The response to MoCo's calendar change shows why the FCPS religious holidays will never go away

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you remove Federal Holidays, which are about the same in number as the religious holidays. Fixed.

And you uncouple Spring Break from Easter as a bonus, providing an annual date for Spring Break that doesn't move.

People can complain all they want that Christmas falls in Winter Break but it is a federal holiday and has been a time period for travel across the country for forever. Schools would be shut due to lack of attendance and teachers and staff if it wasn't off. There are no other holidays were that would be the case.

There are 11 federal holidays:

- Independence Day and Juneteenth fall outside of the school year.
- Labor Day (plus the Friday) is mandated by VA law.
- Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years are untouchable, and I'd argue Memorial Day also.
- Columbus is already used as a teacher workday.
- So, only MLK, Presidents, and Veterans Days are viable school days.

Of the surrounding districts (Arl, Falls Church City, Prince William, Loudoun), the only one that has school on any of those three days is Loudoun for Veterans Day.

Thanksgiving doesn’t require 3 days. Make the Weds or the Fri a teacher work day.

Christmas does not require two weeks. Make 23rd a teacher work/training day.

Memorial Day does not require three days. Make one a work day.

Teacher should be allowed to work remotely on their workdays and training should be available online.

There, got rid of three days off and didn’t upset anybody/disenfranchise any religion.

Majority of the TW are timed around the end of a quarter. Nit picking a few days off the calendar isn’t going to fix that. It would be more effective to time quarters around existing breaks. For example, Monday and Tuesday of Spring Break could have been TW/SD days instead of tracking them onto the following week.

Looking at FCPS calendar, the pattern seems to be that there is a TW day at the end of each quarter (presumably for grading, and finalizing the gradebook) and 1 TW and one SD or SP day during each quarter, allowing for teachers to plan.

You could move those days to non-religious holiday days, I guess, but it wouldn't change the fact that teachers need days to plan, and that those days need to be distributed throughout the quarter, not clustered. If this doesn't seem obvious to you, I'd ask you this. How does it work in your job? When you have time when your client isn't present. Perhaps you're creating documents, reviewing documents, or meeting with colleagues. Are those kinds of tasks clustered, or do you have time to do that every single month that you work? Are you asked to do things in illogical sequence, or do you generally get to gather data before you analyze it? Or plan meetings with clients after you already held the meetings? Because that is what people seem to think teachers should do.

They can be distributed through the quarter without adding more holes to the calendar. Indigenous peoples day is a great example.

Indigenous people day is a great example of what?

Using the calendar to provide TW days on days students are already out of the classroom, not adding more disruption.

What day in late February are you proposing be used in that way?

Also, do you work federal holidays, or are you just expecting that teachers do so?

I worked Federal Holidays when I didn’t support the Fed Govetrnment. Most people aroind the country work on Federal Holidays, except for the big ones, labor day, memorial day, fourth of July, and Thanksgiving. You could even argue that a large percentage of the country works on Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years Eve. So yes, Teachers can work on federal holidays, they do in other counties in Virginia and across the US.

Our area is a bit different because so many people work for the Federal Government or support the Federal Government that a lrge percentage of population have the day off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do they have 2 teacher work days and an early release at the end of every quarter? It’s a lot. I just checked the calendar for the district where I grew up and they get one teacher work day at the end of the quarters.

They don't have two TW at the end of any quarter on the current calendar. They do link TW and SD days, which seems like it's what parents want if they're arguing that distributing days off through the quarter is disruptive.

I don't know what the expectation is for teachers in the district where you grew up. People on DCUM claim to want high quality of instruction, and academic rigor, and obviously that means well planned lessons and meaningful assignments that are graded carefully, both of which take time. If you don't want those things, maybe move back?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you remove Federal Holidays, which are about the same in number as the religious holidays. Fixed.

And you uncouple Spring Break from Easter as a bonus, providing an annual date for Spring Break that doesn't move.

People can complain all they want that Christmas falls in Winter Break but it is a federal holiday and has been a time period for travel across the country for forever. Schools would be shut due to lack of attendance and teachers and staff if it wasn't off. There are no other holidays were that would be the case.

There are 11 federal holidays:

- Independence Day and Juneteenth fall outside of the school year.
- Labor Day (plus the Friday) is mandated by VA law.
- Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years are untouchable, and I'd argue Memorial Day also.
- Columbus is already used as a teacher workday.
- So, only MLK, Presidents, and Veterans Days are viable school days.

Of the surrounding districts (Arl, Falls Church City, Prince William, Loudoun), the only one that has school on any of those three days is Loudoun for Veterans Day.

Thanksgiving doesn’t require 3 days. Make the Weds or the Fri a teacher work day.

Christmas does not require two weeks. Make 23rd a teacher work/training day.

Memorial Day does not require three days. Make one a work day.

Teacher should be allowed to work remotely on their workdays and training should be available online.

There, got rid of three days off and didn’t upset anybody/disenfranchise any religion.

Majority of the TW are timed around the end of a quarter. Nit picking a few days off the calendar isn’t going to fix that. It would be more effective to time quarters around existing breaks. For example, Monday and Tuesday of Spring Break could have been TW/SD days instead of tracking them onto the following week.

