Teacher workdays/school planning are ridiculous!

[Anonymous]

They call them planning days but do many of them are telling up by useless PDs and meetings that could’ve been emails. We try to multitask in these situations but many admin tell us to close our laptops so we can be “fully present.” Add that one to the list of educationalese I never want to hear again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BTW the teachers union in NYC is amazingly powerful but even they don’t advocate for schedule disruptions/more “work days”

Perhaps they advocate for better conditions in other ways: teaching fewer classes, a cap on the number of total students, a reasonable retake/retest policy, more dedicated planning time, fewer non-teaching duties, fewer meetings.

There are many ways to show support to teachers.

And you’ve listed a few that aren’t at the expense of students. Pushing for more disruption and workdays, in addition to (clearly) alienating parents, also shows teachers as wholly out for themselves and not at all interested in whats best for their students— even when its things like missed meals, or whole days alone/unsupervised. Advocating a smaller classroom size at least has the appearance of recognizing that schools are supposed to care about students.

Smaller classroom size means more teachers, which means more funding, which means higher taxes. And the public already balks at that. So, direct your anger at those who deserve it - everyone.

The CBA isn’t making classroom size their issue, they’re making “planning time” their issue. They should focus on something that is better for students not clearly bad for students and families to benefit teachers.

Also, this schedule has higher costs for families. Higher costs spread across all of Fairfax is a lot saner than higher costs concentrated on households with children.

New Jersey has preferential hiring for residents into public jobs, that would be another change that would align teachers and parents better.

1- planning time benefits your child and you more than you think. Teachers can be trained in new techniques, or ways to identify disabilities or answer you emails with more planning time. They can grade papers and give more meaningful feedback etc, etc.

2- No teachers aren’t the ones pushing for this- it is coming from new curriculum initiatives and science of reading training.

3- If all you are concerned about is the amount you pay for camps, angle to get taxpayers to pay for school aged camp subsidies. ACPS used to sponsor minicamps. I”m going to bet you see that would be impossible, so instead you are choosing to pick on teachers who are the low hanging fruit for you. A group of women who don’t have much power and dedicated themselves to trying to teach your kids should be easy for you to steam roll. It is very maddening that you have to pay for camps and can’t tell them what to do.

You are hilarious if you think teachers in Greenwich don’t respond to emails, grade papers, etc. They just manage it without shutting down schools eight extra days every year. And their outcomes suggest their training is as good or better than what Fairfax gets.

Greenwich has Tuesday march 24th 2026 as an early release for professional development. They had an earlier March half day as well. Their test scores are better because of higher income families make up the single high school district. My sister lives in Brookline MA which is very high performing. My Kindergarten niece is being taught using Lucy Caulkins. As a teacher who taught in VA vs Brookline she reports the teachers there are very out of date as is the overall curriculum. The district does well because the parents are rich.

Two early release vs. quarterly early release and monthly early. Your niece isn’t in Connecticut which updated its reading curriculum in the last three years.

And still has five day weeks, and two full days vs Fairfax’s ELEVEN training days. We are an embarassment.

One. High. School.

How many High Schools in the NYC public system?

NYC schools are closed a LOT. Did you look at their calendar? 2 days off just for Rosh Hashanah, Days off for EID, Diwali, Election Day, Italian heritage day, Veterans Day a mid winter recess…. On and on.

So you are now fine with all of those, just not teachers being trained?

Good lord, you are presenting as an angry person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Year round schooling is a non-starter here. Its also meant as a distraction— as though the only option that allows for a rational schedule is an overhaul. Its not. There is no reason FCPS can’t follow a rational schedule like Prince William, next largest VA district, NYC certainly as diverse as FCPS, etc. It’s just a political choice to stop shifting resources away from children.

Some of us see taking away planning time as ALSO shifting resources from students.

Students deserve prepared teachers who have time to write differentiated lessons and provide feedback on lessons.

Yes I agree, but they don’t need that at expense of THEIR education. Its at the adults expense, because schools are designed to serve children not adults.

Somehow the Northeast schools can deliver without keeping kids out of school.

So tell me: what is your solution? When should this work occur? Because right now it’s getting done at night and on weekends, to the tune of 20+ hours a week for many of us. Is that the “expense” reference above, when you say planning should come at our expense?

