latest calendar survey

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't like the calendar this year at all.

Some of it was outside of the school's control. The snowcrete never-ending closure was an anomaly that frustrated me, but I can't really blame on FCPS. This was the second year in a row of pretty bad snow and the county has got to develop a better plan to clear it if snow is going to be a more regular occurrence in our region. The closures for special elections were also frustrating. I appreciated that they at least tried to combine them with TWs, but they just felt like one more thing on top of a bad situation.

Overall, though, there were entirely too many TWs/SPs. Do teachers really need 2.5 days at the end of every quarter? On top of that, as an elementary parent, we had these completely unjustified monthly half-days. I was annoyed last year when they introduced them to help teachers learn a last-minute new curriculum, but at least there was a reason for them. This year they just...decided to keep them for fun?

I really don't mind a few extra student holidays to allow minority religion families to celebrate some of their major holidays. Part of what I like about living in Fairfax is how diverse it is and I liked that the days off prompted my kid to ask why and learn a little bit about Yom Kippur and Ramadan and Diwali, in addition to Christmas and Easter. It doesn't cover every holiday, nor is that feasible, but I like the message that it sends. And since sometimes those holidays fall on weekends or over the summer, I would leave them alone. This year happened to fall a lot mid-week and was exacerbated by the other closures, but generally-speaking, if we reigned in the TWs and monthly half-days, I think the calendar could be a lot better without having to throw holidays under the bus.

Were there more TW/SP days though? Teachers have had 195 day contracts for years. 5 or 6 TW days fall before school starts and 1 or 2 fall after it ends. The rest fall somewhere in between.

I’d be ok with eliminating the early release days, but I think a TW should occur around the time 4th quarter grades are due (now).

ES Teacher

There was a TW the day after Memorial Day but I’m sure most teachers actually used it for vacation.

That was too early to start the kids still had lots of graded work to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't like the calendar this year at all.

Some of it was outside of the school's control. The snowcrete never-ending closure was an anomaly that frustrated me, but I can't really blame on FCPS. This was the second year in a row of pretty bad snow and the county has got to develop a better plan to clear it if snow is going to be a more regular occurrence in our region. The closures for special elections were also frustrating. I appreciated that they at least tried to combine them with TWs, but they just felt like one more thing on top of a bad situation.

Overall, though, there were entirely too many TWs/SPs. Do teachers really need 2.5 days at the end of every quarter? On top of that, as an elementary parent, we had these completely unjustified monthly half-days. I was annoyed last year when they introduced them to help teachers learn a last-minute new curriculum, but at least there was a reason for them. This year they just...decided to keep them for fun?

I really don't mind a few extra student holidays to allow minority religion families to celebrate some of their major holidays. Part of what I like about living in Fairfax is how diverse it is and I liked that the days off prompted my kid to ask why and learn a little bit about Yom Kippur and Ramadan and Diwali, in addition to Christmas and Easter. It doesn't cover every holiday, nor is that feasible, but I like the message that it sends. And since sometimes those holidays fall on weekends or over the summer, I would leave them alone. This year happened to fall a lot mid-week and was exacerbated by the other closures, but generally-speaking, if we reigned in the TWs and monthly half-days, I think the calendar could be a lot better without having to throw holidays under the bus.

Were there more TW/SP days though? Teachers have had 195 day contracts for years. 5 or 6 TW days fall before school starts and 1 or 2 fall after it ends. The rest fall somewhere in between.

I’d be ok with eliminating the early release days, but I think a TW should occur around the time 4th quarter grades are due (now).

ES Teacher

There was a TW the day after Memorial Day but I’m sure most teachers actually used it for vacation.

That was too early to start the kids still had lots of graded work to do.

That is what the afternoon of the 17th and the TW day on the 18th are (supposedly) for. Of course, if you’re trying to takeoff early, that’s not a convenient day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't like the calendar this year at all.

Some of it was outside of the school's control. The snowcrete never-ending closure was an anomaly that frustrated me, but I can't really blame on FCPS. This was the second year in a row of pretty bad snow and the county has got to develop a better plan to clear it if snow is going to be a more regular occurrence in our region. The closures for special elections were also frustrating. I appreciated that they at least tried to combine them with TWs, but they just felt like one more thing on top of a bad situation.

