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: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

When the board member on September said the board needed to take action on the calendar because of how dissatisfied parents were, was he being “reactive” to snow days?

[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: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

And we are telling you that people were complaining about the calendar in September and October because it is ridiculous. People were complaining about the calendar when it was first published.

If your kids AP courses are intense, take fewer courses. That is not a good excuse for having a calendar that is awful for consistency and retention.

[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: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

As a best practice, when you are not trying to gaslight someone, don’t immediately tell them that what they are experiencing is better known to you than it is to them.

Frustration over this calendar began long before the snow. If you wanted to suggest instead that Meren timed her initiative to take maximum advantage of a confluence of factors— DHS not being paid, unnecessary snowday call for Monday, particularly bad February *calendar* you might be right.

[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: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

There are demonstrably more planned days off this year than in years past. It is a point of fact that while there are the same number of instructional days, the calendar is a full week longer. I won’t deny that snow days have caused frustrations to boil over, but it’s disingenuous to call it an emotional response. The calendar is bad by design.

But sure, let’s throw out the “you hate taking care of your kids” argument because parents are complaining their kids can barely string together 3 days a week in a classroom.

[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: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

May be gaslighting was constructing this calendar and assuming that since it maintains the correct number of hours it was going to work out. And now people are actually living through reality of it with added snow, special elections, o days, kids being sick sometimes, and they are having a clear view and can't be gaslit into believing it's been a normal calendar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My bottom line is simply to make the calendar available well in advance. I really appreciate that Dr. Reid provides a three-year calendar, I hate those days when it was February and we were still waiting for the new school year calendar. Please do NOT change the posted 26-27 calendar, just stop. Remember that no calendar will ever make everyone happy. We now have one for 26-27 and let us keep it. Go ahead and work on the 28-29 one if you must.

But 26–27 isn’t posted. Unless you’re saying that it’s been determined that early release is over.

26-27 is posted, google it and you will see it as the first link.

+1 yup, these people are idiots

No, the point just went over your head. That calendar shows no elementary early release days, so unless early release has been ended, is not a complete calendar. Obviously changes are still quite possible.

The calendar for this year doesn't show any early release Wednesdays either. They are listed on the FCPS website but not included on the calendar, yet we all know that they are happening. Not sure why the need for so much snark.
-DP

[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.

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.

A bunch of opinion based generalizations here.

“Very few jobs offer unlimited PTO”

In my sector, pharmaceuticals, it’s pretty common. In fact my last 3 companies (severance, merger, promotion) have all offered unlimited PTO. I’ve been approached by multiple competitors, none have any verbiage about contract hours etc. I work on a team and have deadlines, as long as my work is submitted by the deadline, they could care less when and where I do it. As professionals, we have the freedom and the ability to plan our meetings when it works for us.

I think there’s some confusion about what a ROWE workplace is. This may not be common in your sector unfortunately, but it’s very common in others. I’d encourage you to explore better opportunities where the company prioritizes your happiness and mental health as much as they do your work. They’re out there!

[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: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

There are demonstrably more planned days off this year than in years past. It is a point of fact that while there are the same number of instructional days, the calendar is a full week longer. I won’t deny that snow days have caused frustrations to boil over, but it’s disingenuous to call it an emotional response. The calendar is bad by design.

But sure, let’s throw out the “you hate taking care of your kids” argument because parents are complaining their kids can barely string together 3 days a week in a classroom.

It’s now gone from complaining about the lack of 5 day weeks to “barely stringing together 3 days a week”.

Without snow, there has been TWO 3-day weeks this entire year. Both in November.

And they say this isn’t an emotional response lol

[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.

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.

A bunch of opinion based generalizations here.

“Very few jobs offer unlimited PTO”

In my sector, pharmaceuticals, it’s pretty common. In fact my last 3 companies (severance, merger, promotion) have all offered unlimited PTO. I’ve been approached by multiple competitors, none have any verbiage about contract hours etc. I work on a team and have deadlines, as long as my work is submitted by the deadline, they could care less when and where I do it. As professionals, we have the freedom and the ability to plan our meetings when it works for us.

I think there’s some confusion about what a ROWE workplace is. This may not be common in your sector unfortunately, but it’s very common in others. I’d encourage you to explore better opportunities where the company prioritizes your happiness and mental health as much as they do your work. They’re out there!

Then teachers in pursuit of unlimited telework and PTO opportunities should seek work in the pharmaceutical industry. It is not by any means industry standard in teaching.

[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.

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

There are demonstrably more planned days off this year than in years past. It is a point of fact that while there are the same number of instructional days, the calendar is a full week longer. I won’t deny that snow days have caused frustrations to boil over, but it’s disingenuous to call it an emotional response. The calendar is bad by design.

But sure, let’s throw out the “you hate taking care of your kids” argument because parents are complaining their kids can barely string together 3 days a week in a classroom.

It’s now gone from complaining about the lack of 5 day weeks to “barely stringing together 3 days a week”.

Without snow, there has been TWO 3-day weeks this entire year. Both in November.

And they say this isn’t an emotional response lol

Oh yes. November, when the calendar (not the snow) created a schedule with exactly one five day week. That non three day week was two days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of my favorite things in life is watching people purposefully have kids then complaining about the scheduling/planning issues that come with having kids. Almost as if they were forced into parenthood.

Like sorry Karen, I guess no one warned you that having 3 kids while you and Chad both work 9-5s that can barely financially support the 5 of you financially may come with obstacles.

But I digress, much easier for parents to moan and complain than to adapt and overcome.

Imagine if FCPS adopted the (majority of) Colorado school schedule... 7.5 hour days, 4 days a week, 144 days a year.

HOW WOULD ANYONE SURVIVE?!