Fairfax had a ton of teacher planning days this year, early dismissal in elementary, plus two extras for elections. You’re saying that was *inadequate*?

I am high school. And no, it isn’t adequate. I suspect you don’t know what a teacher’s load looks like.

We happen to be in the midst of a national teacher shortage. There are plenty of people with teacher certification who refuse to go back into the classroom because of workload and conditions. That number is growing each year and colleges aren’t sending us enough new teachers. The kids see it. I had a senior ask me just last week why I do a job that requires this much work.

So if the calendar is changed to reduce teacher work time, what is your solution?

You got eleven days off for planning this year. Not counting the ones before the year started. Your colleagues in the Northeast got two. I’m sorry this is now a you problem.

As you continue to illustrate your lack of understanding….

Imagine if you got 11 days to prepare 180 days worth of material. Imagine that 11 days ALSO all you receive to gather feedback, process it, and deliver it to all stakeholders.

And imagine that those 180 days are all forward-facing presentations with no down time AND you are directly responsible for how your presentation is received by all 150 or so stakeholders. Oh, and some of the are openly combative and don’t want to hear what you have to say. You have to be prepared for that, too.

And imagine that 5 of those days are taken from you to attend meetings, so you can’t use those to get work done.

So are those 6 days enough for you? To plan 180 days worth of material? To gather and evaluate all feedback?

See, you don’t really get it. We actually do a lot of work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Year round schooling is a non-starter here. Its also meant as a distraction— as though the only option that allows for a rational schedule is an overhaul. Its not. There is no reason FCPS can’t follow a rational schedule like Prince William, next largest VA district, NYC certainly as diverse as FCPS, etc. It’s just a political choice to stop shifting resources away from children.

Some of us see taking away planning time as ALSO shifting resources from students.

Students deserve prepared teachers who have time to write differentiated lessons and provide feedback on lessons.

Yes I agree, but they don’t need that at expense of THEIR education. Its at the adults expense, because schools are designed to serve children not adults.

Somehow the Northeast schools can deliver without keeping kids out of school.

So tell me: what is your solution? When should this work occur? Because right now it’s getting done at night and on weekends, to the tune of 20+ hours a week for many of us. Is that the “expense” reference above, when you say planning should come at our expense?

Fairfax had a ton of teacher planning days this year, early dismissal in elementary, plus two extras for elections. You’re saying that was *inadequate*?

I am high school. And no, it isn’t adequate. I suspect you don’t know what a teacher’s load looks like.

We happen to be in the midst of a national teacher shortage. There are plenty of people with teacher certification who refuse to go back into the classroom because of workload and conditions. That number is growing each year and colleges aren’t sending us enough new teachers. The kids see it. I had a senior ask me just last week why I do a job that requires this much work.

So if the calendar is changed to reduce teacher work time, what is your solution?

You got eleven days off for planning this year. Not counting the ones before the year started. Your colleagues in the Northeast got two. I’m sorry this is now a you problem.

As you continue to illustrate your lack of understanding….

Imagine if you got 11 days to prepare 180 days worth of material. Imagine that 11 days ALSO all you receive to gather feedback, process it, and deliver it to all stakeholders.

And imagine that those 180 days are all forward-facing presentations with no down time AND you are directly responsible for how your presentation is received by all 150 or so stakeholders. Oh, and some of the are openly combative and don’t want to hear what you have to say. You have to be prepared for that, too.

And imagine that 5 of those days are taken from you to attend meetings, so you can’t use those to get work done.

So are those 6 days enough for you? To plan 180 days worth of material? To gather and evaluate all feedback?

See, you don’t really get it. We actually do a lot of work.

And editing to add: those aren’t days “off,” as you called them.

Please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Year round schooling is a non-starter here. Its also meant as a distraction— as though the only option that allows for a rational schedule is an overhaul. Its not. There is no reason FCPS can’t follow a rational schedule like Prince William, next largest VA district, NYC certainly as diverse as FCPS, etc. It’s just a political choice to stop shifting resources away from children.

Some of us see taking away planning time as ALSO shifting resources from students.

Students deserve prepared teachers who have time to write differentiated lessons and provide feedback on lessons.

Yes I agree, but they don’t need that at expense of THEIR education. Its at the adults expense, because schools are designed to serve children not adults.

Somehow the Northeast schools can deliver without keeping kids out of school.

