latest calendar survey

[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.

But there is no calculation involved, unlike high school report cards. The teachers just pick 1-4, then a canned comment off 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.

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

PP here.
I didn’t say anything about comments. I only pointed out that they take hours. A lot longer than some people realize.

[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.

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.

But there is no calculation involved, unlike high school report cards. The teachers just pick 1-4, then a canned comment off a list.

HS grades are already calculated. My teacher spouse teaches in a MS and just has to verify. He says MS grading is so much easier it’s not even close. ES has to choose 1-4 about 2,000 times for the 4th quarter.
Take for example the final grade. A student’s quarterly grades are 2, 2, NT, 4. The next student has 3, 2, NT, 3. You have to go through and determine each final grade after entering each 4th quarter grade.

[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.

The “Jobs and Careers” board. The complaints are there.

[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?

Are you at FCPS?

[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.

You’re completely right. But. Quite a lot of the “teachers” here on the FCPS board, when challenged, admit to not being FCPS teachers. This is just the most active board and they get the most attention here for their perceived suffering. So make sure you realize these teachers more than likely do not represent your children’s teachers and in many cases your children’s teachers would be cringing reading the posts.

[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

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.

Not for high school. They get mailed later.

[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

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.

Not for high school. They get mailed later.

Sure, but the PP about completing grades on the 17th and 18th was directed to an ES teacher’s comment.

Maybe they should do the same thing with ES reports. Mail them later.

[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?

Are you at FCPS?

I interpreted the PP as saying she worked on comments in addition to entering grades and by “writing” she meant completing/choosing.

[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.

At my middle school, grades are due by end of the day on Monday the 15th. I will be packing my room. We may or may not be getting a new math curriculum next year, so it's useless planning without knowing which curriculum is being used and what resources it provides.

[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.

Maybe? My spouse took a call this morning, did a little work, went to the gym took a shower, jumped on another call did some work, waited around for a while for work to be done and repackaged that work a little and sent it to the client. 6 hours of billable time today.

Me, I worked on comment from 5am-2 pm on my personal day off then worked on my end of year documentation for my SMART goal for a while. While I understand professional jobs have lots of things to do beyond their regular hours, but it is the main focus of your job. Your job is to appease clients and do those things. Our main job is to teach/watch the kids and all the stuff you do to appease clients is all added on to a job where we can’t just go out to lunch when we need a break. Our main job is to be in a room for 6 hours a day with kids teaching them. That is emotionally draining, and then on top of that we have a ton of admin tasks we can’t delegate to someone else on the team.

Why did you leave to run your own business? It wasn’t just the personal time, it is also that teaching is HARD on top of then having to lose personal time for admin tasks.

[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

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.

At my middle school, grades are due by end of the day on Monday the 15th. I will be packing my room. We may or may not be getting a new math curriculum next year, so it's useless planning without knowing which curriculum is being used and what resources it provides.

When are you allowed to start? We technically aren’t supposed to start until the 16th.

[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

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.

Not for high school. They get mailed later.

That teacher cannot possibly be a fcps teacher.

[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.

Maybe? My spouse took a call this morning, did a little work, went to the gym took a shower, jumped on another call did some work, waited around for a while for work to be done and repackaged that work a little and sent it to the client. 6 hours of billable time today.

Me, I worked on comment from 5am-2 pm on my personal day off then worked on my end of year documentation for my SMART goal for a while. While I understand professional jobs have lots of things to do beyond their regular hours, but it is the main focus of your job. Your job is to appease clients and do those things. Our main job is to teach/watch the kids and all the stuff you do to appease clients is all added on to a job where we can’t just go out to lunch when we need a break. Our main job is to be in a room for 6 hours a day with kids teaching them. That is emotionally draining, and then on top of that we have a ton of admin tasks we can’t delegate to someone else on the team.

Why did you leave to run your own business? It wasn’t just the personal time, it is also that teaching is HARD on top of then having to lose personal time for admin tasks.

How on earth are you spending 9 hours filling out fcps report cards for 25-ish elementary students??

[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.

Maybe? My spouse took a call this morning, did a little work, went to the gym took a shower, jumped on another call did some work, waited around for a while for work to be done and repackaged that work a little and sent it to the client. 6 hours of billable time today.

Me, I worked on comment from 5am-2 pm on my personal day off then worked on my end of year documentation for my SMART goal for a while. While I understand professional jobs have lots of things to do beyond their regular hours, but it is the main focus of your job. Your job is to appease clients and do those things. Our main job is to teach/watch the kids and all the stuff you do to appease clients is all added on to a job where we can’t just go out to lunch when we need a break. Our main job is to be in a room for 6 hours a day with kids teaching them. That is emotionally draining, and then on top of that we have a ton of admin tasks we can’t delegate to someone else on the team.

Why did you leave to run your own business? It wasn’t just the personal time, it is also that teaching is HARD on top of then having to lose personal time for admin tasks.

You still have a week of school left. Then you have several mandatory paid teacher work days to complete report cards in the school building at work.

If you are completing the grades 2 weekends early, and spending 9 hours on elementary grades picking numbers and canned comments from a drop down menu, 2 weeks before school ends, on your personal weekend instead of your required teacher work days, then something very wrong is happening with your time management.