APS calendar options are here

[Anonymous]

I support moving up the start date in august but t should come with an earlier end date. That is going to be a going forward concern unless we drop the holiday. I realize many in Arlington are part of the laptop/zoom class and it’s NBD. DH and I both work outside the home and I’ve either had to shell out almost $300 a day for extra care and lose the little vacation days I get. It is truly terrible for working families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the discussion about the difficulties of moving the start of school back a week highlight why it is better to do what FCCPS did and have the abstract discussion of when we want school to start, rather than a yearly debate. The fact is- the year you shorten summer is always going to be kind of painful. These are the benefits of the 2 week before labor day start day:
1. Allows more school before AP/IB exams (this reason has been discussed).
2. Kids who play fall sports already have to be back Aug 1st to start practice- the earlier start date better lines up with those schedules.
3. VA mandates that the friday before labor day and labor day be holidays. Starting 1 week before labor day means a 4 day school week followed by a 4 day weekend, followed by a 4 day week. Starting two weeks before labor day allows for a 5 day week, followed by a 4 day week before you hit a 4 day weekend, giving more of a chance to get into a learning stride.

The closeness of when summer school ends is a this year problem- presumably summer school shifts earlier if you start school earlier.

Of course the benefits of starting early get taken away if the response by the school system is to add lots of new holidays throughout the year keeping kids in school longer, and having more broken up weeks.

Yes, and I think this is the problem. APS keeps starting earlier but getting out at the same time. It's insane.

[Anonymous]

Many of the bus drivers and their community celebrate Ethiopian new year and many extended workers celebrate Vietnamese New Year. We should consider adding those to the calendar. I also would like to see Good Friday and Easter Monday added. This will ensure families can celebrate those days no matter when spring break is scheduled in future. I find it offensive it’s not named on the current calendar, frankly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the discussion about the difficulties of moving the start of school back a week highlight why it is better to do what FCCPS did and have the abstract discussion of when we want school to start, rather than a yearly debate. The fact is- the year you shorten summer is always going to be kind of painful. These are the benefits of the 2 week before labor day start day:
1. Allows more school before AP/IB exams (this reason has been discussed).
2. Kids who play fall sports already have to be back Aug 1st to start practice- the earlier start date better lines up with those schedules.
3. VA mandates that the friday before labor day and labor day be holidays. Starting 1 week before labor day means a 4 day school week followed by a 4 day weekend, followed by a 4 day week. Starting two weeks before labor day allows for a 5 day week, followed by a 4 day week before you hit a 4 day weekend, giving more of a chance to get into a learning stride.

The closeness of when summer school ends is a this year problem- presumably summer school shifts earlier if you start school earlier.

Of course the benefits of starting early get taken away if the response by the school system is to add lots of new holidays throughout the year keeping kids in school longer, and having more broken up weeks.

Yes, and I think this is the problem. APS keeps starting earlier but getting out at the same time. It's insane.

So everyone bends for these special groups?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many of the bus drivers and their community celebrate Ethiopian new year and many extended workers celebrate Vietnamese New Year. We should consider adding those to the calendar. I also would like to see Good Friday and Easter Monday added. This will ensure families can celebrate those days no matter when spring break is scheduled in future. I find it offensive it’s not named on the current calendar, frankly.

We already get Easter Monday troll

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many of the bus drivers and their community celebrate Ethiopian new year and many extended workers celebrate Vietnamese New Year. We should consider adding those to the calendar. I also would like to see Good Friday and Easter Monday added. This will ensure families can celebrate those days no matter when spring break is scheduled in future. I find it offensive it’s not named on the current calendar, frankly.

We already get Easter Monday troll

But we shouldn't. Spring break should be scheduled independently of Easter, and it should be the same time every year. Families may not like it, but it would take away the "We need to plan!" cries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many of the bus drivers and their community celebrate Ethiopian new year and many extended workers celebrate Vietnamese New Year. We should consider adding those to the calendar. I also would like to see Good Friday and Easter Monday added. This will ensure families can celebrate those days no matter when spring break is scheduled in future. I find it offensive it’s not named on the current calendar, frankly.

We already get Easter Monday troll

But we shouldn't. Spring break should be scheduled independently of Easter, and it should be the same time every year. Families may not like it, but it would take away the "We need to plan!" cries.

From a need to plan perspective, APS should have already decided next year's calendar. They should be approving calendars 3-5 years out. People have already made travel plans for next August--nice places in poplar locations book up early There's no reason APS has to wait so long to approve a calendar. It's ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many of the bus drivers and their community celebrate Ethiopian new year and many extended workers celebrate Vietnamese New Year. We should consider adding those to the calendar. I also would like to see Good Friday and Easter Monday added. This will ensure families can celebrate those days no matter when spring break is scheduled in future. I find it offensive it’s not named on the current calendar, frankly.

