Explain ridiculously early 2023/24 start date?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is a calendar from 2022-2023, kids start after labor day get out June 9 and includes 3 snow days. Since FCPS will go virtual on the snow days school would have ended on June 6th. It can be done.

https://www.lehighton.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=1112&dataid=6114&FileName=2022-2023%20School%20Calendar.pdf

The main differences here are teacher contract is only 186 days vs 195. Spring Break is not a full week.

So in order to do this the teacher contract would need to go down and then they all get a pay cut and both winter and SB get shortened.

Most parents want an August start and a 2 week winter break. So do teachers. That will not change. The Labor Day start and shortening winter break people are in the minority.

With that being said, can FCPS make some TWD student days to take a few days off? Yes they can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jesus.

I will explain this in the most simple language. Critical assessments are in May. It's in the students' interest to get as much instruction as possible before that point. Nothing meaningful beyond review and preview happens after critical assessments.

You have to not only teach, but factor in the endless amount of internal pre-assessments (I see you i-ready and Virginia assessments) to make sure the kids are on track. Those take time.

So, logically, moving to a calendar where eventually June and July and a bit of August makes up the summer break is what we end up with. Because the tests are in May.

You can thank the politicians who embraced high stakes testing, the endless AP arms race in public schools, and the general belief that there is no way to hold schools accountable whatsoever without high stakes [bold] annual [bold] tests.

And you're deliberately leaving out all the fluff in the year, even in the AP classes. SIlly group projects and presentations, for example. they don't need nearly a full month added to the front end of the calendar. They just don't. And my kid takes AP classes.

No one wanting an August start is asking for a "full month" added to the front of the school year.

They want a normal school schedule that starts around the 3rd or 4th week of August (what we currently have) that does not drag out into mid or late June with an entire wasted month of classes post SOL/AP exams.

The only people wanting a month added to the calendar, are the school board and people who want to start after labor day so they can get cheaper stays at a resort.

Starting after labor day is what adds a worthless month to the calendar.

Starting in August should mean we are finished at the end of May like a normal school district in the majority of the rest of the country, so high school kids can attend college summer programs, orientations, boys/girls state, naval/air force academy sessions, etc that all occur in June while FCPS is still in session. Everyone leanrs better when schools start in August.

Please see above posts. The schools that are ending around Memorial Day start this week or next. The majority of schools starting 3rd of Last week of August get out 2nd week of June.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Current calendar is fine. Teachers, students, parents, admin, support staff all have opinions. Those opinions differ both between and within each group (especially within parents, it seems). There are valid arguments for/against any of the various components of the calendar. There’s no perfect balancing of these but it seems an earnest effort was made to broadly solicit input.

Just because your personal preferences aren’t reflected in the end result doesn’t mean they weren’t considered… they just also considered others’ preferences as well. The most important thing is making the calendar decisions with enough lead time everyone can plan accordingly. Stop acting like there is a “right answer” to school calendar development and that if you just advocate hard enough you’ll convince people to see things your way and adopt your preferences.

This. You will never find consensus even within the different stakeholders. The school board is taking into account what the Majority want regarding start time and winter break as seen in the survey results. Everyone should stop whining and deal with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate it. One week before Labor Day is fine. Beyond that and you pretty much lose August as a vacation month. Same for June. Beyond 1.5 weeks takes away that month as a vacation month. Plus the water in the pools is colder then. With all the activities starting in August, it makes sense to have 8 weeks free of activities for families to actually have a break from school.

YOU HAVE THREE FULL WEEKS in August to vacate and that isn't enough for you? You can't make a vacation to fit in a three week period? I think that's a planning or mental failure on your part, not a failure of the school calendar.

No school sports are in August

Football already has practice twice a day. If you don’t come you don’t play.

FCPS starts in August with the first day of school on 8/21 and the first football games on 8/25. The other PP's can trash talk football and they want but my kid is in band and they're practicing to be ready by the first half time too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is a calendar from 2022-2023, kids start after labor day get out June 9 and includes 3 snow days. Since FCPS will go virtual on the snow days school would have ended on June 6th. It can be done.

https://www.lehighton.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=1112&dataid=6114&FileName=2022-2023%20School%20Calendar.pdf

Basically the same as the Ohio district I saw that starts September 6 and has a last day of June 6.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is a calendar from 2022-2023, kids start after labor day get out June 9 and includes 3 snow days. Since FCPS will go virtual on the snow days school would have ended on June 6th. It can be done.

https://www.lehighton.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=1112&dataid=6114&FileName=2022-2023%20School%20Calendar.pdf

The main differences here are teacher contract is only 186 days vs 195. Spring Break is not a full week.