Looking at FCPS calendar, the pattern seems to be that there is a TW day at the end of each quarter (presumably for grading, and finalizing the gradebook) and 1 TW and one SD or SP day during each quarter, allowing for teachers to plan.

You could move those days to non-religious holiday days, I guess, but it wouldn't change the fact that teachers need days to plan, and that those days need to be distributed throughout the quarter, not clustered. If this doesn't seem obvious to you, I'd ask you this. How does it work in your job? When you have time when your client isn't present. Perhaps you're creating documents, reviewing documents, or meeting with colleagues. Are those kinds of tasks clustered, or do you have time to do that every single month that you work? Are you asked to do things in illogical sequence, or do you generally get to gather data before you analyze it? Or plan meetings with clients after you already held the meetings? Because that is what people seem to think teachers should do.

They can be distributed through the quarter without adding more holes to the calendar. Indigenous peoples day is a great example.

Indigenous people day is a great example of what?

Using the calendar to provide TW days on days students are already out of the classroom, not adding more disruption.

What day in late February are you proposing be used in that way?

Also, do you work federal holidays, or are you just expecting that teachers do so?

Few people get all the federal holidays off. For example, I have worked at three different companies and have always worked on President’s Day. Therefore, I nominate President’s Day!

Seems like the obvious answer. Teacher's get substantial time off. Something's gotta give.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a cultural Catholic, and think it's extremely disrespectful to use other religions' Holy Days without also using Christian Holy Days.

This would all be solved if we had year-round school, with large breaks in every season. It would reduce brain drain. Daycare and camps would adjust to offering care for the 4 large breaks throughout the year. And it would mean people with means could spread out their travel across four seasons, which is so much nicer than cramming everything during the hot summer months. And people wouldn't get so distressed over missing a few days of school for weather...

I mean I agree with almost everything you say except that people who need their kids to be in school (for various reasons) will ALWAYS be DISTRESSED over missing days for weather. They aren’t really upset by the days, they are upset that something else is controlling their choices and not able to recover from that disappointment easily. The purpose of personal tech is to make us believe we have control over our lives so when reality (like a snowstorm) hits and someone has to impose reality on them, the result is a hissy fit.

The same principle applies to vaccines and traffic laws. We have been trained by tech to think we control things we don’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you remove Federal Holidays, which are about the same in number as the religious holidays. Fixed.

And you uncouple Spring Break from Easter as a bonus, providing an annual date for Spring Break that doesn't move.

People can complain all they want that Christmas falls in Winter Break but it is a federal holiday and has been a time period for travel across the country for forever. Schools would be shut due to lack of attendance and teachers and staff if it wasn't off. There are no other holidays were that would be the case.

There are 11 federal holidays:

- Independence Day and Juneteenth fall outside of the school year.
- Labor Day (plus the Friday) is mandated by VA law.
- Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years are untouchable, and I'd argue Memorial Day also.
- Columbus is already used as a teacher workday.
- So, only MLK, Presidents, and Veterans Days are viable school days.

Of the surrounding districts (Arl, Falls Church City, Prince William, Loudoun), the only one that has school on any of those three days is Loudoun for Veterans Day.

Thanksgiving doesn’t require 3 days. Make the Weds or the Fri a teacher work day.

Christmas does not require two weeks. Make 23rd a teacher work/training day.

Memorial Day does not require three days. Make one a work day.

Teacher should be allowed to work remotely on their workdays and training should be available online.

There, got rid of three days off and didn’t upset anybody/disenfranchise any religion.

Majority of the TW are timed around the end of a quarter. Nit picking a few days off the calendar isn’t going to fix that. It would be more effective to time quarters around existing breaks. For example, Monday and Tuesday of Spring Break could have been TW/SD days instead of tracking them onto the following week.

Looking at FCPS calendar, the pattern seems to be that there is a TW day at the end of each quarter (presumably for grading, and finalizing the gradebook) and 1 TW and one SD or SP day during each quarter, allowing for teachers to plan.

You could move those days to non-religious holiday days, I guess, but it wouldn't change the fact that teachers need days to plan, and that those days need to be distributed throughout the quarter, not clustered. If this doesn't seem obvious to you, I'd ask you this. How does it work in your job? When you have time when your client isn't present. Perhaps you're creating documents, reviewing documents, or meeting with colleagues. Are those kinds of tasks clustered, or do you have time to do that every single month that you work? Are you asked to do things in illogical sequence, or do you generally get to gather data before you analyze it? Or plan meetings with clients after you already held the meetings? Because that is what people seem to think teachers should do.

They can be distributed through the quarter without adding more holes to the calendar. Indigenous peoples day is a great example.

Indigenous people day is a great example of what?

Using the calendar to provide TW days on days students are already out of the classroom, not adding more disruption.

What day in late February are you proposing be used in that way?

Also, do you work federal holidays, or are you just expecting that teachers do so?

I worked Federal Holidays when I didn’t support the Fed Govetrnment. Most people aroind the country work on Federal Holidays, except for the big ones, labor day, memorial day, fourth of July, and Thanksgiving. You could even argue that a large percentage of the country works on Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years Eve. So yes, Teachers can work on federal holidays, they do in other counties in Virginia and across the US.