Overall, though, there were entirely too many TWs/SPs. Do teachers really need 2.5 days at the end of every quarter? On top of that, as an elementary parent, we had these completely unjustified monthly half-days. I was annoyed last year when they introduced them to help teachers learn a last-minute new curriculum, but at least there was a reason for them. This year they just...decided to keep them for fun?

I really don't mind a few extra student holidays to allow minority religion families to celebrate some of their major holidays. Part of what I like about living in Fairfax is how diverse it is and I liked that the days off prompted my kid to ask why and learn a little bit about Yom Kippur and Ramadan and Diwali, in addition to Christmas and Easter. It doesn't cover every holiday, nor is that feasible, but I like the message that it sends. And since sometimes those holidays fall on weekends or over the summer, I would leave them alone. This year happened to fall a lot mid-week and was exacerbated by the other closures, but generally-speaking, if we reigned in the TWs and monthly half-days, I think the calendar could be a lot better without having to throw holidays under the bus.

Were there more TW/SP days though? Teachers have had 195 day contracts for years. 5 or 6 TW days fall before school starts and 1 or 2 fall after it ends. The rest fall somewhere in between.

I’d be ok with eliminating the early release days, but I think a TW should occur around the time 4th quarter grades are due (now).

ES Teacher

+1 I just took a personal day to write report cards so I could write comments and actually them and think about the kids and their work. I worked from 5:30am- 2:30 with a few breaks. I guess they don’t mind subs at the end of the year?

I don’t think people realize how long it takes to complete ES Progress Reports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't like the calendar this year at all.

Some of it was outside of the school's control. The snowcrete never-ending closure was an anomaly that frustrated me, but I can't really blame on FCPS. This was the second year in a row of pretty bad snow and the county has got to develop a better plan to clear it if snow is going to be a more regular occurrence in our region. The closures for special elections were also frustrating. I appreciated that they at least tried to combine them with TWs, but they just felt like one more thing on top of a bad situation.

Overall, though, there were entirely too many TWs/SPs. Do teachers really need 2.5 days at the end of every quarter? On top of that, as an elementary parent, we had these completely unjustified monthly half-days. I was annoyed last year when they introduced them to help teachers learn a last-minute new curriculum, but at least there was a reason for them. This year they just...decided to keep them for fun?

I really don't mind a few extra student holidays to allow minority religion families to celebrate some of their major holidays. Part of what I like about living in Fairfax is how diverse it is and I liked that the days off prompted my kid to ask why and learn a little bit about Yom Kippur and Ramadan and Diwali, in addition to Christmas and Easter. It doesn't cover every holiday, nor is that feasible, but I like the message that it sends. And since sometimes those holidays fall on weekends or over the summer, I would leave them alone. This year happened to fall a lot mid-week and was exacerbated by the other closures, but generally-speaking, if we reigned in the TWs and monthly half-days, I think the calendar could be a lot better without having to throw holidays under the bus.

Were there more TW/SP days though? Teachers have had 195 day contracts for years. 5 or 6 TW days fall before school starts and 1 or 2 fall after it ends. The rest fall somewhere in between.

I’d be ok with eliminating the early release days, but I think a TW should occur around the time 4th quarter grades are due (now).

ES Teacher

There was a TW the day after Memorial Day but I’m sure most teachers actually used it for vacation.

That was too early to start the kids still had lots of graded work to do.

That is what the afternoon of the 17th and the TW day on the 18th are (supposedly) for. Of course, if you’re trying to takeoff early, that’s not a convenient day.

What? You can’t work on grades after they are sent home. Progress Reports are sent home with the students in the last day of school. Grades are due a week or so before that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn't like the calendar this year at all.

Some of it was outside of the school's control. The snowcrete never-ending closure was an anomaly that frustrated me, but I can't really blame on FCPS. This was the second year in a row of pretty bad snow and the county has got to develop a better plan to clear it if snow is going to be a more regular occurrence in our region. The closures for special elections were also frustrating. I appreciated that they at least tried to combine them with TWs, but they just felt like one more thing on top of a bad situation.

Overall, though, there were entirely too many TWs/SPs. Do teachers really need 2.5 days at the end of every quarter? On top of that, as an elementary parent, we had these completely unjustified monthly half-days. I was annoyed last year when they introduced them to help teachers learn a last-minute new curriculum, but at least there was a reason for them. This year they just...decided to keep them for fun?

