2023 - 2024 school calendar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think all these calendars and the multitude of religious days off is ridiculous. I don't know why we have to start 2 weeks before Labor Day because the religious camps insist on having their religion dictate the school calendars. If you must celebrate YK or RH, go to a Jewish school. Diwali or Bohdi Day? I guess go to an Indian school, or learn to adapt. And now we have Eid and Ramadan off?

Let's see how many more groups we can accommodate so that we start in July and have 2 days off each week. This wokeness is out of control.

And you religious folk need to stop forcing your religious observances on the rest of us.

+1

This is an appalling attitude. Even if you don’t think religious holidays should result in school closures, telling minoritized groups to go elsewhere is disgusting. Opinions differ greatly and there is no calendar that will make everyone happy. It’s okay to disagree and debate, but maybe try to be a little more respectful in your discourse.

Absolutely not. If religious groups insist on pushing their religious observances on us, I will insist that they go elsewhere. Can you for one second image that we were shutting school for white Mormons or Evangelicals? The tone on this board would be incredibly different. But for some reason, we're fine with inserting religion back into school - even when we've worked so hard to separate public sector from it - provided its minority groups. It's hypocritical, and I'm calling the left out on it. Get rid of the religious days, and stick to fed calendar only. You need a religious accommodation? You'll get an excused absence, or you can find a religiously based schools like most of the Catholics that I know.

We have a two week Christmas break and spring break tied to Easter! Sure we don’t call it Christmas break or Easter break but that’s what it is. Otherwise winter break could be at the end of quarter in January and spring break would be at the end of third quarter. I’m with the atheist PP who wants no religious holidays at all but it’s really rich for Christians to take the longest breaks tied to their holidays and deny others the right to their holiday.

Can you please name one other school district, not private school, a school district that doesn’t give off the time between Christmas and New Year’s. FCPS is not about to be the first. They would lose every single teacher they have.

The point is the vitriolic PP used evangelicals and Mormons as examples of groups that aren’t getting special treatment but, hello, yes we get off for their holidays. I’m Jewish and I actually agree about not having all of the days off for all the different religious holidays because it’s just too much (I do think there should bug be tests or major activities on those days) but the OP’s attitude was really offensive and derogatory about other peoples’ religious observances. The Jewish holidays that were added to the calendar are the most important Jewish holidays of the year and this is a complicated issue for a lot of people that doesn’t mean we need to send our kids to a religious school because it’s something that’s been grappled with in the school calendar, and the same is true for the holidays of other major religions.

This is the problem. You only want your group's days off because they are the "most important days". But each group wants their most important days, too. So how many days do we end up adding? Cumulatively, there are too many days of religious observance and we cannot accommodate them all. So they all should go. Federal holidays only. If you need a religious accommodation or calendar based on religious observances, there are private school options but we should not utilize the public school calendar to create a religious calendar - which is exactly what has been done here. That's not vitriolic. That's basic logic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think all these calendars and the multitude of religious days off is ridiculous. I don't know why we have to start 2 weeks before Labor Day because the religious camps insist on having their religion dictate the school calendars. If you must celebrate YK or RH, go to a Jewish school. Diwali or Bohdi Day? I guess go to an Indian school, or learn to adapt. And now we have Eid and Ramadan off?

Let's see how many more groups we can accommodate so that we start in July and have 2 days off each week. This wokeness is out of control.

And you religious folk need to stop forcing your religious observances on the rest of us.

+1

This is an appalling attitude. Even if you don’t think religious holidays should result in school closures, telling minoritized groups to go elsewhere is disgusting. Opinions differ greatly and there is no calendar that will make everyone happy. It’s okay to disagree and debate, but maybe try to be a little more respectful in your discourse.

Absolutely not. If religious groups insist on pushing their religious observances on us, I will insist that they go elsewhere. Can you for one second image that we were shutting school for white Mormons or Evangelicals? The tone on this board would be incredibly different. But for some reason, we're fine with inserting religion back into school - even when we've worked so hard to separate public sector from it - provided its minority groups. It's hypocritical, and I'm calling the left out on it. Get rid of the religious days, and stick to fed calendar only. You need a religious accommodation? You'll get an excused absence, or you can find a religiously based schools like most of the Catholics that I know.

We have a two week Christmas break and spring break tied to Easter! Sure we don’t call it Christmas break or Easter break but that’s what it is. Otherwise winter break could be at the end of quarter in January and spring break would be at the end of third quarter. I’m with the atheist PP who wants no religious holidays at all but it’s really rich for Christians to take the longest breaks tied to their holidays and deny others the right to their holiday.

Can you please name one other school district, not private school, a school district that doesn’t give off the time between Christmas and New Year’s. FCPS is not about to be the first. They would lose every single teacher they have.

The point is the vitriolic PP used evangelicals and Mormons as examples of groups that aren’t getting special treatment but, hello, yes we get off for their holidays. I’m Jewish and I actually agree about not having all of the days off for all the different religious holidays because it’s just too much (I do think there should bug be tests or major activities on those days) but the OP’s attitude was really offensive and derogatory about other peoples’ religious observances. The Jewish holidays that were added to the calendar are the most important Jewish holidays of the year and this is a complicated issue for a lot of people that doesn’t mean we need to send our kids to a religious school because it’s something that’s been grappled with in the school calendar, and the same is true for the holidays of other major religions.