Our area is a bit different because so many people work for the Federal Government or support the Federal Government that a lrge percentage of population have the day off.

Why do you want your kids to work an adult schedule so young? Or is it just that it is hard for YOU? Breaks help kids learn more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do they have 2 teacher work days and an early release at the end of every quarter? It’s a lot. I just checked the calendar for the district where I grew up and they get one teacher work day at the end of the quarters.

They don't have two TW at the end of any quarter on the current calendar. They do link TW and SD days, which seems like it's what parents want if they're arguing that distributing days off through the quarter is disruptive.

I don't know what the expectation is for teachers in the district where you grew up. People on DCUM claim to want high quality of instruction, and academic rigor, and obviously that means well planned lessons and meaningful assignments that are graded carefully, both of which take time. If you don't want those things, maybe move back?

What is going on at all the “staff development” and “school planning” days? It just seems like so much because other places aren’t doing all that as much, but are still having good school quality ratings and good test pass rates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you remove Federal Holidays, which are about the same in number as the religious holidays. Fixed.

And you uncouple Spring Break from Easter as a bonus, providing an annual date for Spring Break that doesn't move.

People can complain all they want that Christmas falls in Winter Break but it is a federal holiday and has been a time period for travel across the country for forever. Schools would be shut due to lack of attendance and teachers and staff if it wasn't off. There are no other holidays were that would be the case.

There are 11 federal holidays:

- Independence Day and Juneteenth fall outside of the school year.
- Labor Day (plus the Friday) is mandated by VA law.
- Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years are untouchable, and I'd argue Memorial Day also.
- Columbus is already used as a teacher workday.
- So, only MLK, Presidents, and Veterans Days are viable school days.

Of the surrounding districts (Arl, Falls Church City, Prince William, Loudoun), the only one that has school on any of those three days is Loudoun for Veterans Day.

Thanksgiving doesn’t require 3 days. Make the Weds or the Fri a teacher work day.

Christmas does not require two weeks. Make 23rd a teacher work/training day.

Memorial Day does not require three days. Make one a work day.

Teacher should be allowed to work remotely on their workdays and training should be available online.

There, got rid of three days off and didn’t upset anybody/disenfranchise any religion.

Majority of the TW are timed around the end of a quarter. Nit picking a few days off the calendar isn’t going to fix that. It would be more effective to time quarters around existing breaks. For example, Monday and Tuesday of Spring Break could have been TW/SD days instead of tracking them onto the following week.

Looking at FCPS calendar, the pattern seems to be that there is a TW day at the end of each quarter (presumably for grading, and finalizing the gradebook) and 1 TW and one SD or SP day during each quarter, allowing for teachers to plan.

You could move those days to non-religious holiday days, I guess, but it wouldn't change the fact that teachers need days to plan, and that those days need to be distributed throughout the quarter, not clustered. If this doesn't seem obvious to you, I'd ask you this. How does it work in your job? When you have time when your client isn't present. Perhaps you're creating documents, reviewing documents, or meeting with colleagues. Are those kinds of tasks clustered, or do you have time to do that every single month that you work? Are you asked to do things in illogical sequence, or do you generally get to gather data before you analyze it? Or plan meetings with clients after you already held the meetings? Because that is what people seem to think teachers should do.

They can be distributed through the quarter without adding more holes to the calendar. Indigenous peoples day is a great example.

Indigenous people day is a great example of what?

Using the calendar to provide TW days on days students are already out of the classroom, not adding more disruption.

What day in late February are you proposing be used in that way?

Also, do you work federal holidays, or are you just expecting that teachers do so?

I worked Federal Holidays when I didn’t support the Fed Govetrnment. Most people aroind the country work on Federal Holidays, except for the big ones, labor day, memorial day, fourth of July, and Thanksgiving. You could even argue that a large percentage of the country works on Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years Eve. So yes, Teachers can work on federal holidays, they do in other counties in Virginia and across the US.

Our area is a bit different because so many people work for the Federal Government or support the Federal Government that a lrge percentage of population have the day off.

Why do you want your kids to work an adult schedule so young? Or is it just that it is hard for YOU? Breaks help kids learn more.

Actually for younger elementary, repetition and routine is much more important than “breaks”. The school year can provide sufficient breaks without being disjointed and irregular.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you remove Federal Holidays, which are about the same in number as the religious holidays. Fixed.

And you uncouple Spring Break from Easter as a bonus, providing an annual date for Spring Break that doesn't move.

People can complain all they want that Christmas falls in Winter Break but it is a federal holiday and has been a time period for travel across the country for forever. Schools would be shut due to lack of attendance and teachers and staff if it wasn't off. There are no other holidays were that would be the case.

There are 11 federal holidays:

- Independence Day and Juneteenth fall outside of the school year.
- Labor Day (plus the Friday) is mandated by VA law.
- Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years are untouchable, and I'd argue Memorial Day also.
- Columbus is already used as a teacher workday.
- So, only MLK, Presidents, and Veterans Days are viable school days.