So tell me: what is your solution? When should this work occur? Because right now it’s getting done at night and on weekends, to the tune of 20+ hours a week for many of us. Is that the “expense” reference above, when you say planning should come at our expense?

Fairfax had a ton of teacher planning days this year, early dismissal in elementary, plus two extras for elections. You’re saying that was *inadequate*?

I am high school. And no, it isn’t adequate. I suspect you don’t know what a teacher’s load looks like.

We happen to be in the midst of a national teacher shortage. There are plenty of people with teacher certification who refuse to go back into the classroom because of workload and conditions. That number is growing each year and colleges aren’t sending us enough new teachers. The kids see it. I had a senior ask me just last week why I do a job that requires this much work.

So if the calendar is changed to reduce teacher work time, what is your solution?

You got eleven days off for planning this year. Not counting the ones before the year started. Your colleagues in the Northeast got two. I’m sorry this is now a you problem.

You referring to teacher workdays as "days off" for teachers makes you part of the problem. Try to see outside of your own myopic perspective. In a school system of almost 180,000 students and 20,000 staff, there are a lot of perspectives at play.

-DP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Year round schooling is a non-starter here. Its also meant as a distraction— as though the only option that allows for a rational schedule is an overhaul. Its not. There is no reason FCPS can’t follow a rational schedule like Prince William, next largest VA district, NYC certainly as diverse as FCPS, etc. It’s just a political choice to stop shifting resources away from children.

Some of us see taking away planning time as ALSO shifting resources from students.

Students deserve prepared teachers who have time to write differentiated lessons and provide feedback on lessons.

Yes I agree, but they don’t need that at expense of THEIR education. Its at the adults expense, because schools are designed to serve children not adults.

Somehow the Northeast schools can deliver without keeping kids out of school.

So tell me: what is your solution? When should this work occur? Because right now it’s getting done at night and on weekends, to the tune of 20+ hours a week for many of us. Is that the “expense” reference above, when you say planning should come at our expense?

Fairfax had a ton of teacher planning days this year, early dismissal in elementary, plus two extras for elections. You’re saying that was *inadequate*?

I am high school. And no, it isn’t adequate. I suspect you don’t know what a teacher’s load looks like.

We happen to be in the midst of a national teacher shortage. There are plenty of people with teacher certification who refuse to go back into the classroom because of workload and conditions. That number is growing each year and colleges aren’t sending us enough new teachers. The kids see it. I had a senior ask me just last week why I do a job that requires this much work.

So if the calendar is changed to reduce teacher work time, what is your solution?

You got eleven days off for planning this year. Not counting the ones before the year started. Your colleagues in the Northeast got two. I’m sorry this is now a you problem.

As you continue to illustrate your lack of understanding….

Imagine if you got 11 days to prepare 180 days worth of material. Imagine that 11 days ALSO all you receive to gather feedback, process it, and deliver it to all stakeholders.

And imagine that those 180 days are all forward-facing presentations with no down time AND you are directly responsible for how your presentation is received by all 150 or so stakeholders. Oh, and some of the are openly combative and don’t want to hear what you have to say. You have to be prepared for that, too.

And imagine that 5 of those days are taken from you to attend meetings, so you can’t use those to get work done.

So are those 6 days enough for you? To plan 180 days worth of material? To gather and evaluate all feedback?

See, you don’t really get it. We actually do a lot of work.

bring back text books

[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:BTW the teachers union in NYC is amazingly powerful but even they don’t advocate for schedule disruptions/more “work days”

Perhaps they advocate for better conditions in other ways: teaching fewer classes, a cap on the number of total students, a reasonable retake/retest policy, more dedicated planning time, fewer non-teaching duties, fewer meetings.

There are many ways to show support to teachers.

And you’ve listed a few that aren’t at the expense of students. Pushing for more disruption and workdays, in addition to (clearly) alienating parents, also shows teachers as wholly out for themselves and not at all interested in whats best for their students— even when its things like missed meals, or whole days alone/unsupervised. Advocating a smaller classroom size at least has the appearance of recognizing that schools are supposed to care about students.

Smaller classroom size means more teachers, which means more funding, which means higher taxes. And the public already balks at that. So, direct your anger at those who deserve it - everyone.

The CBA isn’t making classroom size their issue, they’re making “planning time” their issue. They should focus on something that is better for students not clearly bad for students and families to benefit teachers.

