Melanie Meren's FB post about the calendar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great to hear from high school parents whose kids can 1) stay home alone 2) for free 3) can study on their own 4) have no early release nonsense - how they love this calendar and how they don't care.

HS parent here - this calendar is awful. We don't love it and more importantly my kids have complained about it.

We need to get in a learning groove and this fractured calendar has been disastrous for that.

So no, it isn't HS parents that love it. We HATE it. We also hate that there are so many school days in June when we know very little learning will be happening after tests.

But AGAIN. You are looking at the calendar with a TON of snow days. Why are you all so unable to do the calendar by itself and not see past how much the snow days impacted the last few weeks?
Without snow days, the calendar would have been fine. It is the snow days which have blown off the track. And so all of you having a temper tantrum about it will whine to get change but when there are no snow days, you will pull your kids out for long weekends to go skiing or whatever.

Go count the number of weeks with a day off and tell me it’s fine. We are surprised when they string together three 5 day weeks now.

Sure thing. In the months of Jan Feb ( you started complaining in Feb) there were supposed to be 5 weeks of 5 days of school. This was out of 8 weeks. There were 2 weeks that had federal holidays and one with the traditional end of semester days off.
It is the SNOW that has given us very few full weeks of school.

Mmm, a well run school system would recognize the issue with weather closures in Jan/Feb and attempt to maximize instructional time before those months.

But FCPS is not a well run school system.

Nah- you just think a well run school system would agree with you. You have no metric to judge whether a school system is “well run” except your own opinion of whether it serves you well. We have LOTS of snow days built in. In the Boston area there are no snow days, but my friend’s kids were out of school several times this year. They will now be in school until June 27th to make up the days. They also had a week off in February for “break.” I prefer the way FCPS does it.

… Who do you think a school system is supposed to serve if not the students and their families? A school system that doesn’t serve them well, isn’t well run.

No, that is a selfish view. A well run school system has to serve the majority kids well, not one individual parent and their individual scheduling needs. It isn’t instagram or facebook. It is a school system. Greater good and all.

Sure, and the greater number of parents are saying is the schedule doesn't serve them. Early release was imposed on a lie. That vastly eroded trust. Now there is accountability.

Again, you are aiming weird unproven statements like “the greater number of parents”. As listed in what survey. You don’t have any real data except more people are complaining to the board and more people are complaining NOW as the snow days are interfering with the regular calendar making it FEEL like the calendar is horrible.
The calendar has been the same for years. It was set early this year. AS far as early release is concerned, they should move back to Mondays being short days for elementary. It only affects elementary students and there are programs for those parents who are inflexible situations.

Like I said, Boston schools will be in school until June 26 or 27tth because of snow days and they had a week last week before their latest snow storm as a built in holiday.

This is a strange attempt at gaslighting. The board has been getting hammered on the calendar since September and before. Early release met intense opposition. Yes how Reid handles snowstorms doesn’t build confidence in her but, the disaster calendar complaints started long before the snow did.

You literally can’t have an opposing opinion without some Karen on here saying you’re “gaslighting” them. It’s honestly comical how often people throw that term out nowadays.

No one has any data. No one has taken a poll. There’s no survey being referenced. All Karen has is her social circle that she complains and gripes to. Misery loves company, so Karen’s friends agree and complain about it too. That doesn’t make Karen’s opinion the majority or the greater number of parents.

Karen also doesn’t know that the board is being “hammered” by complaints just because her and her miserable friends sat on their couches and sent a couple emails. I’d bet my salary that if you ask each school board member what the biggest complaint email they receive is on a regular basis is, the lack of 5 day weeks wouldn’t be in the top 5.

…and here comes “you’re gaslighting me” response in 3, 2, 1…

The board meeting from September was posted already. The board says they’re receiving more complaints and need to address it. You think the board member time traveled from February??

No Karen, I don’t think they time traveled.

They could’ve gotten 3 complaints in September and now with the snow days putting extra emphasis on the lack of full weeks, they’ve received “more”.

More is subjective, could be 1 more, could be thousands more. The key point is YOU do not know anymore than anyone else and acting as if you do is having the exact opposite effect you think it is when it comes to legitimizing your argument.