Of the surrounding districts (Arl, Falls Church City, Prince William, Loudoun), the only one that has school on any of those three days is Loudoun for Veterans Day.

Thanksgiving doesn’t require 3 days. Make the Weds or the Fri a teacher work day.

Christmas does not require two weeks. Make 23rd a teacher work/training day.

Memorial Day does not require three days. Make one a work day.

Teacher should be allowed to work remotely on their workdays and training should be available online.

There, got rid of three days off and didn’t upset anybody/disenfranchise any religion.

Majority of the TW are timed around the end of a quarter. Nit picking a few days off the calendar isn’t going to fix that. It would be more effective to time quarters around existing breaks. For example, Monday and Tuesday of Spring Break could have been TW/SD days instead of tracking them onto the following week.

Looking at FCPS calendar, the pattern seems to be that there is a TW day at the end of each quarter (presumably for grading, and finalizing the gradebook) and 1 TW and one SD or SP day during each quarter, allowing for teachers to plan.

You could move those days to non-religious holiday days, I guess, but it wouldn't change the fact that teachers need days to plan, and that those days need to be distributed throughout the quarter, not clustered. If this doesn't seem obvious to you, I'd ask you this. How does it work in your job? When you have time when your client isn't present. Perhaps you're creating documents, reviewing documents, or meeting with colleagues. Are those kinds of tasks clustered, or do you have time to do that every single month that you work? Are you asked to do things in illogical sequence, or do you generally get to gather data before you analyze it? Or plan meetings with clients after you already held the meetings? Because that is what people seem to think teachers should do.

They can be distributed through the quarter without adding more holes to the calendar. Indigenous peoples day is a great example.

Indigenous people day is a great example of what?

Using the calendar to provide TW days on days students are already out of the classroom, not adding more disruption.

What day in late February are you proposing be used in that way?

Also, do you work federal holidays, or are you just expecting that teachers do so?

I work some of the Federal holidays— and I don’t for example get 3 days for Thanksgiving.

The schedule is supposed to prioritize *students* not teachers. It’s embarrassing how few people seem to realize that.

[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:So you remove Federal Holidays, which are about the same in number as the religious holidays. Fixed.

And you uncouple Spring Break from Easter as a bonus, providing an annual date for Spring Break that doesn't move.

People can complain all they want that Christmas falls in Winter Break but it is a federal holiday and has been a time period for travel across the country for forever. Schools would be shut due to lack of attendance and teachers and staff if it wasn't off. There are no other holidays were that would be the case.

There are 11 federal holidays:

- Independence Day and Juneteenth fall outside of the school year.
- Labor Day (plus the Friday) is mandated by VA law.
- Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years are untouchable, and I'd argue Memorial Day also.
- Columbus is already used as a teacher workday.
- So, only MLK, Presidents, and Veterans Days are viable school days.

Of the surrounding districts (Arl, Falls Church City, Prince William, Loudoun), the only one that has school on any of those three days is Loudoun for Veterans Day.

Thanksgiving doesn’t require 3 days. Make the Weds or the Fri a teacher work day.

Christmas does not require two weeks. Make 23rd a teacher work/training day.

Memorial Day does not require three days. Make one a work day.

Teacher should be allowed to work remotely on their workdays and training should be available online.

There, got rid of three days off and didn’t upset anybody/disenfranchise any religion.

Majority of the TW are timed around the end of a quarter. Nit picking a few days off the calendar isn’t going to fix that. It would be more effective to time quarters around existing breaks. For example, Monday and Tuesday of Spring Break could have been TW/SD days instead of tracking them onto the following week.

Looking at FCPS calendar, the pattern seems to be that there is a TW day at the end of each quarter (presumably for grading, and finalizing the gradebook) and 1 TW and one SD or SP day during each quarter, allowing for teachers to plan.

You could move those days to non-religious holiday days, I guess, but it wouldn't change the fact that teachers need days to plan, and that those days need to be distributed throughout the quarter, not clustered. If this doesn't seem obvious to you, I'd ask you this. How does it work in your job? When you have time when your client isn't present. Perhaps you're creating documents, reviewing documents, or meeting with colleagues. Are those kinds of tasks clustered, or do you have time to do that every single month that you work? Are you asked to do things in illogical sequence, or do you generally get to gather data before you analyze it? Or plan meetings with clients after you already held the meetings? Because that is what people seem to think teachers should do.

They can be distributed through the quarter without adding more holes to the calendar. Indigenous peoples day is a great example.

Indigenous people day is a great example of what?

Using the calendar to provide TW days on days students are already out of the classroom, not adding more disruption.

What day in late February are you proposing be used in that way?

Also, do you work federal holidays, or are you just expecting that teachers do so?

I worked Federal Holidays when I didn’t support the Fed Govetrnment. Most people aroind the country work on Federal Holidays, except for the big ones, labor day, memorial day, fourth of July, and Thanksgiving. You could even argue that a large percentage of the country works on Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years Eve. So yes, Teachers can work on federal holidays, they do in other counties in Virginia and across the US.

Our area is a bit different because so many people work for the Federal Government or support the Federal Government that a lrge percentage of population have the day off.