If Jewish holidays are important to you, then go private or pull your kids out of school. Let the rest of us go to school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think all these calendars and the multitude of religious days off is ridiculous. I don't know why we have to start 2 weeks before Labor Day because the religious camps insist on having their religion dictate the school calendars. If you must celebrate YK or RH, go to a Jewish school. Diwali or Bohdi Day? I guess go to an Indian school, or learn to adapt. And now we have Eid and Ramadan off?

Let's see how many more groups we can accommodate so that we start in July and have 2 days off each week. This wokeness is out of control.

And you religious folk need to stop forcing your religious observances on the rest of us.

+1

This is an appalling attitude. Even if you don’t think religious holidays should result in school closures, telling minoritized groups to go elsewhere is disgusting. Opinions differ greatly and there is no calendar that will make everyone happy. It’s okay to disagree and debate, but maybe try to be a little more respectful in your discourse.

Absolutely not. If religious groups insist on pushing their religious observances on us, I will insist that they go elsewhere. Can you for one second image that we were shutting school for white Mormons or Evangelicals? The tone on this board would be incredibly different. But for some reason, we're fine with inserting religion back into school - even when we've worked so hard to separate public sector from it - provided its minority groups. It's hypocritical, and I'm calling the left out on it. Get rid of the religious days, and stick to fed calendar only. You need a religious accommodation? You'll get an excused absence, or you can find a religiously based schools like most of the Catholics that I know.

We have a two week Christmas break and spring break tied to Easter! Sure we don’t call it Christmas break or Easter break but that’s what it is. Otherwise winter break could be at the end of quarter in January and spring break would be at the end of third quarter. I’m with the atheist PP who wants no religious holidays at all but it’s really rich for Christians to take the longest breaks tied to their holidays and deny others the right to their holiday.

Can you please name one other school district, not private school, a school district that doesn’t give off the time between Christmas and New Year’s. FCPS is not about to be the first. They would lose every single teacher they have.

The point is the vitriolic PP used evangelicals and Mormons as examples of groups that aren’t getting special treatment but, hello, yes we get off for their holidays. I’m Jewish and I actually agree about not having all of the days off for all the different religious holidays because it’s just too much (I do think there should bug be tests or major activities on those days) but the OP’s attitude was really offensive and derogatory about other peoples’ religious observances. The Jewish holidays that were added to the calendar are the most important Jewish holidays of the year and this is a complicated issue for a lot of people that doesn’t mean we need to send our kids to a religious school because it’s something that’s been grappled with in the school calendar, and the same is true for the holidays of other major religions.

This is the problem. You only want your group's days off because they are the "most important days". But each group wants their most important days, too. So how many days do we end up adding? Cumulatively, there are too many days of religious observance and we cannot accommodate them all. So they all should go. Federal holidays only. If you need a religious accommodation or calendar based on religious observances, there are private school options but we should not utilize the public school calendar to create a religious calendar - which is exactly what has been done here. That's not vitriolic. That's basic logic.

Did you read my post? I said I’m okay with NOT having off for any of the religious holidays, including my own, but the PP was offensive in the way they referred to the holidays of other religions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think all these calendars and the multitude of religious days off is ridiculous. I don't know why we have to start 2 weeks before Labor Day because the religious camps insist on having their religion dictate the school calendars. If you must celebrate YK or RH, go to a Jewish school. Diwali or Bohdi Day? I guess go to an Indian school, or learn to adapt. And now we have Eid and Ramadan off?

Let's see how many more groups we can accommodate so that we start in July and have 2 days off each week. This wokeness is out of control.

And you religious folk need to stop forcing your religious observances on the rest of us.

+1

This is an appalling attitude. Even if you don’t think religious holidays should result in school closures, telling minoritized groups to go elsewhere is disgusting. Opinions differ greatly and there is no calendar that will make everyone happy. It’s okay to disagree and debate, but maybe try to be a little more respectful in your discourse.

Absolutely not. If religious groups insist on pushing their religious observances on us, I will insist that they go elsewhere. Can you for one second image that we were shutting school for white Mormons or Evangelicals? The tone on this board would be incredibly different. But for some reason, we're fine with inserting religion back into school - even when we've worked so hard to separate public sector from it - provided its minority groups. It's hypocritical, and I'm calling the left out on it. Get rid of the religious days, and stick to fed calendar only. You need a religious accommodation? You'll get an excused absence, or you can find a religiously based schools like most of the Catholics that I know.

We have a two week Christmas break and spring break tied to Easter! Sure we don’t call it Christmas break or Easter break but that’s what it is. Otherwise winter break could be at the end of quarter in January and spring break would be at the end of third quarter. I’m with the atheist PP who wants no religious holidays at all but it’s really rich for Christians to take the longest breaks tied to their holidays and deny others the right to their holiday.

Can you please name one other school district, not private school, a school district that doesn’t give off the time between Christmas and New Year’s. FCPS is not about to be the first. They would lose every single teacher they have.

