School calendar sucks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We get 180 days of school. Personally, I would like to switch to year-round school with 3 weeks between each quarter and a 5 week summer.

A 10-11 week summer is too long. Swim team has always happened just fine even while kids are in school. Teens can have "summer" jobs even while they are in school. Camps and drop-in child care can happen on random school days off just like it happens in the summer.

180 days of school is all you're going to get. Why do you all get so riled up with a shorter summer?

Camps tend to be outdoors unless they specialize in a mostly indoor specific activity like basketball or hockey. Camps with summer esc activities can't run in the winter.

[Anonymous]

I agree, 2.5 weeks for winter break is absurd. Tying Spring Break to Catholicism is also absurd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Moon and Dunne have both acknowledged that the 2025-26 calendar needs to be fixed.

Please PLEASE your school board member instead of posting here!

https://www.fcps.edu/about-fcps/contact-us/school-board

Eye roll.

Nothing will change.

+1
We are stuck with it for next year. Best case they realize what a disaster it is to hand out holidays like candy and dial it back to a saner amount in 2026-2027

Yup, as bad as it might be, at least we don’t have to live through the board taking months to decide on a one-year calendar like we did before they approved three years at one time. It was so sloppy and embarrassing. Hopefully they will cut the extra holidays next time they take on a calendar. And hopefully they will coordinate with neighboring jurisdictions to move spring break to a fixed week instead of tied to Easter.

I'm not sure why these districts not just Fairfax but other counties like to always have the break the week preceding a holiday that shifts 1-4 weeks from one year to the next. It should schedule spring break to a secular point (ex after 3rd quarter is over or 1st full week of April) unless that would result in a strange one week between spring break and Easter.
SB 2025 is April 14-18, but SB 2027 is slated for March 22-26 3 weeks earlier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:next year's schedule is horrific

I hope they still start the 2026 graduations on June 1st.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree, 2.5 weeks for winter break is absurd. Tying Spring Break to Catholicism is also absurd.

They aren't tying spring break to Catholicism. Nice try. Holy Week is a somber week of sacrifice, fasting and prayer, and is not supposed to be a week of partying at Disney or drinking on the beach.

They are tying springbreak to the other northern Virginia districts (but not the Catholic schools which do not schedule spring break during Holy Week) who all have their spring break the week prior to Easter. That is a northern Virginia public school thing, not a Catholic thing. It actually does not respect the Catholic tradition and purpose of Holy Week.

If you have a beef with spring break aligning with Easter talk to Arlington, Alexandria, Lousoun and Prince William county schools.

FCPS tried to separate spring break to align with the end of the quarter, but it was miserable for the teachers who cannot afford to live in Fairfax County and have kids in other districts.

Don't blame the Catholics. We would prefer a spring break aligned with the end of the quarter, not Holy Week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The calendar is designed to celebrate diversity. Not facilitate learning.

All part of the equity at all cost driving factor in FCPS. Must celebrate everyone's holiday. Anyone who thinks any action in FCPS is driven by educational needs is not paying attention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:next year's schedule is horrific

I hope they still start the 2026 graduations on June 1st.

+ a million please yes! Then adios to FCPS for us!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree, 2.5 weeks for winter break is absurd. Tying Spring Break to Catholicism is also absurd.

They aren't tying spring break to Catholicism. Nice try. Holy Week is a somber week of sacrifice, fasting and prayer, and is not supposed to be a week of partying at Disney or drinking on the beach.

They are tying springbreak to the other northern Virginia districts (but not the Catholic schools which do not schedule spring break during Holy Week) who all have their spring break the week prior to Easter. That is a northern Virginia public school thing, not a Catholic thing. It actually does not respect the Catholic tradition and purpose of Holy Week.

If you have a beef with spring break aligning with Easter talk to Arlington, Alexandria, Lousoun and Prince William county schools.

FCPS tried to separate spring break to align with the end of the quarter, but it was miserable for the teachers who cannot afford to live in Fairfax County and have kids in other districts.

Don't blame the Catholics. We would prefer a spring break aligned with the end of the quarter, not Holy Week.

+1.
-Anglican

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Problems with the 2025-26 calendar:

* The third quarter's 47-day length compared to other quarters' 42-45 days creates an imbalanced instructional period, potentially leading to rushed curriculum coverage or uneven pacing of material

* Professional workdays (PW) are frequently placed mid-week rather than on Mondays or Fridays, creating choppy weeks that interrupt learning flow and complicate family scheduling

* The February calendar shows particularly poor planning with multiple interrupted weeks due to holidays and professional workdays, making it difficult to maintain consistent instruction during this period

* The placement of religious and cultural observance days sometimes creates single school days within a week, which typically result in low attendance and reduced instructional effectiveness

* The end of the school year in June includes several partial weeks, making it challenging to maintain student engagement and complete final assessments effectively

* The calendar shows numerous two-hour early release days scattered throughout the year, which can be particularly challenging for working parents who need to arrange alternative childcare

* The clustering of holidays and professional development days in certain months (like November) creates extended periods of interrupted instruction, while other months have minimal breaks, leading to uneven distribution of rest periods throughout the academic year​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

What calendar are you looking at? February 2026 has one week with holidays (16th holiday, 17th teacher pork day) and the rest of the weeks are full 5 day weeks?