Why do you want your kids to work an adult schedule so young? Or is it just that it is hard for YOU? Breaks help kids learn more.

Actually for younger elementary, repetition and routine is much more important than “breaks”. The school year can provide sufficient breaks without being disjointed and irregular.

Actually no. Please link to some studies to back that up.

I mean you don’t replicate the school day on the weekends because your kids can’t handle the routine change. They are smarter than that. Young kids don’t need that much time in large group settings. Historically preschool was 2-3 days a week part time, Kindergarten was part time and kids only really started school in first grade.

Kids do learn better with breaks. Honestly, you probably do your job better with breaks too. Humans need breaks. Lobbying for that rather than want your kids to emulate the working world would be a better use of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you remove Federal Holidays, which are about the same in number as the religious holidays. Fixed.

And you uncouple Spring Break from Easter as a bonus, providing an annual date for Spring Break that doesn't move.

People can complain all they want that Christmas falls in Winter Break but it is a federal holiday and has been a time period for travel across the country for forever. Schools would be shut due to lack of attendance and teachers and staff if it wasn't off. There are no other holidays were that would be the case.

There are 11 federal holidays:

- Independence Day and Juneteenth fall outside of the school year.
- Labor Day (plus the Friday) is mandated by VA law.
- Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years are untouchable, and I'd argue Memorial Day also.
- Columbus is already used as a teacher workday.
- So, only MLK, Presidents, and Veterans Days are viable school days.

Of the surrounding districts (Arl, Falls Church City, Prince William, Loudoun), the only one that has school on any of those three days is Loudoun for Veterans Day.

Thanksgiving doesn’t require 3 days. Make the Weds or the Fri a teacher work day.

Christmas does not require two weeks. Make 23rd a teacher work/training day.

Memorial Day does not require three days. Make one a work day.

Teacher should be allowed to work remotely on their workdays and training should be available online.

There, got rid of three days off and didn’t upset anybody/disenfranchise any religion.

Majority of the TW are timed around the end of a quarter. Nit picking a few days off the calendar isn’t going to fix that. It would be more effective to time quarters around existing breaks. For example, Monday and Tuesday of Spring Break could have been TW/SD days instead of tracking them onto the following week.

Looking at FCPS calendar, the pattern seems to be that there is a TW day at the end of each quarter (presumably for grading, and finalizing the gradebook) and 1 TW and one SD or SP day during each quarter, allowing for teachers to plan.

You could move those days to non-religious holiday days, I guess, but it wouldn't change the fact that teachers need days to plan, and that those days need to be distributed throughout the quarter, not clustered. If this doesn't seem obvious to you, I'd ask you this. How does it work in your job? When you have time when your client isn't present. Perhaps you're creating documents, reviewing documents, or meeting with colleagues. Are those kinds of tasks clustered, or do you have time to do that every single month that you work? Are you asked to do things in illogical sequence, or do you generally get to gather data before you analyze it? Or plan meetings with clients after you already held the meetings? Because that is what people seem to think teachers should do.

They can be distributed through the quarter without adding more holes to the calendar. Indigenous peoples day is a great example.

Indigenous people day is a great example of what?

Using the calendar to provide TW days on days students are already out of the classroom, not adding more disruption.

What day in late February are you proposing be used in that way?

Also, do you work federal holidays, or are you just expecting that teachers do so?

I work some of the Federal holidays— and I don’t for example get 3 days for Thanksgiving.

The schedule is supposed to prioritize *students* not teachers. It’s embarrassing how few people seem to realize that.

The schedule is supposed to prioritize instruction. Providing decent working conditions so that they can do their job, and so that they don't quit is an important part of that.

It's embarrassing how many people think that it's a zero sum gain, and that driving teachers away from the profession is somehow to the benefits of students.

[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:So you remove Federal Holidays, which are about the same in number as the religious holidays. Fixed.

And you uncouple Spring Break from Easter as a bonus, providing an annual date for Spring Break that doesn't move.

People can complain all they want that Christmas falls in Winter Break but it is a federal holiday and has been a time period for travel across the country for forever. Schools would be shut due to lack of attendance and teachers and staff if it wasn't off. There are no other holidays were that would be the case.

There are 11 federal holidays:

- Independence Day and Juneteenth fall outside of the school year.
- Labor Day (plus the Friday) is mandated by VA law.
- Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years are untouchable, and I'd argue Memorial Day also.
- Columbus is already used as a teacher workday.
- So, only MLK, Presidents, and Veterans Days are viable school days.

Of the surrounding districts (Arl, Falls Church City, Prince William, Loudoun), the only one that has school on any of those three days is Loudoun for Veterans Day.

Thanksgiving doesn’t require 3 days. Make the Weds or the Fri a teacher work day.

Christmas does not require two weeks. Make 23rd a teacher work/training day.

Memorial Day does not require three days. Make one a work day.

Teacher should be allowed to work remotely on their workdays and training should be available online.

There, got rid of three days off and didn’t upset anybody/disenfranchise any religion.

Majority of the TW are timed around the end of a quarter. Nit picking a few days off the calendar isn’t going to fix that. It would be more effective to time quarters around existing breaks. For example, Monday and Tuesday of Spring Break could have been TW/SD days instead of tracking them onto the following week.