I really don't mind a few extra student holidays to allow minority religion families to celebrate some of their major holidays. Part of what I like about living in Fairfax is how diverse it is and I liked that the days off prompted my kid to ask why and learn a little bit about Yom Kippur and Ramadan and Diwali, in addition to Christmas and Easter. It doesn't cover every holiday, nor is that feasible, but I like the message that it sends. And since sometimes those holidays fall on weekends or over the summer, I would leave them alone. This year happened to fall a lot mid-week and was exacerbated by the other closures, but generally-speaking, if we reigned in the TWs and monthly half-days, I think the calendar could be a lot better without having to throw holidays under the bus.

Several of the holidays, such as the buddhist and orthodox holidays, were for religious populations of less than 3% in fairfax county. Those extra holidays should have been school days, with excused absences for the 2-3 students from that faith tradition.

Chinese new year should have been a school day, not a day off. That is not a US holiday and certainly not celebrated in any significant way in the DC area.

Day of the Dead/Ash Wednesday should have been a school day. Yes, there are a ton of Catholics and people with Mexican ancestry in the diatrict, but Day of the Dead is not a US holiday, and we Catholics have like 10 different Mass options that day. Catholic schools don't even take off for Ash Wednesday. Both these holidays are unnecessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't like the calendar this year at all.

Some of it was outside of the school's control. The snowcrete never-ending closure was an anomaly that frustrated me, but I can't really blame on FCPS. This was the second year in a row of pretty bad snow and the county has got to develop a better plan to clear it if snow is going to be a more regular occurrence in our region. The closures for special elections were also frustrating. I appreciated that they at least tried to combine them with TWs, but they just felt like one more thing on top of a bad situation.

Overall, though, there were entirely too many TWs/SPs. Do teachers really need 2.5 days at the end of every quarter? On top of that, as an elementary parent, we had these completely unjustified monthly half-days. I was annoyed last year when they introduced them to help teachers learn a last-minute new curriculum, but at least there was a reason for them. This year they just...decided to keep them for fun?

I really don't mind a few extra student holidays to allow minority religion families to celebrate some of their major holidays. Part of what I like about living in Fairfax is how diverse it is and I liked that the days off prompted my kid to ask why and learn a little bit about Yom Kippur and Ramadan and Diwali, in addition to Christmas and Easter. It doesn't cover every holiday, nor is that feasible, but I like the message that it sends. And since sometimes those holidays fall on weekends or over the summer, I would leave them alone. This year happened to fall a lot mid-week and was exacerbated by the other closures, but generally-speaking, if we reigned in the TWs and monthly half-days, I think the calendar could be a lot better without having to throw holidays under the bus.

Were there more TW/SP days though? Teachers have had 195 day contracts for years. 5 or 6 TW days fall before school starts and 1 or 2 fall after it ends. The rest fall somewhere in between.

I’d be ok with eliminating the early release days, but I think a TW should occur around the time 4th quarter grades are due (now).

ES Teacher

There was a TW the day after Memorial Day but I’m sure most teachers actually used it for vacation.

That was too early to start the kids still had lots of graded work to do.

That is what the afternoon of the 17th and the TW day on the 18th are (supposedly) for. Of course, if you’re trying to takeoff early, that’s not a convenient day.

Obviously, not a teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I LOVED the calendar this year.

I have HS students. One is AP and other is very VERY high needs special eduation. It was great for both of them.

Having "random" days off was perfect. Was able to schedule appts for my speical needs child easily and my AP child got plenty of breaks.

I filled it out in support of keeping all the holidays.

+1

Lots of HS families liked the calendar this year. I know its not everyone's preference, but many did like it and their voices can be heard from this survey.

Many of the ES families who are up in arms about the calendar this year will be happy in three years when THEY have the extra days off when their kids are in HS.

Or maybe they will have more empathy and remember what it is. Elementary age kids cant be home alone. Great that some high schoolers can sleep longer while parents are at work, but it's not what it looks like from a kindergartener family's perspective.

I didn’t. like it for my high schooler. It had some pros, but the summer is too short. I want to time to do family
things before schools starts again. Also,
He wants to work and summer is too short to do anything meaningful.

2 full months and change isn’t enough to do family things?? I’m confused.