The point is the vitriolic PP used evangelicals and Mormons as examples of groups that aren’t getting special treatment but, hello, yes we get off for their holidays. I’m Jewish and I actually agree about not having all of the days off for all the different religious holidays because it’s just too much (I do think there should bug be tests or major activities on those days) but the OP’s attitude was really offensive and derogatory about other peoples’ religious observances. The Jewish holidays that were added to the calendar are the most important Jewish holidays of the year and this is a complicated issue for a lot of people that doesn’t mean we need to send our kids to a religious school because it’s something that’s been grappled with in the school calendar, and the same is true for the holidays of other major religions.

This is the problem. You only want your group's days off because they are the "most important days". But each group wants their most important days, too. So how many days do we end up adding? Cumulatively, there are too many days of religious observance and we cannot accommodate them all. So they all should go. Federal holidays only. If you need a religious accommodation or calendar based on religious observances, there are private school options but we should not utilize the public school calendar to create a religious calendar - which is exactly what has been done here. That's not vitriolic. That's basic logic.

I've posted this before but it bears repeating--in 2019 FCPS convened a group of faith leaders from across the county for a series of meetings that included looking at all the holidays. The group talked about how each holiday was observed and whether school impacted a student's ability to participate in the observance. Out of those meetings, and with the full support of all the faith leaders in the group, four holidays were recommended to become days off. That's where that list came from. While this group couldn't possible claim to have "official' powers to represent all members of their faith groups, they all felt comfortable with the list. So can we please stop this narrative that SOME groups are pushing their way to the front and leaving out other groups? Because it's simply not true and not how these holidays were selected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think all these calendars and the multitude of religious days off is ridiculous. I don't know why we have to start 2 weeks before Labor Day because the religious camps insist on having their religion dictate the school calendars. If you must celebrate YK or RH, go to a Jewish school. Diwali or Bohdi Day? I guess go to an Indian school, or learn to adapt. And now we have Eid and Ramadan off?

Let's see how many more groups we can accommodate so that we start in July and have 2 days off each week. This wokeness is out of control.

And you religious folk need to stop forcing your religious observances on the rest of us.

+1

This is an appalling attitude. Even if you don’t think religious holidays should result in school closures, telling minoritized groups to go elsewhere is disgusting. Opinions differ greatly and there is no calendar that will make everyone happy. It’s okay to disagree and debate, but maybe try to be a little more respectful in your discourse.

Absolutely not. If religious groups insist on pushing their religious observances on us, I will insist that they go elsewhere. Can you for one second image that we were shutting school for white Mormons or Evangelicals? The tone on this board would be incredibly different. But for some reason, we're fine with inserting religion back into school - even when we've worked so hard to separate public sector from it - provided its minority groups. It's hypocritical, and I'm calling the left out on it. Get rid of the religious days, and stick to fed calendar only. You need a religious accommodation? You'll get an excused absence, or you can find a religiously based schools like most of the Catholics that I know.

We have a two week Christmas break and spring break tied to Easter! Sure we don’t call it Christmas break or Easter break but that’s what it is. Otherwise winter break could be at the end of quarter in January and spring break would be at the end of third quarter. I’m with the atheist PP who wants no religious holidays at all but it’s really rich for Christians to take the longest breaks tied to their holidays and deny others the right to their holiday.

Can you please name one other school district, not private school, a school district that doesn’t give off the time between Christmas and New Year’s. FCPS is not about to be the first. They would lose every single teacher they have.

The point is the vitriolic PP used evangelicals and Mormons as examples of groups that aren’t getting special treatment but, hello, yes we get off for their holidays. I’m Jewish and I actually agree about not having all of the days off for all the different religious holidays because it’s just too much (I do think there should bug be tests or major activities on those days) but the OP’s attitude was really offensive and derogatory about other peoples’ religious observances. The Jewish holidays that were added to the calendar are the most important Jewish holidays of the year and this is a complicated issue for a lot of people that doesn’t mean we need to send our kids to a religious school because it’s something that’s been grappled with in the school calendar, and the same is true for the holidays of other major religions.

This is the problem. You only want your group's days off because they are the "most important days". But each group wants their most important days, too. So how many days do we end up adding? Cumulatively, there are too many days of religious observance and we cannot accommodate them all. So they all should go. Federal holidays only. If you need a religious accommodation or calendar based on religious observances, there are private school options but we should not utilize the public school calendar to create a religious calendar - which is exactly what has been done here. That's not vitriolic. That's basic logic.

I've posted this before but it bears repeating--in 2019 FCPS convened a group of faith leaders from across the county for a series of meetings that included looking at all the holidays. The group talked about how each holiday was observed and whether school impacted a student's ability to participate in the observance. Out of those meetings, and with the full support of all the faith leaders in the group, four holidays were recommended to become days off. That's where that list came from. While this group couldn't possible claim to have "official' powers to represent all members of their faith groups, they all felt comfortable with the list. So can we please stop this narrative that SOME groups are pushing their way to the front and leaving out other groups? Because it's simply not true and not how these holidays were selected.

So why do faith leaders get to decide my non-religious kid's public school calendar?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think all these calendars and the multitude of religious days off is ridiculous. I don't know why we have to start 2 weeks before Labor Day because the religious camps insist on having their religion dictate the school calendars. If you must celebrate YK or RH, go to a Jewish school. Diwali or Bohdi Day? I guess go to an Indian school, or learn to adapt. And now we have Eid and Ramadan off?

