Will voting out the school board make the school calendar sane again?

[Anonymous]

Please tell me how to vote to get any improvement to this horrific school calendar that is a complete atrocity to working families and disservice too kids trying to learn. I don’t care if I have to vote blue, red or purple - it just needs to change for next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's so insane about the school year calendar? I think it's great that we're observing religious holidays beyond the Christian ones.

We don't observe the Christian holidays.

Easter is on a sunday. So it is never observed by FCPS.

Christmas is a federal holdiay, on a week that every industry in our area including most of the federal government shuts down.

Christmas would be off no matter what, for secular reasons.

Spring break is tied to Easter. FCPS has said this. So yes, spring break is absolutely tied to a Christian holiday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And when will the opportunity arise?

Unfortunately not this year.

They were voted in after this type of calendar had already been in place. They were just elected in 2023! You have to wait until 2027 but, unless you organize at a stupendous level and make sure the Rs don’t nominate nuts again, the existing board or their successors will win.

I would suggest that sane Dems get on the committee--instead of the type we have on School Board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please tell me how to vote to get any improvement to this horrific school calendar that is a complete atrocity to working families and disservice too kids trying to learn. I don’t care if I have to vote blue, red or purple - it just needs to change for next year.

+1 million!!

[Anonymous]

it's appalling that half the school year are 3 to 4 day weeks. The religious observances are not to blame. Its the way the teacher workday and other workday whatevers are planned in such a coy way that school is only open 3 to 4 days every other week. Entire days, or more, are missed half of schoolyear

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's so insane about the school year calendar? I think it's great that we're observing religious holidays beyond the Christian ones.

Do you have a job? If I have to explain this to you, you clearly do not have younger children and work full time.

NP, but don't you have childcare if you have a job? We are a dual parents working outside the home family and used SACC and they were almost always open on the single days off. The local martial arts places do the same. What kind of childcare are you using that you don't have coverage for these days?

I will agree, though, that I don't like how short the summers have gotten. Makes it hard for high school kids to get jobs, attend camps, etc.

WRONG. SACC is closed on most of those days now. https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/neighborhood-community-services/sites/neighborhood-community-services/files/Assets/documents/sacc/pdfs/sacc-calendar.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's so insane about the school year calendar? I think it's great that we're observing religious holidays beyond the Christian ones.

We don't observe the Christian holidays.

Easter is on a sunday. So it is never observed by FCPS.

Christmas is a federal holdiay, on a week that every industry in our area including most of the federal government shuts down.

Christmas would be off no matter what, for secular reasons.

Spring break is tied to Easter. FCPS has said this. So yes, spring break is absolutely tied to a Christian holiday.

Easter is always on a Sunday. It will never be a school holiday.

[Anonymous]

I swear to god, how many threads about the stupid calendar do we need? There's one every week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I swear to god, how many threads about the stupid calendar do we need? There's one every week.

We'll have them until they make it sane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's so insane about the school year calendar? I think it's great that we're observing religious holidays beyond the Christian ones.

We don't observe the Christian holidays.

Easter is on a sunday. So it is never observed by FCPS.

Christmas is a federal holdiay, on a week that every industry in our area including most of the federal government shuts down.

Christmas would be off no matter what, for secular reasons.

It’s no coincidence that spring break always falls the week before Easter, or that winter break aligns with Christmas. The fact that many Christian holidays already fall on weekends, and are still widely observed, shows how deeply our western calendars are structured around Christian traditions. And I understand why; the country was founded on those roots. But centuries later, we’ve become a diverse population, and it’s time our schedules reflected that.

So, what do you want? This calendar is not working. Please note the teacher who posted above. I assume she is a specialist of some type. We have so many different religions and cultures. The only ones that should be off are the ones where a very large number of kids are out of school.

Most of this country still observes the Christian holidays--if not religiously, they do culturally. Gee, my Indian neighbor puts up a Christmas tree in his family room.

