Winter break should be two weeks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m French. Schools have a shorter summer vacation (less brain drain), 2 weeks in the fall around All Saints Day, 2 weeks for Christmas, 2 weeks in winter, and 2 weeks for Easter.

How I wish my American children could have the same calendar here!

That’s the schedule we had overseas and it was great. So much better for students and teachers.

I wish we could have this as well!

Otherwise, I prefer shorter breaks overall, so the kids don't have to be stuck in daycare or camps the whole holiday. We just don't have that much time off, and can't afford to go anywhere fun in the winter anyhow.

[Anonymous]

We were in FCPS for several years. The complaint was the opposite. Why is winter break so long? I much prefer the shorter break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nah. I’d rather they have the kids other random days off during the year instead of a longer Winter Break.

OP, check your privilege. Not everyone in MoCo has the money and time to travel to London over Winter Break. For us poors who have to work, it’s nice to have the kids back in school after 10 days.

+1.
And for kids who don’t have any enrichment at home, there’s a slide in learning. Maybe not a factor at schools in wealthier areas but certainly at our local Title 1 school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nah. I’d rather they have the kids other random days off during the year instead of a longer Winter Break.

OP, check your privilege. Not everyone in MoCo has the money and time to travel to London over Winter Break. For us poors who have to work, it’s nice to have the kids back in school after 10 days.

Check your mediocrity, why must policy be based on the least among us. Proper holiday trips are cherished holiday traditions for many of us. Of course it doesn’t really matter if kids miss a few days while traveling and apparently it will break your finances

God some of you are just awful. When you have a thought like this, why not just keep it to yourself?

New poster. Because it's true, pp. We don't need to lower ourselves to the least common need. We need to raise to the highest. Its your underlying belief that no one should have xxx because some can't have xxx that has lead to the decline of America's exceptional ism. We are all tired of it.

It’s not the least common need, it’s the MOST common need. The 5% or the 1% is in the minority. The people for whom the extra week of allows for the extra long vacay or time off from work. That not how most of this area experienced the break. Check your privilege - and your math skills while you’re at it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nah. I’d rather they have the kids other random days off during the year instead of a longer Winter Break.

OP, check your privilege. Not everyone in MoCo has the money and time to travel to London over Winter Break. For us poors who have to work, it’s nice to have the kids back in school after 10 days.

+1.
And for kids who don’t have any enrichment at home, there’s a slide in learning. Maybe not a factor at schools in wealthier areas but certainly at our local Title 1 school.

Check your facts. The learning slide happens during summer, not a two week wi term break. Lengthen the winter and shorten the summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nah. I’d rather they have the kids other random days off during the year instead of a longer Winter Break.

OP, check your privilege. Not everyone in MoCo has the money and time to travel to London over Winter Break. For us poors who have to work, it’s nice to have the kids back in school after 10 days.

+1.
And for kids who don’t have any enrichment at home, there’s a slide in learning. Maybe not a factor at schools in wealthier areas but certainly at our local Title 1 school.

Check your facts. The learning slide happens during summer, not a two week wi term break. Lengthen the winter and shorten the summer.

Check your facts. There is a learning slide over the winter break for many kids - this is a pervasive issue and while not as significant, an issue nonetheless. Educate yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nah. I’d rather they have the kids other random days off during the year instead of a longer Winter Break.

OP, check your privilege. Not everyone in MoCo has the money and time to travel to London over Winter Break. For us poors who have to work, it’s nice to have the kids back in school after 10 days.

+1.
And for kids who don’t have any enrichment at home, there’s a slide in learning. Maybe not a factor at schools in wealthier areas but certainly at our local Title 1 school.

Check your facts. The learning slide happens during summer, not a two week wi term break. Lengthen the winter and shorten the summer.

Check your facts. There is a learning slide over the winter break for many kids - this is a pervasive issue and while not as significant, an issue nonetheless. Educate yourself.