No. Two weeks of an activity (extra curricular related). One week family vacation. Has to go back early for a sport for one week. 9-4 equals 5 weeks left for work. It kinda stinks. But I’d love to do some weekend trips with my rising sophomore (like to a college so to see what college is like). Or maybe go visit grandparents. But it is really really tight. As many of us do I also have other kids to add into this craziness. A 9 week summer is too short.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't like the calendar this year at all.

Some of it was outside of the school's control. The snowcrete never-ending closure was an anomaly that frustrated me, but I can't really blame on FCPS. This was the second year in a row of pretty bad snow and the county has got to develop a better plan to clear it if snow is going to be a more regular occurrence in our region. The closures for special elections were also frustrating. I appreciated that they at least tried to combine them with TWs, but they just felt like one more thing on top of a bad situation.

Overall, though, there were entirely too many TWs/SPs. Do teachers really need 2.5 days at the end of every quarter? On top of that, as an elementary parent, we had these completely unjustified monthly half-days. I was annoyed last year when they introduced them to help teachers learn a last-minute new curriculum, but at least there was a reason for them. This year they just...decided to keep them for fun?

I really don't mind a few extra student holidays to allow minority religion families to celebrate some of their major holidays. Part of what I like about living in Fairfax is how diverse it is and I liked that the days off prompted my kid to ask why and learn a little bit about Yom Kippur and Ramadan and Diwali, in addition to Christmas and Easter. It doesn't cover every holiday, nor is that feasible, but I like the message that it sends. And since sometimes those holidays fall on weekends or over the summer, I would leave them alone. This year happened to fall a lot mid-week and was exacerbated by the other closures, but generally-speaking, if we reigned in the TWs and monthly half-days, I think the calendar could be a lot better without having to throw holidays under the bus.

Were there more TW/SP days though? Teachers have had 195 day contracts for years. 5 or 6 TW days fall before school starts and 1 or 2 fall after it ends. The rest fall somewhere in between.

I’d be ok with eliminating the early release days, but I think a TW should occur around the time 4th quarter grades are due (now).

ES Teacher

+1 I just took a personal day to write report cards so I could write comments and actually them and think about the kids and their work. I worked from 5:30am- 2:30 with a few breaks. I guess they don’t mind subs at the end of the year?

I don’t think people realize how long it takes to complete ES Progress Reports.

I have a ton of sympathy for teachers. I was a high school English teacher (writing). My mom and grandma plus one sister were elementary teachers, pre computers when everything was done manually, including creating your own lesson plans. It is a ton of work, especially grading well.

But... and I mean this very kindly... it often feels that teachers who post here don't realize how much every other worker, especially salaried professionals but also hourly career workers, work beyond their regular work hours, especially during busy seasons. Every vacation, every weekend, every weekend, my salaried spouse and other salaried workers work hours in the evening and weekends, take calls and meetings on vacation, and put in hours of unpaid overtime to meet pressing deadlines or to successfully push the team or appease clients during busy seasons or big deadlines. I put in far more overtime hours running my own business during busy season than I ever did grading papers or preparing report cards. Your work might be more valuable to society, but the volume of work is not unusually burdensome or voluminous.

This type of work expectation is not unique to teachers nor an extraordinary unusual ask. It is part and parcel of being a salaried profesdional worker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't like the calendar this year at all.

Some of it was outside of the school's control. The snowcrete never-ending closure was an anomaly that frustrated me, but I can't really blame on FCPS. This was the second year in a row of pretty bad snow and the county has got to develop a better plan to clear it if snow is going to be a more regular occurrence in our region. The closures for special elections were also frustrating. I appreciated that they at least tried to combine them with TWs, but they just felt like one more thing on top of a bad situation.

Overall, though, there were entirely too many TWs/SPs. Do teachers really need 2.5 days at the end of every quarter? On top of that, as an elementary parent, we had these completely unjustified monthly half-days. I was annoyed last year when they introduced them to help teachers learn a last-minute new curriculum, but at least there was a reason for them. This year they just...decided to keep them for fun?

I really don't mind a few extra student holidays to allow minority religion families to celebrate some of their major holidays. Part of what I like about living in Fairfax is how diverse it is and I liked that the days off prompted my kid to ask why and learn a little bit about Yom Kippur and Ramadan and Diwali, in addition to Christmas and Easter. It doesn't cover every holiday, nor is that feasible, but I like the message that it sends. And since sometimes those holidays fall on weekends or over the summer, I would leave them alone. This year happened to fall a lot mid-week and was exacerbated by the other closures, but generally-speaking, if we reigned in the TWs and monthly half-days, I think the calendar could be a lot better without having to throw holidays under the bus.