I'm fine with the calendar as is. Not everyone agrees with you re: the problems with the calendar, and that's ok. Everything always works itself out in the end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's so insane about the school year calendar? I think it's great that we're observing religious holidays beyond the Christian ones.

We don't observe the Christian holidays.

Easter is on a sunday. So it is never observed by FCPS.

Christmas is a federal holdiay, on a week that every industry in our area including most of the federal government shuts down.

Christmas would be off no matter what, for secular reasons.

It’s no coincidence that spring break always falls the week before Easter, or that winter break aligns with Christmas. The fact that many Christian holidays already fall on weekends, and are still widely observed, shows how deeply our western calendars are structured around Christian traditions. And I understand why; the country was founded on those roots. But centuries later, we’ve become a diverse population, and it’s time our schedules reflected that.

Winter break aligns with Christmas because Christmas is one of our original national holidays, where the entire nation closes, followed 7 days later by another major national holiday, new years, where everything in the country closes again.

Between the 9 days from Christmas Eve through New Years Day, there are 4 out of the 9 days closed for the federal holiday, plus at least 2 weekend days in the mix.

This means that even if we only took off 24th/25th and 31st/1st, there are only 3 possible days this week when school could occur, and no ine but you would show up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's so insane about the school year calendar? I think it's great that we're observing religious holidays beyond the Christian ones.

We don't observe the Christian holidays.

Easter is on a sunday. So it is never observed by FCPS.

Christmas is a federal holdiay, on a week that every industry in our area including most of the federal government shuts down.

Christmas would be off no matter what, for secular reasons.

Spring break is tied to Easter. FCPS has said this. So yes, spring break is absolutely tied to a Christian holiday.

Easter is always on a Sunday. It will never be a school holiday.

Spring break always falls on Holy Week. That's a religious week for Christians.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's so insane about the school year calendar? I think it's great that we're observing religious holidays beyond the Christian ones.

Well, Christian holidays weren't recognized (until they added the Orthodox ones with all the others), so you're just wrong.

If you want religious holidays, go private.

The major Christian holidays are absolutely recognized. That's why we have spring break the week leading up to Easter (Holy Week) and winter break around Christmastime. I don't need to go private for religious holidays. They're already included in the FCPS calendar.

No.

They were added to the calendar when this whole O day thing started.

Before that, they were not included on the calender.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's so insane about the school year calendar? I think it's great that we're observing religious holidays beyond the Christian ones.

A school year that began on August 18 should be over the first week of June. Instead it goes all the way to June 17. So while things feel good now, once you pass spring break things get rough the rest of the year except Memorial Day weekend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's so insane about the school year calendar? I think it's great that we're observing religious holidays beyond the Christian ones.

We don't observe the Christian holidays.

Easter is on a sunday. So it is never observed by FCPS.

Christmas is a federal holdiay, on a week that every industry in our area including most of the federal government shuts down.

Christmas would be off no matter what, for secular reasons.

It’s no coincidence that spring break always falls the week before Easter, or that winter break aligns with Christmas. The fact that many Christian holidays already fall on weekends, and are still widely observed, shows how deeply our western calendars are structured around Christian traditions. And I understand why; the country was founded on those roots. But centuries later, we’ve become a diverse population, and it’s time our schedules reflected that.

If you want religious holidays, then go private. If you want a different calendar, feel free to move to another country.

FCPS tried to move Spring Break from Easter but if failed horribly. Christmas is one day and not a specific school holiday. Feel free to advocate for a shorter or different Winter Break.

-Incorrect. At the non secular private schools they have breaks into between quarter with the standard "winter break" being around a Christian holiday. Spring break was 2 weeks and always in March, school year finished up late May. Great schedule!
You were probably thinking only religious schools.

Religious schools don't schedule spring break in Holy Week. That is a week for fasting, prayer, and attending church, not partying on the beach.

Spring break tied to Easter is a uniquely northern Virginia public school thing.