Also, this schedule has higher costs for families. Higher costs spread across all of Fairfax is a lot saner than higher costs concentrated on households with children.

New Jersey has preferential hiring for residents into public jobs, that would be another change that would align teachers and parents better.

1- planning time benefits your child and you more than you think. Teachers can be trained in new techniques, or ways to identify disabilities or answer you emails with more planning time. They can grade papers and give more meaningful feedback etc, etc.

2- No teachers aren’t the ones pushing for this- it is coming from new curriculum initiatives and science of reading training.

3- If all you are concerned about is the amount you pay for camps, angle to get taxpayers to pay for school aged camp subsidies. ACPS used to sponsor minicamps. I”m going to bet you see that would be impossible, so instead you are choosing to pick on teachers who are the low hanging fruit for you. A group of women who don’t have much power and dedicated themselves to trying to teach your kids should be easy for you to steam roll. It is very maddening that you have to pay for camps and can’t tell them what to do.

You are hilarious if you think teachers in Greenwich don’t respond to emails, grade papers, etc. They just manage it without shutting down schools eight extra days every year. And their outcomes suggest their training is as good or better than what Fairfax gets.

Greenwich has Tuesday march 24th 2026 as an early release for professional development. They had an earlier March half day as well. Their test scores are better because of higher income families make up the single high school district. My sister lives in Brookline MA which is very high performing. My Kindergarten niece is being taught using Lucy Caulkins. As a teacher who taught in VA vs Brookline she reports the teachers there are very out of date as is the overall curriculum. The district does well because the parents are rich.

Two early release vs. quarterly early release and monthly early. Your niece isn’t in Connecticut which updated its reading curriculum in the last three years.

And still has five day weeks, and two full days vs Fairfax’s ELEVEN training days. We are an embarassment.

One. High. School.

How many High Schools in the NYC public system?

NYC schools are closed a LOT. Did you look at their calendar? 2 days off just for Rosh Hashanah, Days off for EID, Diwali, Election Day, Italian heritage day, Veterans Day a mid winter recess…. On and on.

So you are now fine with all of those, just not teachers being trained?

Good lord, you are presenting as an angry person.

did you count up the days off?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BTW the teachers union in NYC is amazingly powerful but even they don’t advocate for schedule disruptions/more “work days”

Perhaps they advocate for better conditions in other ways: teaching fewer classes, a cap on the number of total students, a reasonable retake/retest policy, more dedicated planning time, fewer non-teaching duties, fewer meetings.

There are many ways to show support to teachers.

And you’ve listed a few that aren’t at the expense of students. Pushing for more disruption and workdays, in addition to (clearly) alienating parents, also shows teachers as wholly out for themselves and not at all interested in whats best for their students— even when its things like missed meals, or whole days alone/unsupervised. Advocating a smaller classroom size at least has the appearance of recognizing that schools are supposed to care about students.

Smaller classroom size means more teachers, which means more funding, which means higher taxes. And the public already balks at that. So, direct your anger at those who deserve it - everyone.

The CBA isn’t making classroom size their issue, they’re making “planning time” their issue. They should focus on something that is better for students not clearly bad for students and families to benefit teachers.

Also, this schedule has higher costs for families. Higher costs spread across all of Fairfax is a lot saner than higher costs concentrated on households with children.

New Jersey has preferential hiring for residents into public jobs, that would be another change that would align teachers and parents better.

1- planning time benefits your child and you more than you think. Teachers can be trained in new techniques, or ways to identify disabilities or answer you emails with more planning time. They can grade papers and give more meaningful feedback etc, etc.

2- No teachers aren’t the ones pushing for this- it is coming from new curriculum initiatives and science of reading training.

3- If all you are concerned about is the amount you pay for camps, angle to get taxpayers to pay for school aged camp subsidies. ACPS used to sponsor minicamps. I”m going to bet you see that would be impossible, so instead you are choosing to pick on teachers who are the low hanging fruit for you. A group of women who don’t have much power and dedicated themselves to trying to teach your kids should be easy for you to steam roll. It is very maddening that you have to pay for camps and can’t tell them what to do.

You are hilarious if you think teachers in Greenwich don’t respond to emails, grade papers, etc. They just manage it without shutting down schools eight extra days every year. And their outcomes suggest their training is as good or better than what Fairfax gets.