…you really just need to read the article. The person who does know— the board member— lays it out quite clearly. It isn’t about February and has nothing to do with snow days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[i]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d be happy enough with the 26-27 calendar as is, as long as the dumb 3 hour early releases are going the way of the dodo. My kids’ ES has given up on any instruction on those days. They use them for class test makeups if a kid was sick and then spend the rest of the time for all the other kids on “team building activities” and playing games. Meanwhile SOL’s are sneaking up on us … only March, April, and maybe a week of May left to go and we have to get through spring break in there …

My guess is, if they can get rid of the early release, Meren can declare victory. It’s an intensely unpopular policy.

Hopefully, they can draw some guidelines for commonsense reformed to the calendar going forward: TW/SD days only permitted on Monday or Friday, teacher training moved virtual and carried out to some extent during snow days, TW days layered on top of either federal or religious holidays, whichever makes more sense.

None of your ideas make sense and/or are feasible. Get real.

TW/PD on a Friday? Never going to happen. Fridays are not productive. No one ever schedules meetings for Friday afternoons. By then, teachers are exhausted.

Virtual teacher training on snow days. doesn’t make sense as teachers’ own children would be at home. A snow day means teachers are off period.

TW on a religious or federal holiday? I don’t think so.

Bad news, this already exists. It’s called indigenous peoples day, and it’s a federal holiday.

Worse news, Indigenous Peoples Day is NOT formally recognized as a federal holiday.

I swear people forget that literally everything they attempt to spew as fact can be easily verified. Google exists, use it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[i]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d be happy enough with the 26-27 calendar as is, as long as the dumb 3 hour early releases are going the way of the dodo. My kids’ ES has given up on any instruction on those days. They use them for class test makeups if a kid was sick and then spend the rest of the time for all the other kids on “team building activities” and playing games. Meanwhile SOL’s are sneaking up on us … only March, April, and maybe a week of May left to go and we have to get through spring break in there …

My guess is, if they can get rid of the early release, Meren can declare victory. It’s an intensely unpopular policy.

Hopefully, they can draw some guidelines for commonsense reformed to the calendar going forward: TW/SD days only permitted on Monday or Friday, teacher training moved virtual and carried out to some extent during snow days, TW days layered on top of either federal or religious holidays, whichever makes more sense.

None of your ideas make sense and/or are feasible. Get real.

TW/PD on a Friday? Never going to happen. Fridays are not productive. No one ever schedules meetings for Friday afternoons. By then, teachers are exhausted.

Virtual teacher training on snow days. doesn’t make sense as teachers’ own children would be at home. A snow day means teachers are off period.

TW on a religious or federal holiday? I don’t think so.

Bad news, this already exists. It’s called indigenous peoples day, and it’s a federal holiday.

Worse news, Indigenous Peoples Day is NOT formally recognized as a federal holiday.

I swear people forget that literally everything they attempt to spew as fact can be easily verified. Google exists, use it.

Columbus Day is a Federal holiday. It’s just called indigenous peoples day in some constituencies. It is still a federal holiday. Teachers in Fairfax still work . The world continues to spin. Put down the wine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[i]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d be happy enough with the 26-27 calendar as is, as long as the dumb 3 hour early releases are going the way of the dodo. My kids’ ES has given up on any instruction on those days. They use them for class test makeups if a kid was sick and then spend the rest of the time for all the other kids on “team building activities” and playing games. Meanwhile SOL’s are sneaking up on us … only March, April, and maybe a week of May left to go and we have to get through spring break in there …

My guess is, if they can get rid of the early release, Meren can declare victory. It’s an intensely unpopular policy.

Hopefully, they can draw some guidelines for commonsense reformed to the calendar going forward: TW/SD days only permitted on Monday or Friday, teacher training moved virtual and carried out to some extent during snow days, TW days layered on top of either federal or religious holidays, whichever makes more sense.

None of your ideas make sense and/or are feasible. Get real.

TW/PD on a Friday? Never going to happen. Fridays are not productive. No one ever schedules meetings for Friday afternoons. By then, teachers are exhausted.

Virtual teacher training on snow days. doesn’t make sense as teachers’ own children would be at home. A snow day means teachers are off period.

TW on a religious or federal holiday? I don’t think so.

From the perspective of a normal professional adult who is also a parent, professional expectations in 2026 include working five day weeks (even Friday!) teleworking in inclement weather (even if children are home) and not having every religious or federal holiday as PTO. I believe our teachers are professional adults who can adapt to higher professional expectations to save taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Sheeesh, what 19th century boss do you have?!