Let's see how many more groups we can accommodate so that we start in July and have 2 days off each week. This wokeness is out of control.

And you religious folk need to stop forcing your religious observances on the rest of us.

+1

This is an appalling attitude. Even if you don’t think religious holidays should result in school closures, telling minoritized groups to go elsewhere is disgusting. Opinions differ greatly and there is no calendar that will make everyone happy. It’s okay to disagree and debate, but maybe try to be a little more respectful in your discourse.

Absolutely not. If religious groups insist on pushing their religious observances on us, I will insist that they go elsewhere. Can you for one second image that we were shutting school for white Mormons or Evangelicals? The tone on this board would be incredibly different. But for some reason, we're fine with inserting religion back into school - even when we've worked so hard to separate public sector from it - provided its minority groups. It's hypocritical, and I'm calling the left out on it. Get rid of the religious days, and stick to fed calendar only. You need a religious accommodation? You'll get an excused absence, or you can find a religiously based schools like most of the Catholics that I know.

We have a two week Christmas break and spring break tied to Easter! Sure we don’t call it Christmas break or Easter break but that’s what it is. Otherwise winter break could be at the end of quarter in January and spring break would be at the end of third quarter. I’m with the atheist PP who wants no religious holidays at all but it’s really rich for Christians to take the longest breaks tied to their holidays and deny others the right to their holiday.

Can you please name one other school district, not private school, a school district that doesn’t give off the time between Christmas and New Year’s. FCPS is not about to be the first. They would lose every single teacher they have.

Because Christian holidays and observances got baked into school calendars 100+ years ago. It’s still based on Christian observances. The same reason weekends are Saturday/Sunday and not Friday/Saturday or some other iteration.

New Year's is a Christian holiday? LOL. That's news to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think all these calendars and the multitude of religious days off is ridiculous. I don't know why we have to start 2 weeks before Labor Day because the religious camps insist on having their religion dictate the school calendars. If you must celebrate YK or RH, go to a Jewish school. Diwali or Bohdi Day? I guess go to an Indian school, or learn to adapt. And now we have Eid and Ramadan off?

Let's see how many more groups we can accommodate so that we start in July and have 2 days off each week. This wokeness is out of control.

And you religious folk need to stop forcing your religious observances on the rest of us.

+1

This is an appalling attitude. Even if you don’t think religious holidays should result in school closures, telling minoritized groups to go elsewhere is disgusting. Opinions differ greatly and there is no calendar that will make everyone happy. It’s okay to disagree and debate, but maybe try to be a little more respectful in your discourse.

Absolutely not. If religious groups insist on pushing their religious observances on us, I will insist that they go elsewhere. Can you for one second image that we were shutting school for white Mormons or Evangelicals? The tone on this board would be incredibly different. But for some reason, we're fine with inserting religion back into school - even when we've worked so hard to separate public sector from it - provided its minority groups. It's hypocritical, and I'm calling the left out on it. Get rid of the religious days, and stick to fed calendar only. You need a religious accommodation? You'll get an excused absence, or you can find a religiously based schools like most of the Catholics that I know.

We have a two week Christmas break and spring break tied to Easter! Sure we don’t call it Christmas break or Easter break but that’s what it is. Otherwise winter break could be at the end of quarter in January and spring break would be at the end of third quarter. I’m with the atheist PP who wants no religious holidays at all but it’s really rich for Christians to take the longest breaks tied to their holidays and deny others the right to their holiday.

Can you please name one other school district, not private school, a school district that doesn’t give off the time between Christmas and New Year’s. FCPS is not about to be the first. They would lose every single teacher they have.

The point is the vitriolic PP used evangelicals and Mormons as examples of groups that aren’t getting special treatment but, hello, yes we get off for their holidays. I’m Jewish and I actually agree about not having all of the days off for all the different religious holidays because it’s just too much (I do think there should bug be tests or major activities on those days) but the OP’s attitude was really offensive and derogatory about other peoples’ religious observances. The Jewish holidays that were added to the calendar are the most important Jewish holidays of the year and this is a complicated issue for a lot of people that doesn’t mean we need to send our kids to a religious school because it’s something that’s been grappled with in the school calendar, and the same is true for the holidays of other major religions.

This is the problem. You only want your group's days off because they are the "most important days". But each group wants their most important days, too. So how many days do we end up adding? Cumulatively, there are too many days of religious observance and we cannot accommodate them all. So they all should go. Federal holidays only. If you need a religious accommodation or calendar based on religious observances, there are private school options but we should not utilize the public school calendar to create a religious calendar - which is exactly what has been done here. That's not vitriolic. That's basic logic.

I've posted this before but it bears repeating--in 2019 FCPS convened a group of faith leaders from across the county for a series of meetings that included looking at all the holidays. The group talked about how each holiday was observed and whether school impacted a student's ability to participate in the observance. Out of those meetings, and with the full support of all the faith leaders in the group, four holidays were recommended to become days off. That's where that list came from. While this group couldn't possible claim to have "official' powers to represent all members of their faith groups, they all felt comfortable with the list. So can we please stop this narrative that SOME groups are pushing their way to the front and leaving out other groups? Because it's simply not true and not how these holidays were selected.

So why do faith leaders get to decide my non-religious kid's public school calendar?