Their outcomes suggest they teach kids who were born on third base. I teach students who haven’t made it out of the dugout.

And all the planning days off mean that those kids who “never make it out of the dugout” go hungry and unsupervised. It’s so nice to be able to fail at both ends of the economic extremes.

Do you also worry about these children during the summer? Or is your concern only on teacher workdays?

Why aren’t you advocating for year-round school? Or summer programs to support these children?

There *is* summer programming to support these kids. There ARE summer opportunities for kids who qualify for FARMS. Thats why the shortened summer is so doubly problematic— it creates a bunch of random days where there is no support and it shortens the time where there is reliable, consistent support.

Amazing that camp counselors, even at elite educational camps like Hopkins, make it through whole months without taking random days off to “plan”.

Most camp counselors are glorified babysitters. If they are at an educational camp like Hopkins, I’m sure there is a curriculum that is given to them to follow lock, step and key. The kids that go to these camps are smart, well behaved. Absolutely no comparison to teaching in FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Year round schooling is a non-starter here. Its also meant as a distraction— as though the only option that allows for a rational schedule is an overhaul. Its not. There is no reason FCPS can’t follow a rational schedule like Prince William, next largest VA district, NYC certainly as diverse as FCPS, etc. It’s just a political choice to stop shifting resources away from children.

Some of us see taking away planning time as ALSO shifting resources from students.

Students deserve prepared teachers who have time to write differentiated lessons and provide feedback on lessons.

Yes I agree, but they don’t need that at expense of THEIR education. Its at the adults expense, because schools are designed to serve children not adults.

Somehow the Northeast schools can deliver without keeping kids out of school.

So tell me: what is your solution? When should this work occur? Because right now it’s getting done at night and on weekends, to the tune of 20+ hours a week for many of us. Is that the “expense” reference above, when you say planning should come at our expense?

Fairfax had a ton of teacher planning days this year, early dismissal in elementary, plus two extras for elections. You’re saying that was *inadequate*?

I am high school. And no, it isn’t adequate. I suspect you don’t know what a teacher’s load looks like.

We happen to be in the midst of a national teacher shortage. There are plenty of people with teacher certification who refuse to go back into the classroom because of workload and conditions. That number is growing each year and colleges aren’t sending us enough new teachers. The kids see it. I had a senior ask me just last week why I do a job that requires this much work.

So if the calendar is changed to reduce teacher work time, what is your solution?

You got eleven days off for planning this year. Not counting the ones before the year started. Your colleagues in the Northeast got two. I’m sorry this is now a you problem.

As you continue to illustrate your lack of understanding….

Imagine if you got 11 days to prepare 180 days worth of material. Imagine that 11 days ALSO all you receive to gather feedback, process it, and deliver it to all stakeholders.

And imagine that those 180 days are all forward-facing presentations with no down time AND you are directly responsible for how your presentation is received by all 150 or so stakeholders. Oh, and some of the are openly combative and don’t want to hear what you have to say. You have to be prepared for that, too.

And imagine that 5 of those days are taken from you to attend meetings, so you can’t use those to get work done.

So are those 6 days enough for you? To plan 180 days worth of material? To gather and evaluate all feedback?

See, you don’t really get it. We actually do a lot of work.

Its not eleven days for 180 days of school prep, its closer to 17 but I left out the days before school starts and after school ends, because it doesn’t help with grading. But you knew that as a Fairfax teacher right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Year round schooling is a non-starter here. Its also meant as a distraction— as though the only option that allows for a rational schedule is an overhaul. Its not. There is no reason FCPS can’t follow a rational schedule like Prince William, next largest VA district, NYC certainly as diverse as FCPS, etc. It’s just a political choice to stop shifting resources away from children.

Some of us see taking away planning time as ALSO shifting resources from students.

Students deserve prepared teachers who have time to write differentiated lessons and provide feedback on lessons.

Yes I agree, but they don’t need that at expense of THEIR education. Its at the adults expense, because schools are designed to serve children not adults.

Somehow the Northeast schools can deliver without keeping kids out of school.

So tell me: what is your solution? When should this work occur? Because right now it’s getting done at night and on weekends, to the tune of 20+ hours a week for many of us. Is that the “expense” reference above, when you say planning should come at our expense?