Were there more TW/SP days though? Teachers have had 195 day contracts for years. 5 or 6 TW days fall before school starts and 1 or 2 fall after it ends. The rest fall somewhere in between.

I’d be ok with eliminating the early release days, but I think a TW should occur around the time 4th quarter grades are due (now).

ES Teacher

+1 I just took a personal day to write report cards so I could write comments and actually them and think about the kids and their work. I worked from 5:30am- 2:30 with a few breaks. I guess they don’t mind subs at the end of the year?

I don’t think people realize how long it takes to complete ES Progress Reports.

I have a ton of sympathy for teachers. I was a high school English teacher (writing). My mom and grandma plus one sister were elementary teachers, pre computers when everything was done manually, including creating your own lesson plans. It is a ton of work, especially grading well.

But... and I mean this very kindly... it often feels that teachers who post here don't realize how much every other worker, especially salaried professionals but also hourly career workers, work beyond their regular work hours, especially during busy seasons. Every vacation, every weekend, every weekend, my salaried spouse and other salaried workers work hours in the evening and weekends, take calls and meetings on vacation, and put in hours of unpaid overtime to meet pressing deadlines or to successfully push the team or appease clients during busy seasons or big deadlines. I put in far more overtime hours running my own business during busy season than I ever did grading papers or preparing report cards. Your work might be more valuable to society, but the volume of work is not unusually burdensome or voluminous.

This type of work expectation is not unique to teachers nor an extraordinary unusual ask. It is part and parcel of being a salaried profesdional worker.

I get it, although I didn’t pick up anywhere that people were saying others don’t put in overtime. Responding to the PP, the point was just that many people probably don’t realize that ES Progress Reports require someone 9 hours to complete.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't like the calendar this year at all.

Some of it was outside of the school's control. The snowcrete never-ending closure was an anomaly that frustrated me, but I can't really blame on FCPS. This was the second year in a row of pretty bad snow and the county has got to develop a better plan to clear it if snow is going to be a more regular occurrence in our region. The closures for special elections were also frustrating. I appreciated that they at least tried to combine them with TWs, but they just felt like one more thing on top of a bad situation.

Overall, though, there were entirely too many TWs/SPs. Do teachers really need 2.5 days at the end of every quarter? On top of that, as an elementary parent, we had these completely unjustified monthly half-days. I was annoyed last year when they introduced them to help teachers learn a last-minute new curriculum, but at least there was a reason for them. This year they just...decided to keep them for fun?

I really don't mind a few extra student holidays to allow minority religion families to celebrate some of their major holidays. Part of what I like about living in Fairfax is how diverse it is and I liked that the days off prompted my kid to ask why and learn a little bit about Yom Kippur and Ramadan and Diwali, in addition to Christmas and Easter. It doesn't cover every holiday, nor is that feasible, but I like the message that it sends. And since sometimes those holidays fall on weekends or over the summer, I would leave them alone. This year happened to fall a lot mid-week and was exacerbated by the other closures, but generally-speaking, if we reigned in the TWs and monthly half-days, I think the calendar could be a lot better without having to throw holidays under the bus.

Were there more TW/SP days though? Teachers have had 195 day contracts for years. 5 or 6 TW days fall before school starts and 1 or 2 fall after it ends. The rest fall somewhere in between.

I’d be ok with eliminating the early release days, but I think a TW should occur around the time 4th quarter grades are due (now).

ES Teacher

+1 I just took a personal day to write report cards so I could write comments and actually them and think about the kids and their work. I worked from 5:30am- 2:30 with a few breaks. I guess they don’t mind subs at the end of the year?

I don’t think people realize how long it takes to complete ES Progress Reports.

It's been several years worth of report cards and I've never received a single personalized comment from the teacher. It's always a generic text with a placeholder for a student name. Thank you for doing this!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't like the calendar this year at all.