Professional expectations in 2026 also include unlimited PTO, full time remote work, and a focus on mental health outside of work. Sorry your company hasn’t gotten with the times of R.O.W.E.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[i]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d be happy enough with the 26-27 calendar as is, as long as the dumb 3 hour early releases are going the way of the dodo. My kids’ ES has given up on any instruction on those days. They use them for class test makeups if a kid was sick and then spend the rest of the time for all the other kids on “team building activities” and playing games. Meanwhile SOL’s are sneaking up on us … only March, April, and maybe a week of May left to go and we have to get through spring break in there …

My guess is, if they can get rid of the early release, Meren can declare victory. It’s an intensely unpopular policy.

Hopefully, they can draw some guidelines for commonsense reformed to the calendar going forward: TW/SD days only permitted on Monday or Friday, teacher training moved virtual and carried out to some extent during snow days, TW days layered on top of either federal or religious holidays, whichever makes more sense.

None of your ideas make sense and/or are feasible. Get real.

TW/PD on a Friday? Never going to happen. Fridays are not productive. No one ever schedules meetings for Friday afternoons. By then, teachers are exhausted.

Virtual teacher training on snow days. doesn’t make sense as teachers’ own children would be at home. A snow day means teachers are off period.

TW on a religious or federal holiday? I don’t think so.

Bad news, this already exists. It’s called indigenous peoples day, and it’s a federal holiday.

Worse news, Indigenous Peoples Day is NOT formally recognized as a federal holiday.

I swear people forget that literally everything they attempt to spew as fact can be easily verified. Google exists, use it.

Columbus Day is a Federal holiday. It’s just called indigenous peoples day in some constituencies. It is still a federal holiday. Teachers in Fairfax still work . The world continues to spin. Put down the wine.

But just so we’re clear, this is what was written:

“It’s called indigenous peoples day, and it’s a federal holiday.”

And that is a false statement. But by all means, move the goalposts!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[i]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d be happy enough with the 26-27 calendar as is, as long as the dumb 3 hour early releases are going the way of the dodo. My kids’ ES has given up on any instruction on those days. They use them for class test makeups if a kid was sick and then spend the rest of the time for all the other kids on “team building activities” and playing games. Meanwhile SOL’s are sneaking up on us … only March, April, and maybe a week of May left to go and we have to get through spring break in there …

My guess is, if they can get rid of the early release, Meren can declare victory. It’s an intensely unpopular policy.

Hopefully, they can draw some guidelines for commonsense reformed to the calendar going forward: TW/SD days only permitted on Monday or Friday, teacher training moved virtual and carried out to some extent during snow days, TW days layered on top of either federal or religious holidays, whichever makes more sense.

None of your ideas make sense and/or are feasible. Get real.

TW/PD on a Friday? Never going to happen. Fridays are not productive. No one ever schedules meetings for Friday afternoons. By then, teachers are exhausted.

Virtual teacher training on snow days. doesn’t make sense as teachers’ own children would be at home. A snow day means teachers are off period.

TW on a religious or federal holiday? I don’t think so.

Bad news, this already exists. It’s called indigenous peoples day, and it’s a federal holiday.

Worse news, Indigenous Peoples Day is NOT formally recognized as a federal holiday.

I swear people forget that literally everything they attempt to spew as fact can be easily verified. Google exists, use it.

Columbus Day is a Federal holiday. It’s just called indigenous peoples day in some constituencies. It is still a federal holiday. Teachers in Fairfax still work . The world continues to spin. Put down the wine.

But just so we’re clear, this is what was written:

“It’s called indigenous peoples day, and it’s a federal holiday.”

And that is a false statement. But by all means, move the goalposts!

Ok. You’re right. By using the nomenclature on the FCPS calendar I confused you.

October 13, 2025, a TW Day, was a federal holiday. And yet still a TW day. And that is an excellent precedent for how we can create a more effective calendar.

[Anonymous]

Wait, let me get ahead of your response. Yes it is a Staff Development day and not a TW day. Many of the other SD, SP, and TW days can also be more efficiently placed on federal holidays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[i]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d be happy enough with the 26-27 calendar as is, as long as the dumb 3 hour early releases are going the way of the dodo. My kids’ ES has given up on any instruction on those days. They use them for class test makeups if a kid was sick and then spend the rest of the time for all the other kids on “team building activities” and playing games. Meanwhile SOL’s are sneaking up on us … only March, April, and maybe a week of May left to go and we have to get through spring break in there …

My guess is, if they can get rid of the early release, Meren can declare victory. It’s an intensely unpopular policy.