“Check your privilege this…check your privilege that…educate yourself…” This is the most insufferable school message board in these forums by far. Why does this county attract such miserable people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nah. I’d rather they have the kids other random days off during the year instead of a longer Winter Break.

OP, check your privilege. Not everyone in MoCo has the money and time to travel to London over Winter Break. For us poors who have to work, it’s nice to have the kids back in school after 10 days.

Everyone over the age of 14 who says this sounds like a nitwit.

[Anonymous]

I wish we had a longer break. For those whose parents can’t take time off from work, the aftercare program at our school (and I assume this is the case for other schools as well) typically runs a winter break camp, which I believe based on past experience is the same price as what you normally pay when school is in session.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nah. I’d rather they have the kids other random days off during the year instead of a longer Winter Break.

OP, check your privilege. Not everyone in MoCo has the money and time to travel to London over Winter Break. For us poors who have to work, it’s nice to have the kids back in school after 10 days.

+1.
And for kids who don’t have any enrichment at home, there’s a slide in learning. Maybe not a factor at schools in wealthier areas but certainly at our local Title 1 school.

Check your facts. The learning slide happens during summer, not a two week wi term break. Lengthen the winter and shorten the summer.

Check your facts. There is a learning slide over the winter break for many kids - this is a pervasive issue and while not as significant, an issue nonetheless. Educate yourself.

Cite please. With data. Not a random blog post.

I guess we should just have 365 days of school then snd pay teacher twice as much, because if an extra week in December causes too much learning loss, then why close for spring or Thanksgiving, or even Memorial Day at all?

The suggestion was swapping a week during the summer for an extra one during the winter. The summer is obviously more of a problem snd is well documented, but if you can’t accept that, I don’t see why you’d be opposed to cutting out all vacations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m French. Schools have a shorter summer vacation (less brain drain), 2 weeks in the fall around All Saints Day, 2 weeks for Christmas, 2 weeks in winter, and 2 weeks for Easter.

How I wish my American children could have the same calendar here!

That’s the schedule we had overseas and it was great. So much better for students and teachers.

It is based around weather. Many US states have extremely hot summers - that's an expense to cool the buildings. It's not a parallel issue in Europe.

Maybe it didn't used to be (in northern Europe), but now it is.

No. Schools in Europe don't have air conditioning - not even houses or apartments have it - only some stores and movie theaters

[Anonymous]

All they had to do is add M-W, then you'd have a string of five more days with the weekend. Those are effectively days that students won't showing up to and/or mentally checking out of anyway. But MCPS always has to make things worse while posters on this board cheerlead them on and shout everybody else down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nah. I’d rather they have the kids other random days off during the year instead of a longer Winter Break.

OP, check your privilege. Not everyone in MoCo has the money and time to travel to London over Winter Break. For us poors who have to work, it’s nice to have the kids back in school after 10 days.

+1.
And for kids who don’t have any enrichment at home, there’s a slide in learning. Maybe not a factor at schools in wealthier areas but certainly at our local Title 1 school.

Check your facts. The learning slide happens during summer, not a two week wi term break. Lengthen the winter and shorten the summer.

Check your facts. There is a learning slide over the winter break for many kids - this is a pervasive issue and while not as significant, an issue nonetheless. Educate yourself.

I’ve been teaching for over 25 years. There is a well-researched summer slide for black & brown children. This is at the heart of the achievement gap. White children either stay the same or increase achievement. But black & brown kids actually start the year in September at a lower level than when they left in June. Winter break slide? Yeah, not so much, except for a tiny, tiny percentage of students with special education needs, especially in the area of memory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were in FCPS for several years. The complaint was the opposite. Why is winter break so long? I much prefer the shorter break.

You’re in the minority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were in FCPS for several years. The complaint was the opposite. Why is winter break so long? I much prefer the shorter break.

If they made it longer, most of us would need to arrange childcare since most jobs don't have limits on the amount of time off their employees can have. Sure, teachers and gov employees may have limitless days off but those of us who work in the private sector have far fewer.