O days (religious observance days) are regular school days; teachers just can't give tests/assessments on those days.

The only PW days that are mid week are preceded or followed by a holiday so for students they are long weekends and not a midweek day off.

There are quite a few midweek holidays - but those are for both students and staff and are tied to a specific holiday. FCPS can't control when a holiday happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree, 2.5 weeks for winter break is absurd. Tying Spring Break to Catholicism is also absurd.

January 6 and 7 are school days so winter break is 2 solid weeks including 3 weekends. Orange days with an O means there is some religious observance that day but schools are still open.
Most places in the country and throughout the Northern hemisphere have 2 weeks off in late December into early January. (The Southern hemisphere is on summer vacation) The Northeast and Maryland are still behind in the times and until a decade ago Virginia was too.

[Anonymous]

Apparently they changed the spring break for 2027. I was March 29-April 2 (like 2021) which was early enough but they decided to make it even earlier March 22-26! If they are going to have it by Easter it should be the week after especially when it is early. I don't think anyone likes Easter being the last day of spring break. If it's going to be with Easter the break should be March 26-April 2. They don't need 3 PW days in April. That said even if it's the week after Easter there is still a week or two of 3rd MP. They should just have March 26 (Good Friday) off then either April 5-9 or 12-16 depending on 3rd quarter ending. They currently only have 39 days in 4th quarter so it could start a week earlier.
Original spring break: https://web.archive.org/web/20240728131935/https://www.fcps.edu/system/files/forms/2024-06/2026-2027-standard-school-year-calendar.pdf
Super early spring break:
https://fcps.edu/system/files/forms/2024-06/2026-2027-standard-school-year-calendar.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Problems with the 2025-26 calendar:

* The third quarter's 47-day length compared to other quarters' 42-45 days creates an imbalanced instructional period, potentially leading to rushed curriculum coverage or uneven pacing of material

* Professional workdays (PW) are frequently placed mid-week rather than on Mondays or Fridays, creating choppy weeks that interrupt learning flow and complicate family scheduling

* The February calendar shows particularly poor planning with multiple interrupted weeks due to holidays and professional workdays, making it difficult to maintain consistent instruction during this period

* The placement of religious and cultural observance days sometimes creates single school days within a week, which typically result in low attendance and reduced instructional effectiveness

* The end of the school year in June includes several partial weeks, making it challenging to maintain student engagement and complete final assessments effectively

* The calendar shows numerous two-hour early release days scattered throughout the year, which can be particularly challenging for working parents who need to arrange alternative childcare

* The clustering of holidays and professional development days in certain months (like November) creates extended periods of interrupted instruction, while other months have minimal breaks, leading to uneven distribution of rest periods throughout the academic year​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

What calendar are you looking at? February 2026 has one week with holidays (16th holiday, 17th teacher pork day) and the rest of the weeks are full 5 day weeks?

O days (religious observance days) are regular school days; teachers just can't give tests/assessments on those days.

The only PW days that are mid week are preceded or followed by a holiday so for students they are long weekends and not a midweek day off.

There are quite a few midweek holidays - but those are for both students and staff and are tied to a specific holiday. FCPS can't control when a holiday happens.

FCPS can't control when a holiday happens, but they can certainly choose not to take the day off. There should be no explicitly religious holidays on the public school calendar.

[Anonymous]

FCPS can't control when a holiday happens.

FCPS can't control when a holiday happens, but they can certainly choose not to take the day off. There should be no explicitly religious holidays on the public school calendar.

Then we can't tie any days off to religious holidays. Winter Break would be 2 weeks in January and we'd go to school on Christmas. That is what you are suggesting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: FCPS can't control when a holiday happens.

FCPS can't control when a holiday happens, but they can certainly choose not to take the day off. There should be no explicitly religious holidays on the public school calendar.

Then we can't tie any days off to religious holidays. Winter Break would be 2 weeks in January and we'd go to school on Christmas. That is what you are suggesting.
A poster awhile back mentioned that on the religious holidays we now have off there are not enough bus drivers. This seems like a very plausible explanation that others may want to consider. It's not just because it's a holiday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: FCPS can't control when a holiday happens.

FCPS can't control when a holiday happens, but they can certainly choose not to take the day off. There should be no explicitly religious holidays on the public school calendar.

Then we can't tie any days off to religious holidays. Winter Break would be 2 weeks in January and we'd go to school on Christmas. That is what you are suggesting.

Christmas is a federal holiday and so is New Years so they wouldn’t have school those days regardless.

I don’t see anything wrong with tying winter break to Christmas, but the length has gotten out of hand. But that’s what people want I guess because they use the time and often another week after that in the new year to fly back to their home countries when it’s not a million degrees in, say, India and Thailand and what not. But just looking at this year’s calendar, I know a lot of districts would have them go back to school on January 2nd.