Hopefully, they can draw some guidelines for commonsense reformed to the calendar going forward: TW/SD days only permitted on Monday or Friday, teacher training moved virtual and carried out to some extent during snow days, TW days layered on top of either federal or religious holidays, whichever makes more sense.

None of your ideas make sense and/or are feasible. Get real.

TW/PD on a Friday? Never going to happen. Fridays are not productive. No one ever schedules meetings for Friday afternoons. By then, teachers are exhausted.

Virtual teacher training on snow days. doesn’t make sense as teachers’ own children would be at home. A snow day means teachers are off period.

TW on a religious or federal holiday? I don’t think so.

Bad news, this already exists. It’s called indigenous peoples day, and it’s a federal holiday.

Worse news, Indigenous Peoples Day is NOT formally recognized as a federal holiday.

I swear people forget that literally everything they attempt to spew as fact can be easily verified. Google exists, use it.

Columbus Day is a Federal holiday. It’s just called indigenous peoples day in some constituencies. It is still a federal holiday. Teachers in Fairfax still work . The world continues to spin. Put down the wine.

But just so we’re clear, this is what was written:

“It’s called indigenous peoples day, and it’s a federal holiday.”

And that is a false statement. But by all means, move the goalposts!

Ok. You’re right. By using the nomenclature on the FCPS calendar I confused you.

October 13, 2025, a TW Day, was a federal holiday. And yet still a TW day. And that is an excellent precedent for how we can create a more effective calendar.

I was not confused. I responded to what YOU said. Nothing to do with the nomenclature on the calendar. Based on your original statement, it appears that you were the confused one and are still quite confused.

October 13, 2025, FCPS had a TW/SP day on Indigenous People’s Day. For some reason you’re now doubling down that it’s a federal holiday (thought we cleared that up).

If you notice, the 2019-2020 calendar has the second Monday in October as Columbus Day. Starting in 2020, at the direction of the governor, the STATE of Virginia (see how I said STATE bc it’s not a FEDERAL holiday) decided to shift away from the federal holiday of Columbus Day. You’ll see the non-federal holiday of Indigenous People’s Day reflected on the FCPS calendars from 2020-2021 and onward.

The more ya know!

[Anonymous]

Wait, let me get ahead of your response!

Go ahead and relook at the calendar. All 7 FEDERAL holidays that fall during the school year are holidays for staff members as well.

Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years Day, MLK, Washington’s Birthday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth.

All FEDERAL holidays, all holidays for teachers.

Indigenous People’s Day (not a federal holiday), not a holiday for teachers.

Pretty simple really.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[i]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d be happy enough with the 26-27 calendar as is, as long as the dumb 3 hour early releases are going the way of the dodo. My kids’ ES has given up on any instruction on those days. They use them for class test makeups if a kid was sick and then spend the rest of the time for all the other kids on “team building activities” and playing games. Meanwhile SOL’s are sneaking up on us … only March, April, and maybe a week of May left to go and we have to get through spring break in there …

My guess is, if they can get rid of the early release, Meren can declare victory. It’s an intensely unpopular policy.

Hopefully, they can draw some guidelines for commonsense reformed to the calendar going forward: TW/SD days only permitted on Monday or Friday, teacher training moved virtual and carried out to some extent during snow days, TW days layered on top of either federal or religious holidays, whichever makes more sense.

None of your ideas make sense and/or are feasible. Get real.

TW/PD on a Friday? Never going to happen. Fridays are not productive. No one ever schedules meetings for Friday afternoons. By then, teachers are exhausted.

Virtual teacher training on snow days. doesn’t make sense as teachers’ own children would be at home. A snow day means teachers are off period.

TW on a religious or federal holiday? I don’t think so.

From the perspective of a normal professional adult who is also a parent, professional expectations in 2026 include working five day weeks (even Friday!) teleworking in inclement weather (even if children are home) and not having every religious or federal holiday as PTO. I believe our teachers are professional adults who can adapt to higher professional expectations to save taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Sheeesh, what 19th century boss do you have?!

Professional expectations in 2026 also include unlimited PTO, full time remote work, and a focus on mental health outside of work. Sorry your company hasn’t gotten with the times of R.O.W.E.

