How DO we get the calendar changed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to write your school board members and then you need to engage them where they care which is politics.

All of the schoolboard members are liberal and many are progressive. This calendar is *not* progressive and disproportionately impacts lower-income and dual-working families. Women and hourly workers are supposed to be constituencies democrats care about. So raise the issue with local league of women voters, canvassers/fundraisers who are trying to get support for other democratic candidates (especially if you’ve donated before) and directly ask school board members how they are contributing to the affordability agenda with their calendar choices.

It is idiotic that this is how any of this works. But COVID created the idea for many Democrats that liberals don’t mind keeping kids out of school and now its course correction.

Have you confused school with being child care? You think its primary purpose is to warehouse children?

I think schools exist to provide a public good at public expense. Has taxpayers we have a right to assume the public will be provided efficiently and effectively, and not create undue burdens on the households they are intended to serve.

What undue burdens are they creating? The calendars are published a year in advance. No one can control the weather. There are no burdens, except for maybe people who suck at managing a household. Stop thinking of school as child care. It's not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have had it with the FCPS calendar. The days off have gotten totally out off hand. At some point FCPS decided it need to celebrate EVERY possibly , religious and non religious holiday under the sun.
It is out of control.

Throw in all the weather delays and closing and kids are never in school. I know, I know, but they still meet their hours and are above the VA standard. Sure, who cares when it come to elementary, but HS teachers, especially, those teaching AP classes plan their year around having a certain number of days of school, and given that most AP exams are early May they already have a condensed timeline. Elementary parents come back to the conversation with your kid in in HS and school actually matters. Why not have a higher bar and if there aren't weather related closing we get more instruction.

Your kids get the same amount of instruction they always do. There's a number of hours they have to meet and they meet them.

Your complaints about observing holidays are invalid, as are your feelings. You seem to believe that the purpose of schools is to warehouse kids.

The time to "get the calendar changed" is when the board puts it out for comments. Weigh in then. Whining about it now is a bad look.

DP. Don’t you dare gaslight people trying to act like there was any point at which the public could give meaningful input on the calendar. They put out a completely bullsh*t survey with ridiculous binary choices. They purposely phrased the questions so there was no way to choose a sensible calendar. They wrote the survey with the goal of doing whatever they wanted while pretending they solicited input first. They think we are stupid. I guess a lot of people are because they keep voting for this.

That's just your invalid opinion. I realize you're frustrated that you're in a fringe majority in with your invalid feelings, but it is what is. Stop blaming everyone for your inability to plan based on the information provided to you months in advance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have had it with the FCPS calendar. The days off have gotten totally out off hand. At some point FCPS decided it need to celebrate EVERY possibly , religious and non religious holiday under the sun.
It is out of control.

Throw in all the weather delays and closing and kids are never in school. I know, I know, but they still meet their hours and are above the VA standard. Sure, who cares when it come to elementary, but HS teachers, especially, those teaching AP classes plan their year around having a certain number of days of school, and given that most AP exams are early May they already have a condensed timeline. Elementary parents come back to the conversation with your kid in in HS and school actually matters. Why not have a higher bar and if there aren't weather related closing we get more instruction.

Your kids get the same amount of instruction they always do. There's a number of hours they have to meet and they meet them.

Your complaints about observing holidays are invalid, as are your feelings. You seem to believe that the purpose of schools is to warehouse kids.

The time to "get the calendar changed" is when the board puts it out for comments. Weigh in then. Whining about it now is a bad look.

DP. Don’t you dare gaslight people trying to act like there was any point at which the public could give meaningful input on the calendar. They put out a completely bullsh*t survey with ridiculous binary choices. They purposely phrased the questions so there was no way to choose a sensible calendar. They wrote the survey with the goal of doing whatever they wanted while pretending they solicited input first. They think we are stupid. I guess a lot of people are because they keep voting for this.

That's just your invalid opinion. I realize you're frustrated that you're in a fringe majority in with your invalid feelings, but it is what is. Stop blaming everyone for your inability to plan based on the information provided to you months in advance.

*Minority. Not majority. You're in a fringe minority. You're the whiny person everyone rolls their eyes at.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone needs to get the Media involved!!!

I hope this is posted to be funny because it made me chuckle. But just in case it isn't because I know how stupid some DCUMs could be, if you haven't noticed, the media reports the school closings, delays, and early dismissals, so I'm pretty sure they are aware of these things.

Clearly you are the stupid one. The media can bring light to the overall effect this is having on families and students. In addition, the media certainly doesn't report all the other routine closures FCPS has nor does it report on how they close for every single religious holiday known to man!

If you're ok, you're not paying attention!

They don't report on those things because it's not news. Schools set their calendars and move along. The news has much bigger issues to report.

I think you’re wrong, the decline of Fairfax is system is news because it used to be among the best in the country.