Some of it was outside of the school's control. The snowcrete never-ending closure was an anomaly that frustrated me, but I can't really blame on FCPS. This was the second year in a row of pretty bad snow and the county has got to develop a better plan to clear it if snow is going to be a more regular occurrence in our region. The closures for special elections were also frustrating. I appreciated that they at least tried to combine them with TWs, but they just felt like one more thing on top of a bad situation.

Overall, though, there were entirely too many TWs/SPs. Do teachers really need 2.5 days at the end of every quarter? On top of that, as an elementary parent, we had these completely unjustified monthly half-days. I was annoyed last year when they introduced them to help teachers learn a last-minute new curriculum, but at least there was a reason for them. This year they just...decided to keep them for fun?

I really don't mind a few extra student holidays to allow minority religion families to celebrate some of their major holidays. Part of what I like about living in Fairfax is how diverse it is and I liked that the days off prompted my kid to ask why and learn a little bit about Yom Kippur and Ramadan and Diwali, in addition to Christmas and Easter. It doesn't cover every holiday, nor is that feasible, but I like the message that it sends. And since sometimes those holidays fall on weekends or over the summer, I would leave them alone. This year happened to fall a lot mid-week and was exacerbated by the other closures, but generally-speaking, if we reigned in the TWs and monthly half-days, I think the calendar could be a lot better without having to throw holidays under the bus.

Were there more TW/SP days though? Teachers have had 195 day contracts for years. 5 or 6 TW days fall before school starts and 1 or 2 fall after it ends. The rest fall somewhere in between.

I’d be ok with eliminating the early release days, but I think a TW should occur around the time 4th quarter grades are due (now).

ES Teacher

+1 I just took a personal day to write report cards so I could write comments and actually them and think about the kids and their work. I worked from 5:30am- 2:30 with a few breaks. I guess they don’t mind subs at the end of the year?

I don’t think people realize how long it takes to complete ES Progress Reports.

I have a ton of sympathy for teachers. I was a high school English teacher (writing). My mom and grandma plus one sister were elementary teachers, pre computers when everything was done manually, including creating your own lesson plans. It is a ton of work, especially grading well.

But... and I mean this very kindly... it often feels that teachers who post here don't realize how much every other worker, especially salaried professionals but also hourly career workers, work beyond their regular work hours, especially during busy seasons. Every vacation, every weekend, every weekend, my salaried spouse and other salaried workers work hours in the evening and weekends, take calls and meetings on vacation, and put in hours of unpaid overtime to meet pressing deadlines or to successfully push the team or appease clients during busy seasons or big deadlines. I put in far more overtime hours running my own business during busy season than I ever did grading papers or preparing report cards. Your work might be more valuable to society, but the volume of work is not unusually burdensome or voluminous.

This type of work expectation is not unique to teachers nor an extraordinary unusual ask. It is part and parcel of being a salaried profesdional worker.

I get it, although I didn’t pick up anywhere that people were saying others don’t put in overtime. Responding to the PP, the point was just that many people probably don’t realize that ES Progress Reports require someone 9 hours to complete.

Do you teach in a different district than FCPS?

FCPS elementary report cards don't allow for individualized comments.

They are canned comments selected from a list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't like the calendar this year at all.

Some of it was outside of the school's control. The snowcrete never-ending closure was an anomaly that frustrated me, but I can't really blame on FCPS. This was the second year in a row of pretty bad snow and the county has got to develop a better plan to clear it if snow is going to be a more regular occurrence in our region. The closures for special elections were also frustrating. I appreciated that they at least tried to combine them with TWs, but they just felt like one more thing on top of a bad situation.

Overall, though, there were entirely too many TWs/SPs. Do teachers really need 2.5 days at the end of every quarter? On top of that, as an elementary parent, we had these completely unjustified monthly half-days. I was annoyed last year when they introduced them to help teachers learn a last-minute new curriculum, but at least there was a reason for them. This year they just...decided to keep them for fun?

I really don't mind a few extra student holidays to allow minority religion families to celebrate some of their major holidays. Part of what I like about living in Fairfax is how diverse it is and I liked that the days off prompted my kid to ask why and learn a little bit about Yom Kippur and Ramadan and Diwali, in addition to Christmas and Easter. It doesn't cover every holiday, nor is that feasible, but I like the message that it sends. And since sometimes those holidays fall on weekends or over the summer, I would leave them alone. This year happened to fall a lot mid-week and was exacerbated by the other closures, but generally-speaking, if we reigned in the TWs and monthly half-days, I think the calendar could be a lot better without having to throw holidays under the bus.

