FCPS 2018-2019 school calendar?

[Anonymous]

for the 2018-2019 calendar the maximum days for winter break is 10 days.. so thats shorter than this year ( 2017-2018)

FCPS schools proposed 4 calendars.. Option A has schools starting on the 21st of August! be aware of when they vote for this.. probably by January/February

[Anonymous]

Please send letters to the school board. If they do not hear from parents they will make the change they want.. 9 weeks of summer was not okay and now they want to cut two more weeks which will give students a 7 to 8 week summer! Back to back short summers is not in the best interest of our students mental health. Summer breaks all years prior to this year were 11 weeks.

Include all members. They do not listen to each other!

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Springfield: [e-mail]
Sully: [e-mail]
Providence: [e-mail]
Braddock: [e-mail]
Dranesville: [e-mail]
Hunter Mill: [e-mail]
Lee: [e-mail]
Mason District: [e-mail]
Mt. Vernon: [e-mail]
Hunter Mill: [e-mail]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea why they switched to having teachers come back on a Friday for all the options. It is as if they are trying to say "Not only are we not going to pay you until the end of September, but now you get to lose one more weekend of the summer". I think 5 days prior to students starting is sufficient, especially with the students not starting until Tuesday the 28th (that makes 7 workdays before kids start). Starting on a Monday makes much more sense to me, especially since I am a music teacher and only see certain classes on certain days of the week. I will not see my Monday classes until the 3rd week of school. If they are just front loading the teacher workdays, I would much prefer they just reduce our contract by a few days. Having teacher workdays throughout the year is much more productive, IMO.

This is a major concern for me too. As someone who needs daycare for my children once I return to work, those teacher workdays are covered by my monthly SACC payment when they are DURING the school year. When the work days are before the school year, SACC hasn't started yet and now I have to pay for 7 or 8 days of daycare instead of 5. May be insignificant to some people but it's significant to me.

I also find no value in having all the PD frontloaded. I'd much prefer my PD to be during the year.

Agree with all of this. They keep talking about retaining teachers and teacher pay. I end up paying $700 to daycare because we can’t pay for just one day in the week. I don’t need another day to prep for students because it will be filled with meetings where important consultants talk about priorities that have nothing rro do with me. I know it won’t help me get more time setting up my classroom. I’d rather get paid less.

How about a babysitter if you just need one day? Even at $20/hr that's going to be less than $200. Think outside of the box here.

[Anonymous]

Question about the upcoming "vote". I see the note on the FCPS website: https://www.fcps.edu/news/fairfax-county-school-board-consider-2018-19-calendar-starting-school-august-28-2018

Is the vote on 12/14 an up or down on Option D (which is the only option mentioned in the note), or is it a "multiple choice" vote for Options A, B, C, and D?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please send letters to the school board. If they do not hear from parents they will make the change they want.. 9 weeks of summer was not okay and now they want to cut two more weeks which will give students a 7 to 8 week summer! Back to back short summers is not in the best interest of our students mental health. Summer breaks all years prior to this year were 11 weeks.

Include all members. They do not listen to each other!

[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
Springfield: [e-mail]
Sully: [e-mail]
Providence: [e-mail]
Braddock: [e-mail]
Dranesville: [e-mail]
Hunter Mill: [e-mail]
Lee: [e-mail]
Mason District: [e-mail]
Mt. Vernon: [e-mail]
Hunter Mill: [e-mail]

Where are they cutting two more weeks? The earliest proposal has kids going back on the 21st - 4 days earlier than this year. That's 10 weeks of summer.

[Anonymous]

PP has trouble with math. PP also needs to stop shouting and spend 2 hrs listening to the school board discussion on youtube. PP would already know that the school board plans to choose option D. There is not enough support for the other options. They may tinker with Veterans Day on D, but the start date will be option D.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP has trouble with math. PP also needs to stop shouting and spend 2 hrs listening to the school board discussion on youtube. PP would already know that the school board plans to choose option D. There is not enough support for the other options. They may tinker with Veterans Day on D, but the start date will be option D.

Serious Q - do the many veterans in the area think the kids should have off that day? Or do they not care either way?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP has trouble with math. PP also needs to stop shouting and spend 2 hrs listening to the school board discussion on youtube. PP would already know that the school board plans to choose option D. There is not enough support for the other options. They may tinker with Veterans Day on D, but the start date will be option D.