Looking at FCPS calendar, the pattern seems to be that there is a TW day at the end of each quarter (presumably for grading, and finalizing the gradebook) and 1 TW and one SD or SP day during each quarter, allowing for teachers to plan.

You could move those days to non-religious holiday days, I guess, but it wouldn't change the fact that teachers need days to plan, and that those days need to be distributed throughout the quarter, not clustered. If this doesn't seem obvious to you, I'd ask you this. How does it work in your job? When you have time when your client isn't present. Perhaps you're creating documents, reviewing documents, or meeting with colleagues. Are those kinds of tasks clustered, or do you have time to do that every single month that you work? Are you asked to do things in illogical sequence, or do you generally get to gather data before you analyze it? Or plan meetings with clients after you already held the meetings? Because that is what people seem to think teachers should do.

They can be distributed through the quarter without adding more holes to the calendar. Indigenous peoples day is a great example.

Indigenous people day is a great example of what?

Using the calendar to provide TW days on days students are already out of the classroom, not adding more disruption.

What day in late February are you proposing be used in that way?

Also, do you work federal holidays, or are you just expecting that teachers do so?

I worked Federal Holidays when I didn’t support the Fed Govetrnment. Most people aroind the country work on Federal Holidays, except for the big ones, labor day, memorial day, fourth of July, and Thanksgiving. You could even argue that a large percentage of the country works on Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years Eve. So yes, Teachers can work on federal holidays, they do in other counties in Virginia and across the US.

Our area is a bit different because so many people work for the Federal Government or support the Federal Government that a lrge percentage of population have the day off.

Why do you want your kids to work an adult schedule so young? Or is it just that it is hard for YOU? Breaks help kids learn more.

Actually for younger elementary, repetition and routine is much more important than “breaks”. The school year can provide sufficient breaks without being disjointed and irregular.

Actually no. Please link to some studies to back that up.

I mean you don’t replicate the school day on the weekends because your kids can’t handle the routine change. They are smarter than that. Young kids don’t need that much time in large group settings. Historically preschool was 2-3 days a week part time, Kindergarten was part time and kids only really started school in first grade.

Kids do learn better with breaks. Honestly, you probably do your job better with breaks too. Humans need breaks. Lobbying for that rather than want your kids to emulate the working world would be a better use of time.

If you’re unaware of the literature on routine and repetition in elementary education that’s willful on your part. Weekends *are* part of routine: you probably go to the same religious practice or the same sport for weeks on end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you remove Federal Holidays, which are about the same in number as the religious holidays. Fixed.

And you uncouple Spring Break from Easter as a bonus, providing an annual date for Spring Break that doesn't move.

People can complain all they want that Christmas falls in Winter Break but it is a federal holiday and has been a time period for travel across the country for forever. Schools would be shut due to lack of attendance and teachers and staff if it wasn't off. There are no other holidays were that would be the case.

There are 11 federal holidays:

- Independence Day and Juneteenth fall outside of the school year.
- Labor Day (plus the Friday) is mandated by VA law.
- Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years are untouchable, and I'd argue Memorial Day also.
- Columbus is already used as a teacher workday.
- So, only MLK, Presidents, and Veterans Days are viable school days.

Of the surrounding districts (Arl, Falls Church City, Prince William, Loudoun), the only one that has school on any of those three days is Loudoun for Veterans Day.

Thanksgiving doesn’t require 3 days. Make the Weds or the Fri a teacher work day.

Christmas does not require two weeks. Make 23rd a teacher work/training day.

Memorial Day does not require three days. Make one a work day.

Teacher should be allowed to work remotely on their workdays and training should be available online.

There, got rid of three days off and didn’t upset anybody/disenfranchise any religion.

Majority of the TW are timed around the end of a quarter. Nit picking a few days off the calendar isn’t going to fix that. It would be more effective to time quarters around existing breaks. For example, Monday and Tuesday of Spring Break could have been TW/SD days instead of tracking them onto the following week.

Looking at FCPS calendar, the pattern seems to be that there is a TW day at the end of each quarter (presumably for grading, and finalizing the gradebook) and 1 TW and one SD or SP day during each quarter, allowing for teachers to plan.

You could move those days to non-religious holiday days, I guess, but it wouldn't change the fact that teachers need days to plan, and that those days need to be distributed throughout the quarter, not clustered. If this doesn't seem obvious to you, I'd ask you this. How does it work in your job? When you have time when your client isn't present. Perhaps you're creating documents, reviewing documents, or meeting with colleagues. Are those kinds of tasks clustered, or do you have time to do that every single month that you work? Are you asked to do things in illogical sequence, or do you generally get to gather data before you analyze it? Or plan meetings with clients after you already held the meetings? Because that is what people seem to think teachers should do.

They can be distributed through the quarter without adding more holes to the calendar. Indigenous peoples day is a great example.

Indigenous people day is a great example of what?

Using the calendar to provide TW days on days students are already out of the classroom, not adding more disruption.

What day in late February are you proposing be used in that way?

Also, do you work federal holidays, or are you just expecting that teachers do so?