Were there more TW/SP days though? Teachers have had 195 day contracts for years. 5 or 6 TW days fall before school starts and 1 or 2 fall after it ends. The rest fall somewhere in between.

I’d be ok with eliminating the early release days, but I think a TW should occur around the time 4th quarter grades are due (now).

ES Teacher

+1 I just took a personal day to write report cards so I could write comments and actually them and think about the kids and their work. I worked from 5:30am- 2:30 with a few breaks. I guess they don’t mind subs at the end of the year?

I don’t think people realize how long it takes to complete ES Progress Reports.

It's been several years worth of report cards and I've never received a single personalized comment from the teacher. It's always a generic text with a placeholder for a student name. Thank you for doing this!

The comments are all canned. That’s all we have to choose from. Inputting of grades takes the brunt of the time honestly. Most ES teachers are entering 2,000 grades for the 4th quarter including citizenship and effort grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't like the calendar this year at all.

Some of it was outside of the school's control. The snowcrete never-ending closure was an anomaly that frustrated me, but I can't really blame on FCPS. This was the second year in a row of pretty bad snow and the county has got to develop a better plan to clear it if snow is going to be a more regular occurrence in our region. The closures for special elections were also frustrating. I appreciated that they at least tried to combine them with TWs, but they just felt like one more thing on top of a bad situation.

Overall, though, there were entirely too many TWs/SPs. Do teachers really need 2.5 days at the end of every quarter? On top of that, as an elementary parent, we had these completely unjustified monthly half-days. I was annoyed last year when they introduced them to help teachers learn a last-minute new curriculum, but at least there was a reason for them. This year they just...decided to keep them for fun?

I really don't mind a few extra student holidays to allow minority religion families to celebrate some of their major holidays. Part of what I like about living in Fairfax is how diverse it is and I liked that the days off prompted my kid to ask why and learn a little bit about Yom Kippur and Ramadan and Diwali, in addition to Christmas and Easter. It doesn't cover every holiday, nor is that feasible, but I like the message that it sends. And since sometimes those holidays fall on weekends or over the summer, I would leave them alone. This year happened to fall a lot mid-week and was exacerbated by the other closures, but generally-speaking, if we reigned in the TWs and monthly half-days, I think the calendar could be a lot better without having to throw holidays under the bus.

Were there more TW/SP days though? Teachers have had 195 day contracts for years. 5 or 6 TW days fall before school starts and 1 or 2 fall after it ends. The rest fall somewhere in between.

I’d be ok with eliminating the early release days, but I think a TW should occur around the time 4th quarter grades are due (now).

ES Teacher

+1 I just took a personal day to write report cards so I could write comments and actually them and think about the kids and their work. I worked from 5:30am- 2:30 with a few breaks. I guess they don’t mind subs at the end of the year?

I don’t think people realize how long it takes to complete ES Progress Reports.

I have a ton of sympathy for teachers. I was a high school English teacher (writing). My mom and grandma plus one sister were elementary teachers, pre computers when everything was done manually, including creating your own lesson plans. It is a ton of work, especially grading well.

But... and I mean this very kindly... it often feels that teachers who post here don't realize how much every other worker, especially salaried professionals but also hourly career workers, work beyond their regular work hours, especially during busy seasons. Every vacation, every weekend, every weekend, my salaried spouse and other salaried workers work hours in the evening and weekends, take calls and meetings on vacation, and put in hours of unpaid overtime to meet pressing deadlines or to successfully push the team or appease clients during busy seasons or big deadlines. I put in far more overtime hours running my own business during busy season than I ever did grading papers or preparing report cards. Your work might be more valuable to society, but the volume of work is not unusually burdensome or voluminous.

This type of work expectation is not unique to teachers nor an extraordinary unusual ask. It is part and parcel of being a salaried profesdional worker.

I get it, although I didn’t pick up anywhere that people were saying others don’t put in overtime. Responding to the PP, the point was just that many people probably don’t realize that ES Progress Reports require someone 9 hours to complete.

Do you teach in a different district than FCPS?

FCPS elementary report cards don't allow for individualized comments.

They are canned comments selected from a list.

No. PP here. I didn’t say anything about comments. Yes, they are canned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't like the calendar this year at all.