+1. Please don't invite "faith leaders" to create a public school calendar. These faith leaders should not occupy any space at FCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think all these calendars and the multitude of religious days off is ridiculous. I don't know why we have to start 2 weeks before Labor Day because the religious camps insist on having their religion dictate the school calendars. If you must celebrate YK or RH, go to a Jewish school. Diwali or Bohdi Day? I guess go to an Indian school, or learn to adapt. And now we have Eid and Ramadan off?

Let's see how many more groups we can accommodate so that we start in July and have 2 days off each week. This wokeness is out of control.

And you religious folk need to stop forcing your religious observances on the rest of us.

+1

This is an appalling attitude. Even if you don’t think religious holidays should result in school closures, telling minoritized groups to go elsewhere is disgusting. Opinions differ greatly and there is no calendar that will make everyone happy. It’s okay to disagree and debate, but maybe try to be a little more respectful in your discourse.

Absolutely not. If religious groups insist on pushing their religious observances on us, I will insist that they go elsewhere. Can you for one second image that we were shutting school for white Mormons or Evangelicals? The tone on this board would be incredibly different. But for some reason, we're fine with inserting religion back into school - even when we've worked so hard to separate public sector from it - provided its minority groups. It's hypocritical, and I'm calling the left out on it. Get rid of the religious days, and stick to fed calendar only. You need a religious accommodation? You'll get an excused absence, or you can find a religiously based schools like most of the Catholics that I know.

We have a two week Christmas break and spring break tied to Easter! Sure we don’t call it Christmas break or Easter break but that’s what it is. Otherwise winter break could be at the end of quarter in January and spring break would be at the end of third quarter. I’m with the atheist PP who wants no religious holidays at all but it’s really rich for Christians to take the longest breaks tied to their holidays and deny others the right to their holiday.

Can you please name one other school district, not private school, a school district that doesn’t give off the time between Christmas and New Year’s. FCPS is not about to be the first. They would lose every single teacher they have.

The point is the vitriolic PP used evangelicals and Mormons as examples of groups that aren’t getting special treatment but, hello, yes we get off for their holidays. I’m Jewish and I actually agree about not having all of the days off for all the different religious holidays because it’s just too much (I do think there should bug be tests or major activities on those days) but the OP’s attitude was really offensive and derogatory about other peoples’ religious observances. The Jewish holidays that were added to the calendar are the most important Jewish holidays of the year and this is a complicated issue for a lot of people that doesn’t mean we need to send our kids to a religious school because it’s something that’s been grappled with in the school calendar, and the same is true for the holidays of other major religions.

This is the problem. You only want your group's days off because they are the "most important days". But each group wants their most important days, too. So how many days do we end up adding? Cumulatively, there are too many days of religious observance and we cannot accommodate them all. So they all should go. Federal holidays only. If you need a religious accommodation or calendar based on religious observances, there are private school options but we should not utilize the public school calendar to create a religious calendar - which is exactly what has been done here. That's not vitriolic. That's basic logic.

I've posted this before but it bears repeating--in 2019 FCPS convened a group of faith leaders from across the county for a series of meetings that included looking at all the holidays. The group talked about how each holiday was observed and whether school impacted a student's ability to participate in the observance. Out of those meetings, and with the full support of all the faith leaders in the group, four holidays were recommended to become days off. That's where that list came from. While this group couldn't possible claim to have "official' powers to represent all members of their faith groups, they all felt comfortable with the list. So can we please stop this narrative that SOME groups are pushing their way to the front and leaving out other groups? Because it's simply not true and not how these holidays were selected.

So why do faith leaders get to decide my non-religious kid's public school calendar?

They don't. They were asked for a recommendation and they made one. They had no power beyond that. That's how a public system works--members of the community make recommendations for all kinds of things and then elected officials and professional staff take those recommendations and use them to help inform decisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think all these calendars and the multitude of religious days off is ridiculous. I don't know why we have to start 2 weeks before Labor Day because the religious camps insist on having their religion dictate the school calendars. If you must celebrate YK or RH, go to a Jewish school. Diwali or Bohdi Day? I guess go to an Indian school, or learn to adapt. And now we have Eid and Ramadan off?

Let's see how many more groups we can accommodate so that we start in July and have 2 days off each week. This wokeness is out of control.

And you religious folk need to stop forcing your religious observances on the rest of us.

+1

This is an appalling attitude. Even if you don’t think religious holidays should result in school closures, telling minoritized groups to go elsewhere is disgusting. Opinions differ greatly and there is no calendar that will make everyone happy. It’s okay to disagree and debate, but maybe try to be a little more respectful in your discourse.

Absolutely not. If religious groups insist on pushing their religious observances on us, I will insist that they go elsewhere. Can you for one second image that we were shutting school for white Mormons or Evangelicals? The tone on this board would be incredibly different. But for some reason, we're fine with inserting religion back into school - even when we've worked so hard to separate public sector from it - provided its minority groups. It's hypocritical, and I'm calling the left out on it. Get rid of the religious days, and stick to fed calendar only. You need a religious accommodation? You'll get an excused absence, or you can find a religiously based schools like most of the Catholics that I know.