Serious Q - do the many veterans in the area think the kids should have off that day? Or do they not care either way?

I can only speak for my husband who is retired AF and myself. We LOVE having that day off while the kids are IN school! It's a treat! He has gone to school in his uniform in past years to say a little about what he did in the AF. Typically, that is done on the day before. I don't really see a need for more than that. In fact, I don't think having kids out of school on that day creates any "honoring" of Veterans. I think it just makes for trip-planning when it falls on a Mon. or Fri. In that case, it takes the attention away from Veteran-honoring b/c people are thinking of their trips/plans rather than Veterans.

I think it would be better to have school on MLK day as well b/c the kids could be learning about peaceful protests and equality rather than just hanging out at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:for the 2018-2019 calendar the maximum days for winter break is 10 days.. so thats shorter than this year ( 2017-2018)

FCPS schools proposed 4 calendars.. Option A has schools starting on the 21st of August! be aware of when they vote for this.. probably by January/February

There are 11 days of break this year, only 1 day less than the three of the proposed calendars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP has trouble with math. PP also needs to stop shouting and spend 2 hrs listening to the school board discussion on youtube. PP would already know that the school board plans to choose option D. There is not enough support for the other options. They may tinker with Veterans Day on D, but the start date will be option D.

Serious Q - do the many veterans in the area think the kids should have off that day? Or do they not care either way?

I can only speak for my husband who is retired AF and myself. We LOVE having that day off while the kids are IN school! It's a treat! He has gone to school in his uniform in past years to say a little about what he did in the AF. Typically, that is done on the day before. I don't really see a need for more than that. In fact, I don't think having kids out of school on that day creates any "honoring" of Veterans. I think it just makes for trip-planning when it falls on a Mon. or Fri. In that case, it takes the attention away from Veteran-honoring b/c people are thinking of their trips/plans rather than Veterans.

I think it would be better to have school on MLK day as well b/c the kids could be learning about peaceful protests and equality rather than just hanging out at home.

Also, our school has a big activity where the entire school participates and many veterans show up to be honored. I'm not sure if this is at every school, but the kids get much more out of the holiday being in school than being out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP has trouble with math. PP also needs to stop shouting and spend 2 hrs listening to the school board discussion on youtube. PP would already know that the school board plans to choose option D. There is not enough support for the other options. They may tinker with Veterans Day on D, but the start date will be option D.

Serious Q - do the many veterans in the area think the kids should have off that day? Or do they not care either way?

I can only speak for my husband who is retired AF and myself. We LOVE having that day off while the kids are IN school! It's a treat! He has gone to school in his uniform in past years to say a little about what he did in the AF. Typically, that is done on the day before. I don't really see a need for more than that. In fact, I don't think having kids out of school on that day creates any "honoring" of Veterans. I think it just makes for trip-planning when it falls on a Mon. or Fri. In that case, it takes the attention away from Veteran-honoring b/c people are thinking of their trips/plans rather than Veterans.

I think it would be better to have school on MLK day as well b/c the kids could be learning about peaceful protests and equality rather than just hanging out at home.

Not a veteran but agree with this 100%.

[Anonymous]

There are 6 - 3hour early release days in option D! Why? Just let the kids out of school earlier in June.

It is my understanding that none of the options A,B, C or D are off the table for discussing

[Anonymous]

There are 6 - 3hour early release days in option D! Why? Just let the kids out of school earlier in June.

It is my understanding that none of the options A,B, C or D are off the table for discussion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are 6 - 3hour early release days in option D! Why? Just let the kids out of school earlier in June.

It is my understanding that none of the options A,B, C or D are off the table for discussion.

Because teachers need time INSIDE the school year for grading, planning and professional learning. Everything can’t happen during the scheduled planning time each day. There are some days where I barely eat my lunch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are 6 - 3hour early release days in option D! Why? Just let the kids out of school earlier in June.

It is my understanding that none of the options A,B, C or D are off the table for discussion.

The 3 hour early release days don't keep them in school any longer. Full day, 2 hour early release, or 3 hour early release, they still count as one of the 180.