I work some of the Federal holidays— and I don’t for example get 3 days for Thanksgiving.

The schedule is supposed to prioritize *students* not teachers. It’s embarrassing how few people seem to realize that.

The schedule is supposed to prioritize instruction. Providing decent working conditions so that they can do their job, and so that they don't quit is an important part of that.

It's embarrassing how many people think that it's a zero sum gain, and that driving teachers away from the profession is somehow to the benefits of students.

“Decent working conditions” don’t require monthly half days. You’ll notice how other professionals don’t receive half days and how teachers were employed in Fairfax in 2023.

The entitlement of treating a five day workweek like a Dickensian workhouse…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you remove Federal Holidays, which are about the same in number as the religious holidays. Fixed.

And you uncouple Spring Break from Easter as a bonus, providing an annual date for Spring Break that doesn't move.

People can complain all they want that Christmas falls in Winter Break but it is a federal holiday and has been a time period for travel across the country for forever. Schools would be shut due to lack of attendance and teachers and staff if it wasn't off. There are no other holidays were that would be the case.

There are 11 federal holidays:

- Independence Day and Juneteenth fall outside of the school year.
- Labor Day (plus the Friday) is mandated by VA law.
- Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years are untouchable, and I'd argue Memorial Day also.
- Columbus is already used as a teacher workday.
- So, only MLK, Presidents, and Veterans Days are viable school days.

Of the surrounding districts (Arl, Falls Church City, Prince William, Loudoun), the only one that has school on any of those three days is Loudoun for Veterans Day.

Thanksgiving doesn’t require 3 days. Make the Weds or the Fri a teacher work day.

Christmas does not require two weeks. Make 23rd a teacher work/training day.

Memorial Day does not require three days. Make one a work day.

Teacher should be allowed to work remotely on their workdays and training should be available online.

There, got rid of three days off and didn’t upset anybody/disenfranchise any religion.

Majority of the TW are timed around the end of a quarter. Nit picking a few days off the calendar isn’t going to fix that. It would be more effective to time quarters around existing breaks. For example, Monday and Tuesday of Spring Break could have been TW/SD days instead of tracking them onto the following week.

Looking at FCPS calendar, the pattern seems to be that there is a TW day at the end of each quarter (presumably for grading, and finalizing the gradebook) and 1 TW and one SD or SP day during each quarter, allowing for teachers to plan.

You could move those days to non-religious holiday days, I guess, but it wouldn't change the fact that teachers need days to plan, and that those days need to be distributed throughout the quarter, not clustered. If this doesn't seem obvious to you, I'd ask you this. How does it work in your job? When you have time when your client isn't present. Perhaps you're creating documents, reviewing documents, or meeting with colleagues. Are those kinds of tasks clustered, or do you have time to do that every single month that you work? Are you asked to do things in illogical sequence, or do you generally get to gather data before you analyze it? Or plan meetings with clients after you already held the meetings? Because that is what people seem to think teachers should do.

They can be distributed through the quarter without adding more holes to the calendar. Indigenous peoples day is a great example.

Indigenous people day is a great example of what?

Using the calendar to provide TW days on days students are already out of the classroom, not adding more disruption.

What day in late February are you proposing be used in that way?

Also, do you work federal holidays, or are you just expecting that teachers do so?

I work some of the Federal holidays— and I don’t for example get 3 days for Thanksgiving.

The schedule is supposed to prioritize *students* not teachers. It’s embarrassing how few people seem to realize that.

The schedule is supposed to prioritize instruction. Providing decent working conditions so that they can do their job, and so that they don't quit is an important part of that.

It's embarrassing how many people think that it's a zero sum gain, and that driving teachers away from the profession is somehow to the benefits of students.

It is to the benefit of children not to be taught by self-absorbed and entitled adults. If they flee the profession for working five day weeks ten months a year (with several weeks off) thats for the best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you remove Federal Holidays, which are about the same in number as the religious holidays. Fixed.

And you uncouple Spring Break from Easter as a bonus, providing an annual date for Spring Break that doesn't move.

People can complain all they want that Christmas falls in Winter Break but it is a federal holiday and has been a time period for travel across the country for forever. Schools would be shut due to lack of attendance and teachers and staff if it wasn't off. There are no other holidays were that would be the case.

There are 11 federal holidays:

- Independence Day and Juneteenth fall outside of the school year.
- Labor Day (plus the Friday) is mandated by VA law.
- Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years are untouchable, and I'd argue Memorial Day also.
- Columbus is already used as a teacher workday.
- So, only MLK, Presidents, and Veterans Days are viable school days.

Of the surrounding districts (Arl, Falls Church City, Prince William, Loudoun), the only one that has school on any of those three days is Loudoun for Veterans Day.

Thanksgiving doesn’t require 3 days. Make the Weds or the Fri a teacher work day.

Christmas does not require two weeks. Make 23rd a teacher work/training day.

Memorial Day does not require three days. Make one a work day.

Teacher should be allowed to work remotely on their workdays and training should be available online.

There, got rid of three days off and didn’t upset anybody/disenfranchise any religion.