It is in no one‘s interests for our school to be laughingstock. Most people’s largest asset is their home, and people buy in Fairfax because of the schools. I heard a pretty damning comment at a (private) pre-K orientation event: when asked how the local elementary was a mother shrugged and said it’s fine when it’s open.

No one accepts your premise that the schools are "declining."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have had it with the FCPS calendar. The days off have gotten totally out off hand. At some point FCPS decided it need to celebrate EVERY possibly , religious and non religious holiday under the sun.
It is out of control.

Throw in all the weather delays and closing and kids are never in school. I know, I know, but they still meet their hours and are above the VA standard. Sure, who cares when it come to elementary, but HS teachers, especially, those teaching AP classes plan their year around having a certain number of days of school, and given that most AP exams are early May they already have a condensed timeline. Elementary parents come back to the conversation with your kid in in HS and school actually matters. Why not have a higher bar and if there aren't weather related closing we get more instruction.

Your kids get the same amount of instruction they always do. There's a number of hours they have to meet and they meet them.

Your complaints about observing holidays are invalid, as are your feelings. You seem to believe that the purpose of schools is to warehouse kids.

The time to "get the calendar changed" is when the board puts it out for comments. Weigh in then. Whining about it now is a bad look.

+100000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have had it with the FCPS calendar. The days off have gotten totally out off hand. At some point FCPS decided it need to celebrate EVERY possibly , religious and non religious holiday under the sun.
It is out of control.

Throw in all the weather delays and closing and kids are never in school. I know, I know, but they still meet their hours and are above the VA standard. Sure, who cares when it come to elementary, but HS teachers, especially, those teaching AP classes plan their year around having a certain number of days of school, and given that most AP exams are early May they already have a condensed timeline. Elementary parents come back to the conversation with your kid in in HS and school actually matters. Why not have a higher bar and if there aren't weather related closing we get more instruction.

Your kids get the same amount of instruction they always do. There's a number of hours they have to meet and they meet them.

Your complaints about observing holidays are invalid, as are your feelings. You seem to believe that the purpose of schools is to warehouse kids.

The time to "get the calendar changed" is when the board puts it out for comments. Weigh in then. Whining about it now is a bad look.

I don't give an F about "warehousing" my kids. They are old enough to stay home alone. I do care about their education and the fact they they are not in school 180 days. F the hours of fuzzy math.. That is pure BS to rationalize their insanely stupid calendar and closing for rain. Anyone with half a brain knows that an extra hour a day or whatever they do to meet the bare minimum when closing every other week doesn't matter as much as full days of school with a consistent schedule.

And, yes, I fill out the stupid surveys, but we all know the school board does not care and does what they want to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to write your school board members and then you need to engage them where they care which is politics.

All of the schoolboard members are liberal and many are progressive. This calendar is *not* progressive and disproportionately impacts lower-income and dual-working families. Women and hourly workers are supposed to be constituencies democrats care about. So raise the issue with local league of women voters, canvassers/fundraisers who are trying to get support for other democratic candidates (especially if you’ve donated before) and directly ask school board members how they are contributing to the affordability agenda with their calendar choices.

It is idiotic that this is how any of this works. But COVID created the idea for many Democrats that liberals don’t mind keeping kids out of school and now its course correction.

Have you confused school with being child care? You think its primary purpose is to warehouse children?

I think schools exist to provide a public good at public expense. Has taxpayers we have a right to assume the public will be provided efficiently and effectively, and not create undue burdens on the households they are intended to serve.

What undue burdens are they creating? The calendars are published a year in advance. No one can control the weather. There are no burdens, except for maybe people who suck at managing a household. Stop thinking of school as child care. It's not.

Early release days have never been announced three years in advance. They were rolled out after the 24 school year ended, and then changed before the 25 school year started. So you’ll need to drop your quote years in advance” talking point.

All of the “great planning” in the world would not have prepared a parent to go without pay while paying thousands of dollars in childcare like happened in this area in October and November, and now again for all of the parents employed by DHS. Public institutions need to be responsive to the needs of the public.

Making FCPS a joke is bad for everybody. The bodyguards, the boundary changes— this isn’t a world class public school system looks like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't wait till we celebrate the Iranian New Year (Nowruz) on Friday!

Yayyyyy, another day off! Who cares about AP tests!

No, dumdum. It's closed for Eid, because a ton of staff and kids are Muslim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
What undue burdens are they creating? The calendars are published a year in advance. No one can control the weather. There are no burdens, except for maybe people who suck at managing a household. Stop thinking of school as child care. It's not.

Actually, the calendars are put out 3 years in advance. If you can't plan for that, then that's on you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't wait till we celebrate the Iranian New Year (Nowruz) on Friday!

Yayyyyy, another day off! Who cares about AP tests!

No, dumdum. It's closed for Eid, because a ton of staff and kids are Muslim.

According to the FCPS calendar, it’s closed for both.

[Anonymous]

It’s time to implement year round school. Shorter breaks so that retention is less impacted, ability to schedule holidays, less disruption if there are weather delays/closures.

