clearly, most people agree or we would have heard about it IRL. Not the case, thankfully. Perhaps you’ll get more traction on whatever other topic you’re internally raging about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of these complainers will change their minds once their kids are in secondary school. My kids (and everyone I know) love these days off. High school is hard, especially with sports. They have a ton of work. A day to catch up, sleep, work on college applications, see friends, etc. etc. is very welcome at that age.

And, we get to make people in our community feel more included? Win win.

FCPS used to release the calendars late. I understood the frustration then. Now, if you didn't take the time to plan for this, it's on you. Get more organized and plan ahead.

When my 13 and 16 kids got Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, both of them told me how they really appreciated the "Indians". I had to correct them to thank the Jews. When they got Diwali off, the 16-year old thanked the Indians in his best Indian accent, clearly immitating a call center.

If the point of these observances were foster some sort of inclusion and/or cultural awareness, that didn't happen with my kids.

Also, on the days they get off, they still have practices with their club teams. They have more days of practice with their club team than does FCPS have for school. So there's that for priorities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of these complainers will change their minds once their kids are in secondary school. My kids (and everyone I know) love these days off. High school is hard, especially with sports. They have a ton of work. A day to catch up, sleep, work on college applications, see friends, etc. etc. is very welcome at that age.

And, we get to make people in our community feel more included? Win win.

FCPS used to release the calendars late. I understood the frustration then. Now, if you didn't take the time to plan for this, it's on you. Get more organized and plan ahead.

When my 13 and 16 kids got Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, both of them told me how they really appreciated the "Indians". I had to correct them to thank the Jews. When they got Diwali off, the 16-year old thanked the Indians in his best Indian accent, clearly immitating a call center.

If the point of these observances were foster some sort of inclusion and/or cultural awareness, that didn't happen with my kids.

Also, on the days they get off, they still have practices with their club teams. They have more days of practice with their club team than does FCPS have for school. So there's that for priorities.

Sounds more like poor parenting than poor school priorities. So, there's that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of these complainers will change their minds once their kids are in secondary school. My kids (and everyone I know) love these days off. High school is hard, especially with sports. They have a ton of work. A day to catch up, sleep, work on college applications, see friends, etc. etc. is very welcome at that age.

And, we get to make people in our community feel more included? Win win.

FCPS used to release the calendars late. I understood the frustration then. Now, if you didn't take the time to plan for this, it's on you. Get more organized and plan ahead.

When my 13 and 16 kids got Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, both of them told me how they really appreciated the "Indians". I had to correct them to thank the Jews. When they got Diwali off, the 16-year old thanked the Indians in his best Indian accent, clearly immitating a call center.

If the point of these observances were foster some sort of inclusion and/or cultural awareness, that didn't happen with my kids.

Also, on the days they get off, they still have practices with their club teams. They have more days of practice with their club team than does FCPS have for school. So there's that for priorities.

Sounds more like poor parenting than poor school priorities. So, there's that.

not the PP, but what was poor parenting? that the parent needs to explain each of the observances?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of these complainers will change their minds once their kids are in secondary school. My kids (and everyone I know) love these days off. High school is hard, especially with sports. They have a ton of work. A day to catch up, sleep, work on college applications, see friends, etc. etc. is very welcome at that age.

And, we get to make people in our community feel more included? Win win.

FCPS used to release the calendars late. I understood the frustration then. Now, if you didn't take the time to plan for this, it's on you. Get more organized and plan ahead.

When my 13 and 16 kids got Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, both of them told me how they really appreciated the "Indians". I had to correct them to thank the Jews. When they got Diwali off, the 16-year old thanked the Indians in his best Indian accent, clearly immitating a call center.

If the point of these observances were foster some sort of inclusion and/or cultural awareness, that didn't happen with my kids.

Also, on the days they get off, they still have practices with their club teams. They have more days of practice with their club team than does FCPS have for school. So there's that for priorities.

Sounds more like poor parenting than poor school priorities. So, there's that.

not the PP, but what was poor parenting? that the parent needs to explain each of the observances?

No. The first example was whatever, they didn’t know which holiday. But my kids know not to make fun of accents and certainly not to me. Wow, that household sounds like it has bigger issues.