We have a two week Christmas break and spring break tied to Easter! Sure we don’t call it Christmas break or Easter break but that’s what it is. Otherwise winter break could be at the end of quarter in January and spring break would be at the end of third quarter. I’m with the atheist PP who wants no religious holidays at all but it’s really rich for Christians to take the longest breaks tied to their holidays and deny others the right to their holiday.

Can you please name one other school district, not private school, a school district that doesn’t give off the time between Christmas and New Year’s. FCPS is not about to be the first. They would lose every single teacher they have.

The point is the vitriolic PP used evangelicals and Mormons as examples of groups that aren’t getting special treatment but, hello, yes we get off for their holidays. I’m Jewish and I actually agree about not having all of the days off for all the different religious holidays because it’s just too much (I do think there should bug be tests or major activities on those days) but the OP’s attitude was really offensive and derogatory about other peoples’ religious observances. The Jewish holidays that were added to the calendar are the most important Jewish holidays of the year and this is a complicated issue for a lot of people that doesn’t mean we need to send our kids to a religious school because it’s something that’s been grappled with in the school calendar, and the same is true for the holidays of other major religions.

This is the problem. You only want your group's days off because they are the "most important days". But each group wants their most important days, too. So how many days do we end up adding? Cumulatively, there are too many days of religious observance and we cannot accommodate them all. So they all should go. Federal holidays only. If you need a religious accommodation or calendar based on religious observances, there are private school options but we should not utilize the public school calendar to create a religious calendar - which is exactly what has been done here. That's not vitriolic. That's basic logic.

I've posted this before but it bears repeating--in 2019 FCPS convened a group of faith leaders from across the county for a series of meetings that included looking at all the holidays. The group talked about how each holiday was observed and whether school impacted a student's ability to participate in the observance. Out of those meetings, and with the full support of all the faith leaders in the group, four holidays were recommended to become days off. That's where that list came from. While this group couldn't possible claim to have "official' powers to represent all members of their faith groups, they all felt comfortable with the list. So can we please stop this narrative that SOME groups are pushing their way to the front and leaving out other groups? Because it's simply not true and not how these holidays were selected.

So why do faith leaders get to decide my non-religious kid's public school calendar?

They don't. They were asked for a recommendation and they made one. They had no power beyond that. That's how a public system works--members of the community make recommendations for all kinds of things and then elected officials and professional staff take those recommendations and use them to help inform decisions.

And wildly, none of those decisions were made based on what was best for the child's education. This school board should get back to figuring out what helps kids learn, and not how to impact social agendas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think all these calendars and the multitude of religious days off is ridiculous. I don't know why we have to start 2 weeks before Labor Day because the religious camps insist on having their religion dictate the school calendars. If you must celebrate YK or RH, go to a Jewish school. Diwali or Bohdi Day? I guess go to an Indian school, or learn to adapt. And now we have Eid and Ramadan off?

Let's see how many more groups we can accommodate so that we start in July and have 2 days off each week. This wokeness is out of control.

And you religious folk need to stop forcing your religious observances on the rest of us.

+1

This is an appalling attitude. Even if you don’t think religious holidays should result in school closures, telling minoritized groups to go elsewhere is disgusting. Opinions differ greatly and there is no calendar that will make everyone happy. It’s okay to disagree and debate, but maybe try to be a little more respectful in your discourse.

Absolutely not. If religious groups insist on pushing their religious observances on us, I will insist that they go elsewhere. Can you for one second image that we were shutting school for white Mormons or Evangelicals? The tone on this board would be incredibly different. But for some reason, we're fine with inserting religion back into school - even when we've worked so hard to separate public sector from it - provided its minority groups. It's hypocritical, and I'm calling the left out on it. Get rid of the religious days, and stick to fed calendar only. You need a religious accommodation? You'll get an excused absence, or you can find a religiously based schools like most of the Catholics that I know.

We have a two week Christmas break and spring break tied to Easter! Sure we don’t call it Christmas break or Easter break but that’s what it is. Otherwise winter break could be at the end of quarter in January and spring break would be at the end of third quarter. I’m with the atheist PP who wants no religious holidays at all but it’s really rich for Christians to take the longest breaks tied to their holidays and deny others the right to their holiday.

Can you please name one other school district, not private school, a school district that doesn’t give off the time between Christmas and New Year’s. FCPS is not about to be the first. They would lose every single teacher they have.

The point is the vitriolic PP used evangelicals and Mormons as examples of groups that aren’t getting special treatment but, hello, yes we get off for their holidays. I’m Jewish and I actually agree about not having all of the days off for all the different religious holidays because it’s just too much (I do think there should bug be tests or major activities on those days) but the OP’s attitude was really offensive and derogatory about other peoples’ religious observances. The Jewish holidays that were added to the calendar are the most important Jewish holidays of the year and this is a complicated issue for a lot of people that doesn’t mean we need to send our kids to a religious school because it’s something that’s been grappled with in the school calendar, and the same is true for the holidays of other major religions.

This is the problem. You only want your group's days off because they are the "most important days". But each group wants their most important days, too. So how many days do we end up adding? Cumulatively, there are too many days of religious observance and we cannot accommodate them all. So they all should go. Federal holidays only. If you need a religious accommodation or calendar based on religious observances, there are private school options but we should not utilize the public school calendar to create a religious calendar - which is exactly what has been done here. That's not vitriolic. That's basic logic.