Some of it was outside of the school's control. The snowcrete never-ending closure was an anomaly that frustrated me, but I can't really blame on FCPS. This was the second year in a row of pretty bad snow and the county has got to develop a better plan to clear it if snow is going to be a more regular occurrence in our region. The closures for special elections were also frustrating. I appreciated that they at least tried to combine them with TWs, but they just felt like one more thing on top of a bad situation.

Overall, though, there were entirely too many TWs/SPs. Do teachers really need 2.5 days at the end of every quarter? On top of that, as an elementary parent, we had these completely unjustified monthly half-days. I was annoyed last year when they introduced them to help teachers learn a last-minute new curriculum, but at least there was a reason for them. This year they just...decided to keep them for fun?

I really don't mind a few extra student holidays to allow minority religion families to celebrate some of their major holidays. Part of what I like about living in Fairfax is how diverse it is and I liked that the days off prompted my kid to ask why and learn a little bit about Yom Kippur and Ramadan and Diwali, in addition to Christmas and Easter. It doesn't cover every holiday, nor is that feasible, but I like the message that it sends. And since sometimes those holidays fall on weekends or over the summer, I would leave them alone. This year happened to fall a lot mid-week and was exacerbated by the other closures, but generally-speaking, if we reigned in the TWs and monthly half-days, I think the calendar could be a lot better without having to throw holidays under the bus.

Were there more TW/SP days though? Teachers have had 195 day contracts for years. 5 or 6 TW days fall before school starts and 1 or 2 fall after it ends. The rest fall somewhere in between.

I’d be ok with eliminating the early release days, but I think a TW should occur around the time 4th quarter grades are due (now).

ES Teacher

+1 I just took a personal day to write report cards so I could write comments and actually them and think about the kids and their work. I worked from 5:30am- 2:30 with a few breaks. I guess they don’t mind subs at the end of the year?

I don’t think people realize how long it takes to complete ES Progress Reports.

Written comments? They are pre written from a pull down list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't like the calendar this year at all.

Some of it was outside of the school's control. The snowcrete never-ending closure was an anomaly that frustrated me, but I can't really blame on FCPS. This was the second year in a row of pretty bad snow and the county has got to develop a better plan to clear it if snow is going to be a more regular occurrence in our region. The closures for special elections were also frustrating. I appreciated that they at least tried to combine them with TWs, but they just felt like one more thing on top of a bad situation.

Overall, though, there were entirely too many TWs/SPs. Do teachers really need 2.5 days at the end of every quarter? On top of that, as an elementary parent, we had these completely unjustified monthly half-days. I was annoyed last year when they introduced them to help teachers learn a last-minute new curriculum, but at least there was a reason for them. This year they just...decided to keep them for fun?

I really don't mind a few extra student holidays to allow minority religion families to celebrate some of their major holidays. Part of what I like about living in Fairfax is how diverse it is and I liked that the days off prompted my kid to ask why and learn a little bit about Yom Kippur and Ramadan and Diwali, in addition to Christmas and Easter. It doesn't cover every holiday, nor is that feasible, but I like the message that it sends. And since sometimes those holidays fall on weekends or over the summer, I would leave them alone. This year happened to fall a lot mid-week and was exacerbated by the other closures, but generally-speaking, if we reigned in the TWs and monthly half-days, I think the calendar could be a lot better without having to throw holidays under the bus.

Were there more TW/SP days though? Teachers have had 195 day contracts for years. 5 or 6 TW days fall before school starts and 1 or 2 fall after it ends. The rest fall somewhere in between.

I’d be ok with eliminating the early release days, but I think a TW should occur around the time 4th quarter grades are due (now).

ES Teacher

+1 I just took a personal day to write report cards so I could write comments and actually them and think about the kids and their work. I worked from 5:30am- 2:30 with a few breaks. I guess they don’t mind subs at the end of the year?

I don’t think people realize how long it takes to complete ES Progress Reports.

It's been several years worth of report cards and I've never received a single personalized comment from the teacher. It's always a generic text with a placeholder for a student name. Thank you for doing this!

The comments are all canned. That’s all we have to choose from. Inputting of grades takes the brunt of the time honestly. Most ES teachers are entering 2,000 grades for the 4th quarter including citizenship and effort grades.

They are all 1-4s, how long or complicated can that be?