Uhh there is no job in which these things come at the expense of productivity and meeting expectations. Watch what happens to your job when you place a higher importance on these things than actually getting your job done in the way that is necessitated by your boss, clients, and/or constituents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[i]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d be happy enough with the 26-27 calendar as is, as long as the dumb 3 hour early releases are going the way of the dodo. My kids’ ES has given up on any instruction on those days. They use them for class test makeups if a kid was sick and then spend the rest of the time for all the other kids on “team building activities” and playing games. Meanwhile SOL’s are sneaking up on us … only March, April, and maybe a week of May left to go and we have to get through spring break in there …

My guess is, if they can get rid of the early release, Meren can declare victory. It’s an intensely unpopular policy.

Hopefully, they can draw some guidelines for commonsense reformed to the calendar going forward: TW/SD days only permitted on Monday or Friday, teacher training moved virtual and carried out to some extent during snow days, TW days layered on top of either federal or religious holidays, whichever makes more sense.

None of your ideas make sense and/or are feasible. Get real.

TW/PD on a Friday? Never going to happen. Fridays are not productive. No one ever schedules meetings for Friday afternoons. By then, teachers are exhausted.

Virtual teacher training on snow days. doesn’t make sense as teachers’ own children would be at home. A snow day means teachers are off period.

TW on a religious or federal holiday? I don’t think so.

Bad news, this already exists. It’s called indigenous peoples day, and it’s a federal holiday.

Worse news, Indigenous Peoples Day is NOT formally recognized as a federal holiday.

I swear people forget that literally everything they attempt to spew as fact can be easily verified. Google exists, use it.

Columbus Day is a Federal holiday. It’s just called indigenous peoples day in some constituencies. It is still a federal holiday. Teachers in Fairfax still work . The world continues to spin. Put down the wine.

But just so we’re clear, this is what was written:

“It’s called indigenous peoples day, and it’s a federal holiday.”

And that is a false statement. But by all means, move the goalposts!

Ok. You’re right. By using the nomenclature on the FCPS calendar I confused you.

October 13, 2025, a TW Day, was a federal holiday. And yet still a TW day. And that is an excellent precedent for how we can create a more effective calendar.

I was not confused. I responded to what YOU said. Nothing to do with the nomenclature on the calendar. Based on your original statement, it appears that you were the confused one and are still quite confused.

October 13, 2025, FCPS had a TW/SP day on Indigenous People’s Day. For some reason you’re now doubling down that it’s a federal holiday (thought we cleared that up).

If you notice, the 2019-2020 calendar has the second Monday in October as Columbus Day. Starting in 2020, at the direction of the governor, the STATE of Virginia (see how I said STATE bc it’s not a FEDERAL holiday) decided to shift away from the federal holiday of Columbus Day. You’ll see the non-federal holiday of Indigenous People’s Day reflected on the FCPS calendars from 2020-2021 and onward.

The more ya know!

The state of Virginia’s decision to shift away from the Federal holiday of Columbus day has absolutely nothing to do with whether October 13 2025 was a Federal holiday. It was. In precisely the same way November 11, 2022 was a Federal Holiday and teachers in FCPS had an SP day.

Teachers are resilient and were just fine doing their SP days on Federal holidays a couple of years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[i]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d be happy enough with the 26-27 calendar as is, as long as the dumb 3 hour early releases are going the way of the dodo. My kids’ ES has given up on any instruction on those days. They use them for class test makeups if a kid was sick and then spend the rest of the time for all the other kids on “team building activities” and playing games. Meanwhile SOL’s are sneaking up on us … only March, April, and maybe a week of May left to go and we have to get through spring break in there …

My guess is, if they can get rid of the early release, Meren can declare victory. It’s an intensely unpopular policy.

Hopefully, they can draw some guidelines for commonsense reformed to the calendar going forward: TW/SD days only permitted on Monday or Friday, teacher training moved virtual and carried out to some extent during snow days, TW days layered on top of either federal or religious holidays, whichever makes more sense.

None of your ideas make sense and/or are feasible. Get real.

TW/PD on a Friday? Never going to happen. Fridays are not productive. No one ever schedules meetings for Friday afternoons. By then, teachers are exhausted.

Virtual teacher training on snow days. doesn’t make sense as teachers’ own children would be at home. A snow day means teachers are off period.

TW on a religious or federal holiday? I don’t think so.