We already get Easter Monday troll

But we shouldn't. Spring break should be scheduled independently of Easter, and it should be the same time every year. Families may not like it, but it would take away the "We need to plan!" cries.

From a need to plan perspective, APS should have already decided next year's calendar. They should be approving calendars 3-5 years out. People have already made travel plans for next August--nice places in poplar locations book up early There's no reason APS has to wait so long to approve a calendar. It's ridiculous.

But that takes planning! It’s hard work!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many of the bus drivers and their community celebrate Ethiopian new year and many extended workers celebrate Vietnamese New Year. We should consider adding those to the calendar. I also would like to see Good Friday and Easter Monday added. This will ensure families can celebrate those days no matter when spring break is scheduled in future. I find it offensive it’s not named on the current calendar, frankly.

We already get Easter Monday troll

But we shouldn't. Spring break should be scheduled independently of Easter, and it should be the same time every year. Families may not like it, but it would take away the "We need to plan!" cries.

From a need to plan perspective, APS should have already decided next year's calendar. They should be approving calendars 3-5 years out. People have already made travel plans for next August--nice places in poplar locations book up early There's no reason APS has to wait so long to approve a calendar. It's ridiculous.

Other local districts haven’t finalized either. I don’t know why we even make our own calendar if it’s so important to match Fairfax. Couldn’t we just use theirs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the discussion about the difficulties of moving the start of school back a week highlight why it is better to do what FCCPS did and have the abstract discussion of when we want school to start, rather than a yearly debate. The fact is- the year you shorten summer is always going to be kind of painful. These are the benefits of the 2 week before labor day start day:
1. Allows more school before AP/IB exams (this reason has been discussed).
2. Kids who play fall sports already have to be back Aug 1st to start practice- the earlier start date better lines up with those schedules.
3. VA mandates that the friday before labor day and labor day be holidays. Starting 1 week before labor day means a 4 day school week followed by a 4 day weekend, followed by a 4 day week. Starting two weeks before labor day allows for a 5 day week, followed by a 4 day week before you hit a 4 day weekend, giving more of a chance to get into a learning stride.

The closeness of when summer school ends is a this year problem- presumably summer school shifts earlier if you start school earlier.

Of course the benefits of starting early get taken away if the response by the school system is to add lots of new holidays throughout the year keeping kids in school longer, and having more broken up weeks.

The problem with this is that they are not proposing a one-year transitional shortened summer. The earlier start date is not resulting in an earlier release date. Personally, I'm 100% on-board with a shorter summer break (I prefer a year-round calendar); but shortening the traditional summer (may) create challenges for summer school staff recruitment, and possibly student attendance for non-essential summer classes. Maybe APS wants to eliminate non-essential summer classes from its curriculum, wouldn't be surprised; but that doesn't help recruiting teachers who want a significant summer break.

[Anonymous]

From the Friday email:

2. Calendar Updates & Eid al-Fitr Holiday Added

At the Dec. 1 School Board meeting, the Board received recommendations on the 2023-24 School Year Calendar. Based on the discussion and feedback from staff and families, APS is revisiting options 1 and 2 and is modifying option 2 to provide a full 180 instructional days. A final decision will be made at the Dec. 15 School Board meeting.

Additionally, the Board approved a calendar change for the current school year to designate Fri, April 21, 2023, as a holiday for Eid al-Fitr. Because of this change, all schools and offices will be closed on Fri, April 21, 2023.

Next Wed, Dec. 7 is a Countywide Early Release for all students and a Professional Learning Day for staff. Winter Break is Dec. 19 - Jan. 2. All schools and offices will be closed.

[Anonymous]

Great, another day off.

[Anonymous]

Here's the revised option 2 - start date Aug 28.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/2023-24-School-Year-Calendar-Proposal-Revised-Option-2.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's the revised option 2 - start date Aug 28.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/2023-24-School-Year-Calendar-Proposal-Revised-Option-2.pdf

Best I can tell they removed Apr 1 as day off to get the extra school day, otherwise looks the same as original version.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's the revised option 2 - start date Aug 28.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/2023-24-School-Year-Calendar-Proposal-Revised-Option-2.pdf

This is very close to what I would anticipate that the Fairfax County calendar will look like, except Fairfax may start the week before. The only holiday difference is that FCPS will likely have Orthodox Good Friday (May 3rd). The teacher workdays near quarter ends might be different days, but similar in number. The big remaining question from the FCPS side is whether Spring Break will be prior to Easter like APS version 2, or the first week of April.