Fairfax had a ton of teacher planning days this year, early dismissal in elementary, plus two extras for elections. You’re saying that was *inadequate*?

I am high school. And no, it isn’t adequate. I suspect you don’t know what a teacher’s load looks like.

We happen to be in the midst of a national teacher shortage. There are plenty of people with teacher certification who refuse to go back into the classroom because of workload and conditions. That number is growing each year and colleges aren’t sending us enough new teachers. The kids see it. I had a senior ask me just last week why I do a job that requires this much work.

So if the calendar is changed to reduce teacher work time, what is your solution?

You got eleven days off for planning this year. Not counting the ones before the year started. Your colleagues in the Northeast got two. I’m sorry this is now a you problem.

As you continue to illustrate your lack of understanding….

Imagine if you got 11 days to prepare 180 days worth of material. Imagine that 11 days ALSO all you receive to gather feedback, process it, and deliver it to all stakeholders.

And imagine that those 180 days are all forward-facing presentations with no down time AND you are directly responsible for how your presentation is received by all 150 or so stakeholders. Oh, and some of the are openly combative and don’t want to hear what you have to say. You have to be prepared for that, too.

And imagine that 5 of those days are taken from you to attend meetings, so you can’t use those to get work done.

So are those 6 days enough for you? To plan 180 days worth of material? To gather and evaluate all feedback?


Yes, it is a lot of work. There is also planning time everyday.
See, you don’t really get it. We actually do a lot of work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Year round schooling is a non-starter here. Its also meant as a distraction— as though the only option that allows for a rational schedule is an overhaul. Its not. There is no reason FCPS can’t follow a rational schedule like Prince William, next largest VA district, NYC certainly as diverse as FCPS, etc. It’s just a political choice to stop shifting resources away from children.

Some of us see taking away planning time as ALSO shifting resources from students.

Students deserve prepared teachers who have time to write differentiated lessons and provide feedback on lessons.

Yes I agree, but they don’t need that at expense of THEIR education. Its at the adults expense, because schools are designed to serve children not adults.

Somehow the Northeast schools can deliver without keeping kids out of school.

So tell me: what is your solution? When should this work occur? Because right now it’s getting done at night and on weekends, to the tune of 20+ hours a week for many of us. Is that the “expense” reference above, when you say planning should come at our expense?

Fairfax had a ton of teacher planning days this year, early dismissal in elementary, plus two extras for elections. You’re saying that was *inadequate*?

I am high school. And no, it isn’t adequate. I suspect you don’t know what a teacher’s load looks like.

We happen to be in the midst of a national teacher shortage. There are plenty of people with teacher certification who refuse to go back into the classroom because of workload and conditions. That number is growing each year and colleges aren’t sending us enough new teachers. The kids see it. I had a senior ask me just last week why I do a job that requires this much work.

So if the calendar is changed to reduce teacher work time, what is your solution?

You got eleven days off for planning this year. Not counting the ones before the year started. Your colleagues in the Northeast got two. I’m sorry this is now a you problem.

As you continue to illustrate your lack of understanding….

Imagine if you got 11 days to prepare 180 days worth of material. Imagine that 11 days ALSO all you receive to gather feedback, process it, and deliver it to all stakeholders.

And imagine that those 180 days are all forward-facing presentations with no down time AND you are directly responsible for how your presentation is received by all 150 or so stakeholders. Oh, and some of the are openly combative and don’t want to hear what you have to say. You have to be prepared for that, too.

And imagine that 5 of those days are taken from you to attend meetings, so you can’t use those to get work done.

So are those 6 days enough for you? To plan 180 days worth of material? To gather and evaluate all feedback?

See, you don’t really get it. We actually do a lot of work.

bring back text books

There is also planning every day.

[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:BTW the teachers union in NYC is amazingly powerful but even they don’t advocate for schedule disruptions/more “work days”

Perhaps they advocate for better conditions in other ways: teaching fewer classes, a cap on the number of total students, a reasonable retake/retest policy, more dedicated planning time, fewer non-teaching duties, fewer meetings.

There are many ways to show support to teachers.

And you’ve listed a few that aren’t at the expense of students. Pushing for more disruption and workdays, in addition to (clearly) alienating parents, also shows teachers as wholly out for themselves and not at all interested in whats best for their students— even when its things like missed meals, or whole days alone/unsupervised. Advocating a smaller classroom size at least has the appearance of recognizing that schools are supposed to care about students.