So in order to do this the teacher contract would need to go down and then they all get a pay cut and both winter and SB get shortened.

Most parents want an August start and a 2 week winter break. So do teachers. That will not change. The Labor Day start and shortening winter break people are in the minority.

With that being said, can FCPS make some TWD student days to take a few days off? Yes they can.

How about the student days? Are they the same timeframe? The only think I would change with this would be a full week at spring break, maybe an odd day or two change, and starting on the 29th for kids. Why can't we get this done? This creates two more weeks in the summer.

[Anonymous]

The problem is the 11 day winter break and the 9 day spring break. None of you are willing to give those up so keep on blaming other religions instead of Christians.....

[Anonymous]

I would like at least 11 weeks off in the summer. Three of them are already high school activity related. That leaves 8 weeks left.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would like at least 11 weeks off in the summer. Three of them are already high school activity related. That leaves 8 weeks left.

Cool. High school is only 4 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is a calendar from 2022-2023, kids start after labor day get out June 9 and includes 3 snow days. Since FCPS will go virtual on the snow days school would have ended on June 6th. It can be done.

https://www.lehighton.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=1112&dataid=6114&FileName=2022-2023%20School%20Calendar.pdf

The main differences here are teacher contract is only 186 days vs 195. Spring Break is not a full week.

So in order to do this the teacher contract would need to go down and then they all get a pay cut and both winter and SB get shortened.

Most parents want an August start and a 2 week winter break. So do teachers. That will not change. The Labor Day start and shortening winter break people are in the minority.

With that being said, can FCPS make some TWD student days to take a few days off? Yes they can.

How about the student days? Are they the same timeframe? The only think I would change with this would be a full week at spring break, maybe an odd day or two change, and starting on the 29th for kids. Why can't we get this done? This creates two more weeks in the summer.

Longer summers are not beneficial for many students. What is beneficial are breaks throughout the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Current calendar is fine. Teachers, students, parents, admin, support staff all have opinions. Those opinions differ both between and within each group (especially within parents, it seems). There are valid arguments for/against any of the various components of the calendar. There’s no perfect balancing of these but it seems an earnest effort was made to broadly solicit input.

Just because your personal preferences aren’t reflected in the end result doesn’t mean they weren’t considered… they just also considered others’ preferences as well. The most important thing is making the calendar decisions with enough lead time everyone can plan accordingly. Stop acting like there is a “right answer” to school calendar development and that if you just advocate hard enough you’ll convince people to see things your way and adopt your preferences.

But that is exactly what happened last year. Religious groups advocated HARD for their days off in the calendar. They put money and time in and got what they wanted.

Advocating for our preferences is precisely what we should do.

[Anonymous]

The SB did their best, but the survey was flawed. Questions should’ve been worded to have Option A, Option B and No Preference only. Instead, it included “other” (which then encouraged people to write their Option C in there) and “Not Applicable” (which could’ve further diluted the results.)

The average survey receives about a 30% response rate. Totally sus that the teacher response rate was ~75%. I mean, that is great if they really did respond, but even at my large, highly engaged employer we do not get that level of response. Family response was poor and student responses were even poorer (<7%) and should not have been included, as likely the only ones responding were secondary HS kids.

I do not like the calendar, but it is what it is and I’m glad many of the current SB members are not returning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is a calendar from 2022-2023, kids start after labor day get out June 9 and includes 3 snow days. Since FCPS will go virtual on the snow days school would have ended on June 6th. It can be done.

https://www.lehighton.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=1112&dataid=6114&FileName=2022-2023%20School%20Calendar.pdf

Basically the same as the Ohio district I saw that starts September 6 and has a last day of June 6.

Yes, this really isn’t hard. But there isn’t much chance that the leadership at FCPS can handle scheduling, or anything, effectively.

Time for school choice vouchers. Since my taxes are going to pay for education, I would prefer that they are used effectively. Fairfax County does a lot well, fire, police, trash collection, but schools they have been going down hill for 20 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is a calendar from 2022-2023, kids start after labor day get out June 9 and includes 3 snow days. Since FCPS will go virtual on the snow days school would have ended on June 6th. It can be done.

https://www.lehighton.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=1112&dataid=6114&FileName=2022-2023%20School%20Calendar.pdf

Basically the same as the Ohio district I saw that starts September 6 and has a last day of June 6.

Yes, this really isn’t hard. But there isn’t much chance that the leadership at FCPS can handle scheduling, or anything, effectively.

Time for school choice vouchers. Since my taxes are going to pay for education, I would prefer that they are used effectively. Fairfax County does a lot well, fire, police, trash collection, but schools they have been going down hill for 20 years.

Trash collection is private, not a county service, fyi

[Anonymous]

LOL to the PP, "the SB did their best"