From the perspective of a normal professional adult who is also a parent, professional expectations in 2026 include working five day weeks (even Friday!) teleworking in inclement weather (even if children are home) and not having every religious or federal holiday as PTO. I believe our teachers are professional adults who can adapt to higher professional expectations to save taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Sheeesh, what 19th century boss do you have?!

Professional expectations in 2026 also include unlimited PTO, full time remote work, and a focus on mental health outside of work. Sorry your company hasn’t gotten with the times of R.O.W.E.

Very few jobs offer unlimited PTO and full time remote work. I worked for a company with “unlimited PTO” and the people who took that literally ended up being counseled and then fired. Every contract has a number of hours that employees have to work, drop under that and you are gone. Any contract where you have deadlines or work in teams will have limits on the amount of PTO you can take.

Most of the world reverted to at least hybrid if not full time office after COVID. There are some remote jobs but they are hard to find.

The normal work environment is still 9-5 in the office. You can work to find something else but it isn’t easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[i]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d be happy enough with the 26-27 calendar as is, as long as the dumb 3 hour early releases are going the way of the dodo. My kids’ ES has given up on any instruction on those days. They use them for class test makeups if a kid was sick and then spend the rest of the time for all the other kids on “team building activities” and playing games. Meanwhile SOL’s are sneaking up on us … only March, April, and maybe a week of May left to go and we have to get through spring break in there …

My guess is, if they can get rid of the early release, Meren can declare victory. It’s an intensely unpopular policy.

Hopefully, they can draw some guidelines for commonsense reformed to the calendar going forward: TW/SD days only permitted on Monday or Friday, teacher training moved virtual and carried out to some extent during snow days, TW days layered on top of either federal or religious holidays, whichever makes more sense.

None of your ideas make sense and/or are feasible. Get real.

TW/PD on a Friday? Never going to happen. Fridays are not productive. No one ever schedules meetings for Friday afternoons. By then, teachers are exhausted.

Virtual teacher training on snow days. doesn’t make sense as teachers’ own children would be at home. A snow day means teachers are off period.

TW on a religious or federal holiday? I don’t think so.

From the perspective of a normal professional adult who is also a parent, professional expectations in 2026 include working five day weeks (even Friday!) teleworking in inclement weather (even if children are home) and not having every religious or federal holiday as PTO. I believe our teachers are professional adults who can adapt to higher professional expectations to save taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Sheeesh, what 19th century boss do you have?!

Professional expectations in 2026 also include unlimited PTO, full time remote work, and a focus on mental health outside of work. Sorry your company hasn’t gotten with the times of R.O.W.E.

Uhh there is no job in which these things come at the expense of productivity and meeting expectations. Watch what happens to your job when you place a higher importance on these things than actually getting your job done in the way that is necessitated by your boss, clients, and/or constituents.

DP. My work (fed) has gotten so highly micromanaged and inflexible, that it actually hurts productivity quite frequently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[i]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d be happy enough with the 26-27 calendar as is, as long as the dumb 3 hour early releases are going the way of the dodo. My kids’ ES has given up on any instruction on those days. They use them for class test makeups if a kid was sick and then spend the rest of the time for all the other kids on “team building activities” and playing games. Meanwhile SOL’s are sneaking up on us … only March, April, and maybe a week of May left to go and we have to get through spring break in there …

My guess is, if they can get rid of the early release, Meren can declare victory. It’s an intensely unpopular policy.

Hopefully, they can draw some guidelines for commonsense reformed to the calendar going forward: TW/SD days only permitted on Monday or Friday, teacher training moved virtual and carried out to some extent during snow days, TW days layered on top of either federal or religious holidays, whichever makes more sense.

None of your ideas make sense and/or are feasible. Get real.

TW/PD on a Friday? Never going to happen. Fridays are not productive. No one ever schedules meetings for Friday afternoons. By then, teachers are exhausted.

Virtual teacher training on snow days. doesn’t make sense as teachers’ own children would be at home. A snow day means teachers are off period.

TW on a religious or federal holiday? I don’t think so.

From the perspective of a normal professional adult who is also a parent, professional expectations in 2026 include working five day weeks (even Friday!) teleworking in inclement weather (even if children are home) and not having every religious or federal holiday as PTO. I believe our teachers are professional adults who can adapt to higher professional expectations to save taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Sheeesh, what 19th century boss do you have?!