I've posted this before but it bears repeating--in 2019 FCPS convened a group of faith leaders from across the county for a series of meetings that included looking at all the holidays. The group talked about how each holiday was observed and whether school impacted a student's ability to participate in the observance. Out of those meetings, and with the full support of all the faith leaders in the group, four holidays were recommended to become days off. That's where that list came from. While this group couldn't possible claim to have "official' powers to represent all members of their faith groups, they all felt comfortable with the list. So can we please stop this narrative that SOME groups are pushing their way to the front and leaving out other groups? Because it's simply not true and not how these holidays were selected.

Why should the public school system care about the input from any faith leader? The only consideration should be operational impact, which should be obvious from the attendance data for students and teachers.

Since FCPS successfully operated on these holidays for numerous years, tells me there is no real problem and this is somebody's woke agenda to make sure they "got theirs".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think all these calendars and the multitude of religious days off is ridiculous. I don't know why we have to start 2 weeks before Labor Day because the religious camps insist on having their religion dictate the school calendars. If you must celebrate YK or RH, go to a Jewish school. Diwali or Bohdi Day? I guess go to an Indian school, or learn to adapt. And now we have Eid and Ramadan off?

Let's see how many more groups we can accommodate so that we start in July and have 2 days off each week. This wokeness is out of control.

And you religious folk need to stop forcing your religious observances on the rest of us.

+1

This is an appalling attitude. Even if you don’t think religious holidays should result in school closures, telling minoritized groups to go elsewhere is disgusting. Opinions differ greatly and there is no calendar that will make everyone happy. It’s okay to disagree and debate, but maybe try to be a little more respectful in your discourse.

Absolutely not. If religious groups insist on pushing their religious observances on us, I will insist that they go elsewhere. Can you for one second image that we were shutting school for white Mormons or Evangelicals? The tone on this board would be incredibly different. But for some reason, we're fine with inserting religion back into school - even when we've worked so hard to separate public sector from it - provided its minority groups. It's hypocritical, and I'm calling the left out on it. Get rid of the religious days, and stick to fed calendar only. You need a religious accommodation? You'll get an excused absence, or you can find a religiously based schools like most of the Catholics that I know.

We have a two week Christmas break and spring break tied to Easter! Sure we don’t call it Christmas break or Easter break but that’s what it is. Otherwise winter break could be at the end of quarter in January and spring break would be at the end of third quarter. I’m with the atheist PP who wants no religious holidays at all but it’s really rich for Christians to take the longest breaks tied to their holidays and deny others the right to their holiday.

Can you please name one other school district, not private school, a school district that doesn’t give off the time between Christmas and New Year’s. FCPS is not about to be the first. They would lose every single teacher they have.

The point is the vitriolic PP used evangelicals and Mormons as examples of groups that aren’t getting special treatment but, hello, yes we get off for their holidays. I’m Jewish and I actually agree about not having all of the days off for all the different religious holidays because it’s just too much (I do think there should bug be tests or major activities on those days) but the OP’s attitude was really offensive and derogatory about other peoples’ religious observances. The Jewish holidays that were added to the calendar are the most important Jewish holidays of the year and this is a complicated issue for a lot of people that doesn’t mean we need to send our kids to a religious school because it’s something that’s been grappled with in the school calendar, and the same is true for the holidays of other major religions.

This is the problem. You only want your group's days off because they are the "most important days". But each group wants their most important days, too. So how many days do we end up adding? Cumulatively, there are too many days of religious observance and we cannot accommodate them all. So they all should go. Federal holidays only. If you need a religious accommodation or calendar based on religious observances, there are private school options but we should not utilize the public school calendar to create a religious calendar - which is exactly what has been done here. That's not vitriolic. That's basic logic.

I've posted this before but it bears repeating--in 2019 FCPS convened a group of faith leaders from across the county for a series of meetings that included looking at all the holidays. The group talked about how each holiday was observed and whether school impacted a student's ability to participate in the observance. Out of those meetings, and with the full support of all the faith leaders in the group, four holidays were recommended to become days off. That's where that list came from. While this group couldn't possible claim to have "official' powers to represent all members of their faith groups, they all felt comfortable with the list. So can we please stop this narrative that SOME groups are pushing their way to the front and leaving out other groups? Because it's simply not true and not how these holidays were selected.

So why do faith leaders get to decide my non-religious kid's public school calendar?

They don't. They were asked for a recommendation and they made one. They had no power beyond that. That's how a public system works--members of the community make recommendations for all kinds of things and then elected officials and professional staff take those recommendations and use them to help inform decisions.

The public school system must still follow the First Amendment. These added religious holidays don't pass the smell test regardless of how hard the School Board tries to hide it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think all these calendars and the multitude of religious days off is ridiculous. I don't know why we have to start 2 weeks before Labor Day because the religious camps insist on having their religion dictate the school calendars. If you must celebrate YK or RH, go to a Jewish school. Diwali or Bohdi Day? I guess go to an Indian school, or learn to adapt. And now we have Eid and Ramadan off?

Let's see how many more groups we can accommodate so that we start in July and have 2 days off each week. This wokeness is out of control.

And you religious folk need to stop forcing your religious observances on the rest of us.