People will initially scream that kids need long summer breaks for swim team, internships, camps etc. And then just like with Covid, people will adjust to the new normal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
What undue burdens are they creating? The calendars are published a year in advance. No one can control the weather. There are no burdens, except for maybe people who suck at managing a household. Stop thinking of school as child care. It's not.

Actually, the calendars are put out 3 years in advance. If you can't plan for that, then that's on you.

Yeah? Strange that I told my office I needed to flex Friday hours eight weeks before the school year started… only to have to see what could be done about Wednesdays less than a year later. It’s always crazy the special form of time travel FCPS boosters do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have had it with the FCPS calendar. The days off have gotten totally out off hand. At some point FCPS decided it need to celebrate EVERY possibly , religious and non religious holiday under the sun.
It is out of control.

Throw in all the weather delays and closing and kids are never in school. I know, I know, but they still meet their hours and are above the VA standard. Sure, who cares when it come to elementary, but HS teachers, especially, those teaching AP classes plan their year around having a certain number of days of school, and given that most AP exams are early May they already have a condensed timeline. Elementary parents come back to the conversation with your kid in in HS and school actually matters. Why not have a higher bar and if there aren't weather related closing we get more instruction.

Can you provide any actual data to support your points?

Are SOL scores lower overall?

High School students have already taken the Writing SOL or the Business Writing Work Keys exam. Are these scores lower than other years?

Are graduation rates declining?

Are FCPS students being accepted into colleges at a lower rate?

Are students being held back at a higher rate?

Are reading levels dropping overall?

Are AP scores lower than in previous years? My child's AP teacher told her that they will have 3-4 weeks of pure review before her upcoming AP exam.

The public school system is there to educate your child, not warehouse them at your convenience. If you can not PROVE (with statistics and data) that the calendar is having an detrimental effect on students ACADEMICALLY, there is no real argument to change the calendar outside of personal preference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have had it with the FCPS calendar. The days off have gotten totally out off hand. At some point FCPS decided it need to celebrate EVERY possibly , religious and non religious holiday under the sun.
It is out of control.

Throw in all the weather delays and closing and kids are never in school. I know, I know, but they still meet their hours and are above the VA standard. Sure, who cares when it come to elementary, but HS teachers, especially, those teaching AP classes plan their year around having a certain number of days of school, and given that most AP exams are early May they already have a condensed timeline. Elementary parents come back to the conversation with your kid in in HS and school actually matters. Why not have a higher bar and if there aren't weather related closing we get more instruction.

Your kids get the same amount of instruction they always do. There's a number of hours they have to meet and they meet them.

Your complaints about observing holidays are invalid, as are your feelings. You seem to believe that the purpose of schools is to warehouse kids.

The time to "get the calendar changed" is when the board puts it out for comments. Weigh in then. Whining about it now is a bad look.

DP. Don’t you dare gaslight people trying to act like there was any point at which the public could give meaningful input on the calendar. They put out a completely bullsh*t survey with ridiculous binary choices. They purposely phrased the questions so there was no way to choose a sensible calendar. They wrote the survey with the goal of doing whatever they wanted while pretending they solicited input first. They think we are stupid. I guess a lot of people are because they keep voting for this.

That's just your invalid opinion. I realize you're frustrated that you're in a fringe majority in with your invalid feelings, but it is what is. Stop blaming everyone for your inability to plan based on the information provided to you months in advance.

Why does everyone assume those complaining are upset because they expect school to babysit their kids and can't plan?

Do those who support the calendar really think having a week off for spring break followed by a 3 day week is a smart calendar that promotes learning?
What about needlessly extending the school year into mid June when SOLs and AP test are done in mid May? So kids spend a month watching videos on the phone in their "phone free" school because we know teachers stop teaching after May, but tell me again how much they have to "plan" on all those planning days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to write your school board members and then you need to engage them where they care which is politics.

All of the schoolboard members are liberal and many are progressive. This calendar is *not* progressive and disproportionately impacts lower-income and dual-working families. Women and hourly workers are supposed to be constituencies democrats care about. So raise the issue with local league of women voters, canvassers/fundraisers who are trying to get support for other democratic candidates (especially if you’ve donated before) and directly ask school board members how they are contributing to the affordability agenda with their calendar choices.

It is idiotic that this is how any of this works. But COVID created the idea for many Democrats that liberals don’t mind keeping kids out of school and now its course correction.

Have you confused school with being child care? You think its primary purpose is to warehouse children?

I think schools exist to provide a public good at public expense. Has taxpayers we have a right to assume the public will be provided efficiently and effectively, and not create undue burdens on the households they are intended to serve.

What undue burdens are they creating? The calendars are published a year in advance. No one can control the weather. There are no burdens, except for maybe people who suck at managing a household. Stop thinking of school as child care. It's not.

The undue burden is on STUDENTS!!! You need to stop. The calendar is a problem. Go away, you lazy troll.