Professional expectations in 2026 also include unlimited PTO, full time remote work, and a focus on mental health outside of work. Sorry your company hasn’t gotten with the times of R.O.W.E.

Uhh there is no job in which these things come at the expense of productivity and meeting expectations. Watch what happens to your job when you place a higher importance on these things than actually getting your job done in the way that is necessitated by your boss, clients, and/or constituents.

I think the person you’re responding to is a troll trying to make teachers look entitled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great to hear from high school parents whose kids can 1) stay home alone 2) for free 3) can study on their own 4) have no early release nonsense - how they love this calendar and how they don't care.

HS parent here - this calendar is awful. We don't love it and more importantly my kids have complained about it.

We need to get in a learning groove and this fractured calendar has been disastrous for that.

So no, it isn't HS parents that love it. We HATE it. We also hate that there are so many school days in June when we know very little learning will be happening after tests.

But AGAIN. You are looking at the calendar with a TON of snow days. Why are you all so unable to do the calendar by itself and not see past how much the snow days impacted the last few weeks?
Without snow days, the calendar would have been fine. It is the snow days which have blown off the track. And so all of you having a temper tantrum about it will whine to get change but when there are no snow days, you will pull your kids out for long weekends to go skiing or whatever.

Go count the number of weeks with a day off and tell me it’s fine. We are surprised when they string together three 5 day weeks now.

Sure thing. In the months of Jan Feb ( you started complaining in Feb) there were supposed to be 5 weeks of 5 days of school. This was out of 8 weeks. There were 2 weeks that had federal holidays and one with the traditional end of semester days off.
It is the SNOW that has given us very few full weeks of school.

Mmm, a well run school system would recognize the issue with weather closures in Jan/Feb and attempt to maximize instructional time before those months.

But FCPS is not a well run school system.

Nah- you just think a well run school system would agree with you. You have no metric to judge whether a school system is “well run” except your own opinion of whether it serves you well. We have LOTS of snow days built in. In the Boston area there are no snow days, but my friend’s kids were out of school several times this year. They will now be in school until June 27th to make up the days. They also had a week off in February for “break.” I prefer the way FCPS does it.

… Who do you think a school system is supposed to serve if not the students and their families? A school system that doesn’t serve them well, isn’t well run.

No, that is a selfish view. A well run school system has to serve the majority kids well, not one individual parent and their individual scheduling needs. It isn’t instagram or facebook. It is a school system. Greater good and all.

Sure, and the greater number of parents are saying is the schedule doesn't serve them. Early release was imposed on a lie. That vastly eroded trust. Now there is accountability.

Again, you are aiming weird unproven statements like “the greater number of parents”. As listed in what survey. You don’t have any real data except more people are complaining to the board and more people are complaining NOW as the snow days are interfering with the regular calendar making it FEEL like the calendar is horrible.
The calendar has been the same for years. It was set early this year. AS far as early release is concerned, they should move back to Mondays being short days for elementary. It only affects elementary students and there are programs for those parents who are inflexible situations.

Like I said, Boston schools will be in school until June 26 or 27tth because of snow days and they had a week last week before their latest snow storm as a built in holiday.

This is a strange attempt at gaslighting. The board has been getting hammered on the calendar since September and before. Early release met intense opposition. Yes how Reid handles snowstorms doesn’t build confidence in her but, the disaster calendar complaints started long before the snow did.

Well, I don’t mean to gaslight you and it is strange becuase that isn’t my intent.

My attempt is to point out out that the frustration you are feeling right now, in January February, is not really the calendar but due to the massive amounts of unusual snow and cold weather we have had lately. All I am trying to show is a different, less reactive, perspective.

The board was REALLY getting hammered about boundary changes. The calendar seems to have been a festering side issue with elementary parents upset that they have to have care for their kids. In the past, teenagers would handle this, but now you decide to pay camps. As a high school parent of a currently high performing student, I am happy about the days off as AP course work is intense. My upper elementary kid is fine also. I do have him do some extra math workbook pages at home on days off. It doesn’t take long and the workbook cost 15$ for the year.

That said, Meren is apparently a bit of an over-reactor herself:

https://www.fairfaxtimes.com/articles/fairfax_county/school-board-clerk-worked-from-home-amid-alleged-threats-from-school-board-member/article_de919f4a-f5b1-11ed-ab31-0fc4b8ac1977.html