If it were standard and expected, people and the community would adapt. It's the uncertainty that is burdening people so much. If we all knew going into our children's school years that it would be M-TH or Monday Tuesday, Thursday Friday people would plan for that. Employers would all know and they would likewise plan around it the same way we all currently know that there is no school on Saturdays or Sundays.

There would be workplaces that gave the option to work Saturdays because some people could work that day and their spouse work the Friday or Wednesday that kids were off. There would be private supplemental daycare places, businesses that offer martial arts or academics that would be open those days. Parents might get together and form co-ops to support each other with that one day a week off with babysitting and homework supervision and social time.

Again, the uncertainty and it changing one year to the next is the issue.

There’s nothing uncertain about our current calendar. It’s been set for years, including the days off.

What day is the Muslim holiday that is only known when some random dude sees the Moon?

Not very respectful. It's not "some random dude".

There are two Muslim holidays observed by FCPS. Both follow the lunar calendar and yes, can vary based on when the local relgious leader (Imam) views the moon.

So the school calendar isn't set years in advance.

Thanks for playing.

They estimate the date Eid will fall years in advance and set that as the Holiday for closure. If Eid shifts they do not change to scheduled day off. They make the “real” Eid an O day. This has happened recently.

Or just drop it (and all the other woke holidays) from the calendar and never worry about it again.

The simpler solution is usually better.

I can only speak to my personal experience as a special ed teacher, but I assure you, we need to be off school for Eid. We need our teachers, bus drivers, IAs and PHTAs in the building. It’s literally dangerous for some students to have so many trusted and essential people out at one time.

Then principals should run their schools. There was no evidence that any of these religious holidays had staffing problems. Even random Fridays had higher absentee rates.

[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.

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

There are demonstrably more planned days off this year than in years past. It is a point of fact that while there are the same number of instructional days, the calendar is a full week longer. I won’t deny that snow days have caused frustrations to boil over, but it’s disingenuous to call it an emotional response. The calendar is bad by design.

But sure, let’s throw out the “you hate taking care of your kids” argument because parents are complaining their kids can barely string together 3 days a week in a classroom.

It’s now gone from complaining about the lack of 5 day weeks to “barely stringing together 3 days a week”.

Without snow, there has been TWO 3-day weeks this entire year. Both in November.

And they say this isn’t an emotional response lol

When I say “string” I mean 3 days in a row. Weeks with only 3 consecutive days of school:

Sept 10-12*
Sept 24-26*
Sept 29-Oct 1*
Nov 5-7
Nov 12-14*
Nov 24-25 (2 days)
Jan 26-28 (cancelled due to snow)
Feb 18-20
Apr 7-9
May 28-29 (2 days)
Jun 15-17 (school ends)

* weeks with 4 days but only 3 consecutive days due to midweek closure.

[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.

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

There are demonstrably more planned days off this year than in years past. It is a point of fact that while there are the same number of instructional days, the calendar is a full week longer. I won’t deny that snow days have caused frustrations to boil over, but it’s disingenuous to call it an emotional response. The calendar is bad by design.

But sure, let’s throw out the “you hate taking care of your kids” argument because parents are complaining their kids can barely string together 3 days a week in a classroom.

It’s now gone from complaining about the lack of 5 day weeks to “barely stringing together 3 days a week”.

Without snow, there has been TWO 3-day weeks this entire year. Both in November.

And they say this isn’t an emotional response lol

What about the week in February? Off for President's Day and Off the day after. That is a 3 day school week.

[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:

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

There are demonstrably more planned days off this year than in years past. It is a point of fact that while there are the same number of instructional days, the calendar is a full week longer. I won’t deny that snow days have caused frustrations to boil over, but it’s disingenuous to call it an emotional response. The calendar is bad by design.

But sure, let’s throw out the “you hate taking care of your kids” argument because parents are complaining their kids can barely string together 3 days a week in a classroom.

It’s now gone from complaining about the lack of 5 day weeks to “barely stringing together 3 days a week”.

Without snow, there has been TWO 3-day weeks this entire year. Both in November.

And they say this isn’t an emotional response lol

When I say “string” I mean 3 days in a row. Weeks with only 3 consecutive days of school:

Sept 10-12*
Sept 24-26*
Sept 29-Oct 1*
Nov 5-7
Nov 12-14*
Nov 24-25 (2 days)
Jan 26-28 (cancelled due to snow)
Feb 18-20
Apr 7-9
May 28-29 (2 days)
Jun 15-17 (school ends)

* weeks with 4 days but only 3 consecutive days due to midweek closure.

And to add why elementary school parents are frustrated. There were 3 hour early releases held on Sept 10, Nov 12, and Feb 18 for half the county. The other half fared better with the placement of their 3 hour early releases.

[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:

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

There are demonstrably more planned days off this year than in years past. It is a point of fact that while there are the same number of instructional days, the calendar is a full week longer. I won’t deny that snow days have caused frustrations to boil over, but it’s disingenuous to call it an emotional response. The calendar is bad by design.

But sure, let’s throw out the “you hate taking care of your kids” argument because parents are complaining their kids can barely string together 3 days a week in a classroom.

It’s now gone from complaining about the lack of 5 day weeks to “barely stringing together 3 days a week”.

Without snow, there has been TWO 3-day weeks this entire year. Both in November.

And they say this isn’t an emotional response lol

What about the week in February? Off for President's Day and Off the day after. That is a 3 day school week.

I wouldn’t even engage the arguments that attempt to portray frustration with this year’s calendar as irrational. The board has decided to take it up. The angle Meren has chosen to approach it from is the high cost of childcare in this region, and so now is the time for proposals that lower the out-of-pocket cost to parents.