Majority of the TW are timed around the end of a quarter. Nit picking a few days off the calendar isn’t going to fix that. It would be more effective to time quarters around existing breaks. For example, Monday and Tuesday of Spring Break could have been TW/SD days instead of tracking them onto the following week.

Looking at FCPS calendar, the pattern seems to be that there is a TW day at the end of each quarter (presumably for grading, and finalizing the gradebook) and 1 TW and one SD or SP day during each quarter, allowing for teachers to plan.

You could move those days to non-religious holiday days, I guess, but it wouldn't change the fact that teachers need days to plan, and that those days need to be distributed throughout the quarter, not clustered. If this doesn't seem obvious to you, I'd ask you this. How does it work in your job? When you have time when your client isn't present. Perhaps you're creating documents, reviewing documents, or meeting with colleagues. Are those kinds of tasks clustered, or do you have time to do that every single month that you work? Are you asked to do things in illogical sequence, or do you generally get to gather data before you analyze it? Or plan meetings with clients after you already held the meetings? Because that is what people seem to think teachers should do.

They can be distributed through the quarter without adding more holes to the calendar. Indigenous peoples day is a great example.

Indigenous people day is a great example of what?

Using the calendar to provide TW days on days students are already out of the classroom, not adding more disruption.

What day in late February are you proposing be used in that way?

Also, do you work federal holidays, or are you just expecting that teachers do so?

I work some of the Federal holidays— and I don’t for example get 3 days for Thanksgiving.

The schedule is supposed to prioritize *students* not teachers. It’s embarrassing how few people seem to realize that.

It does prioritize students. It is better to have a shorter summer break. More breaks during the school year allow for a shorter summer. I wish we could move to a year-round school year, but, until others jump on board with that plan, we are stuck with this. Remember -- you only get 180 days of school.

[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:So you remove Federal Holidays, which are about the same in number as the religious holidays. Fixed.

And you uncouple Spring Break from Easter as a bonus, providing an annual date for Spring Break that doesn't move.

People can complain all they want that Christmas falls in Winter Break but it is a federal holiday and has been a time period for travel across the country for forever. Schools would be shut due to lack of attendance and teachers and staff if it wasn't off. There are no other holidays were that would be the case.

There are 11 federal holidays:

- Independence Day and Juneteenth fall outside of the school year.
- Labor Day (plus the Friday) is mandated by VA law.
- Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years are untouchable, and I'd argue Memorial Day also.
- Columbus is already used as a teacher workday.
- So, only MLK, Presidents, and Veterans Days are viable school days.

Of the surrounding districts (Arl, Falls Church City, Prince William, Loudoun), the only one that has school on any of those three days is Loudoun for Veterans Day.

Thanksgiving doesn’t require 3 days. Make the Weds or the Fri a teacher work day.

Christmas does not require two weeks. Make 23rd a teacher work/training day.

Memorial Day does not require three days. Make one a work day.

Teacher should be allowed to work remotely on their workdays and training should be available online.

There, got rid of three days off and didn’t upset anybody/disenfranchise any religion.

Majority of the TW are timed around the end of a quarter. Nit picking a few days off the calendar isn’t going to fix that. It would be more effective to time quarters around existing breaks. For example, Monday and Tuesday of Spring Break could have been TW/SD days instead of tracking them onto the following week.

Looking at FCPS calendar, the pattern seems to be that there is a TW day at the end of each quarter (presumably for grading, and finalizing the gradebook) and 1 TW and one SD or SP day during each quarter, allowing for teachers to plan.

You could move those days to non-religious holiday days, I guess, but it wouldn't change the fact that teachers need days to plan, and that those days need to be distributed throughout the quarter, not clustered. If this doesn't seem obvious to you, I'd ask you this. How does it work in your job? When you have time when your client isn't present. Perhaps you're creating documents, reviewing documents, or meeting with colleagues. Are those kinds of tasks clustered, or do you have time to do that every single month that you work? Are you asked to do things in illogical sequence, or do you generally get to gather data before you analyze it? Or plan meetings with clients after you already held the meetings? Because that is what people seem to think teachers should do.

They can be distributed through the quarter without adding more holes to the calendar. Indigenous peoples day is a great example.

Indigenous people day is a great example of what?

Using the calendar to provide TW days on days students are already out of the classroom, not adding more disruption.

What day in late February are you proposing be used in that way?

Also, do you work federal holidays, or are you just expecting that teachers do so?

I work some of the Federal holidays— and I don’t for example get 3 days for Thanksgiving.

The schedule is supposed to prioritize *students* not teachers. It’s embarrassing how few people seem to realize that.

The schedule is supposed to prioritize instruction. Providing decent working conditions so that they can do their job, and so that they don't quit is an important part of that.

It's embarrassing how many people think that it's a zero sum gain, and that driving teachers away from the profession is somehow to the benefits of students.

“Decent working conditions” don’t require monthly half days. You’ll notice how other professionals don’t receive half days and how teachers were employed in Fairfax in 2023.

The entitlement of treating a five day workweek like a Dickensian workhouse…

We are talking about the scheduling of teacher work days. These aren't days off for teachers.

Decent working conditions means you get a significant portion of your work done during the hours you are scheduled to work.