Smaller classroom size means more teachers, which means more funding, which means higher taxes. And the public already balks at that. So, direct your anger at those who deserve it - everyone.

The CBA isn’t making classroom size their issue, they’re making “planning time” their issue. They should focus on something that is better for students not clearly bad for students and families to benefit teachers.

Also, this schedule has higher costs for families. Higher costs spread across all of Fairfax is a lot saner than higher costs concentrated on households with children.

New Jersey has preferential hiring for residents into public jobs, that would be another change that would align teachers and parents better.

1- planning time benefits your child and you more than you think. Teachers can be trained in new techniques, or ways to identify disabilities or answer you emails with more planning time. They can grade papers and give more meaningful feedback etc, etc.

2- No teachers aren’t the ones pushing for this- it is coming from new curriculum initiatives and science of reading training.

3- If all you are concerned about is the amount you pay for camps, angle to get taxpayers to pay for school aged camp subsidies. ACPS used to sponsor minicamps. I”m going to bet you see that would be impossible, so instead you are choosing to pick on teachers who are the low hanging fruit for you. A group of women who don’t have much power and dedicated themselves to trying to teach your kids should be easy for you to steam roll. It is very maddening that you have to pay for camps and can’t tell them what to do.

You are hilarious if you think teachers in Greenwich don’t respond to emails, grade papers, etc. They just manage it without shutting down schools eight extra days every year. And their outcomes suggest their training is as good or better than what Fairfax gets.

Greenwich has Tuesday march 24th 2026 as an early release for professional development. They had an earlier March half day as well. Their test scores are better because of higher income families make up the single high school district. My sister lives in Brookline MA which is very high performing. My Kindergarten niece is being taught using Lucy Caulkins. As a teacher who taught in VA vs Brookline she reports the teachers there are very out of date as is the overall curriculum. The district does well because the parents are rich.

Two early release vs. quarterly early release and monthly early. Your niece isn’t in Connecticut which updated its reading curriculum in the last three years.

And still has five day weeks, and two full days vs Fairfax’s ELEVEN training days. We are an embarassment.

One. High. School.

How many High Schools in the NYC public system?

NYC schools are closed a LOT. Did you look at their calendar? 2 days off just for Rosh Hashanah, Days off for EID, Diwali, Election Day, Italian heritage day, Veterans Day a mid winter recess…. On and on.

So you are now fine with all of those, just not teachers being trained?

Good lord, you are presenting as an angry person.

did you count up the days off?

Seriously. Fewer days off than FCPS, starts in September, two teacher workdays that are holidays for students. Oh and a couple of the best schools in the country in addition to profound cultural and economic diversity.

Yes, I’m just fine with a calendar that doesn’t include 9 extra days off, and monthly half days.

[Anonymous]

Salem City, Virginia school calendar
Same law applies, they get out 20 days sooner!
May 28 is their last day, and they started the same day as FCPS!
https://content.myconnectsuite.com/api/documents/29957869e81249f9ac72713812f81f20.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Salem City, Virginia school calendar
Same law applies, they get out 20 days sooner!
May 28 is their last day, and they started the same day as FCPS!
https://content.myconnectsuite.com/api/documents/29957869e81249f9ac72713812f81f20.pdf

The argument on this thread is about consistent school. Getting out 20 days earlier, and therefore having a longer summer, would be even more disruptive to student learning.

The summer has the most negative impact on student routine and continuity of learning. If we really want students to be in school and learning, then advocating for even more time off in June isn’t the answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Salem City, Virginia school calendar
Same law applies, they get out 20 days sooner!
May 28 is their last day, and they started the same day as FCPS!
https://content.myconnectsuite.com/api/documents/29957869e81249f9ac72713812f81f20.pdf

The argument on this thread is about consistent school. Getting out 20 days earlier, and therefore having a longer summer, would be even more disruptive to student learning.

The summer has the most negative impact on student routine and continuity of learning. If we really want students to be in school and learning, then advocating for even more time off in June isn’t the answer.

The argument is for consistent school in the school year. 20 days earlier means during the school year kids are in school.

I don’t know whether this is true in Salem City but in Fairfax there are plenty of programs for summer enrichment and kids starting those a month sooner would have even more opportunities they don’t presently have.