+1

This is an appalling attitude. Even if you don’t think religious holidays should result in school closures, telling minoritized groups to go elsewhere is disgusting. Opinions differ greatly and there is no calendar that will make everyone happy. It’s okay to disagree and debate, but maybe try to be a little more respectful in your discourse.

Absolutely not. If religious groups insist on pushing their religious observances on us, I will insist that they go elsewhere. Can you for one second image that we were shutting school for white Mormons or Evangelicals? The tone on this board would be incredibly different. But for some reason, we're fine with inserting religion back into school - even when we've worked so hard to separate public sector from it - provided its minority groups. It's hypocritical, and I'm calling the left out on it. Get rid of the religious days, and stick to fed calendar only. You need a religious accommodation? You'll get an excused absence, or you can find a religiously based schools like most of the Catholics that I know.

We have a two week Christmas break and spring break tied to Easter! Sure we don’t call it Christmas break or Easter break but that’s what it is. Otherwise winter break could be at the end of quarter in January and spring break would be at the end of third quarter. I’m with the atheist PP who wants no religious holidays at all but it’s really rich for Christians to take the longest breaks tied to their holidays and deny others the right to their holiday.

Can you please name one other school district, not private school, a school district that doesn’t give off the time between Christmas and New Year’s. FCPS is not about to be the first. They would lose every single teacher they have.

Because Christian holidays and observances got baked into school calendars 100+ years ago. It’s still based on Christian observances. The same reason weekends are Saturday/Sunday and not Friday/Saturday or some other iteration.

New Year's is a Christian holiday? LOL. That's news to me.

It is not a religious holiday, but the Gregorian calendar was established by the Pope and has Christian roots. Thus why there are other "New Year" observances (Lunar, Rosh Hashana...)

[Anonymous]

What I want to know is why Dia de los Muertos is now a holiday? are we just pulling stuff out of out *ss to include everyone?

[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:I think all these calendars and the multitude of religious days off is ridiculous. I don't know why we have to start 2 weeks before Labor Day because the religious camps insist on having their religion dictate the school calendars. If you must celebrate YK or RH, go to a Jewish school. Diwali or Bohdi Day? I guess go to an Indian school, or learn to adapt. And now we have Eid and Ramadan off?

Let's see how many more groups we can accommodate so that we start in July and have 2 days off each week. This wokeness is out of control.

And you religious folk need to stop forcing your religious observances on the rest of us.

+1

This is an appalling attitude. Even if you don’t think religious holidays should result in school closures, telling minoritized groups to go elsewhere is disgusting. Opinions differ greatly and there is no calendar that will make everyone happy. It’s okay to disagree and debate, but maybe try to be a little more respectful in your discourse.

Absolutely not. If religious groups insist on pushing their religious observances on us, I will insist that they go elsewhere. Can you for one second image that we were shutting school for white Mormons or Evangelicals? The tone on this board would be incredibly different. But for some reason, we're fine with inserting religion back into school - even when we've worked so hard to separate public sector from it - provided its minority groups. It's hypocritical, and I'm calling the left out on it. Get rid of the religious days, and stick to fed calendar only. You need a religious accommodation? You'll get an excused absence, or you can find a religiously based schools like most of the Catholics that I know.

We have a two week Christmas break and spring break tied to Easter! Sure we don’t call it Christmas break or Easter break but that’s what it is. Otherwise winter break could be at the end of quarter in January and spring break would be at the end of third quarter. I’m with the atheist PP who wants no religious holidays at all but it’s really rich for Christians to take the longest breaks tied to their holidays and deny others the right to their holiday.

Can you please name one other school district, not private school, a school district that doesn’t give off the time between Christmas and New Year’s. FCPS is not about to be the first. They would lose every single teacher they have.

The point is the vitriolic PP used evangelicals and Mormons as examples of groups that aren’t getting special treatment but, hello, yes we get off for their holidays. I’m Jewish and I actually agree about not having all of the days off for all the different religious holidays because it’s just too much (I do think there should bug be tests or major activities on those days) but the OP’s attitude was really offensive and derogatory about other peoples’ religious observances. The Jewish holidays that were added to the calendar are the most important Jewish holidays of the year and this is a complicated issue for a lot of people that doesn’t mean we need to send our kids to a religious school because it’s something that’s been grappled with in the school calendar, and the same is true for the holidays of other major religions.

This is the problem. You only want your group's days off because they are the "most important days". But each group wants their most important days, too. So how many days do we end up adding? Cumulatively, there are too many days of religious observance and we cannot accommodate them all. So they all should go. Federal holidays only. If you need a religious accommodation or calendar based on religious observances, there are private school options but we should not utilize the public school calendar to create a religious calendar - which is exactly what has been done here. That's not vitriolic. That's basic logic.

I've posted this before but it bears repeating--in 2019 FCPS convened a group of faith leaders from across the county for a series of meetings that included looking at all the holidays. The group talked about how each holiday was observed and whether school impacted a student's ability to participate in the observance. Out of those meetings, and with the full support of all the faith leaders in the group, four holidays were recommended to become days off. That's where that list came from. While this group couldn't possible claim to have "official' powers to represent all members of their faith groups, they all felt comfortable with the list. So can we please stop this narrative that SOME groups are pushing their way to the front and leaving out other groups? Because it's simply not true and not how these holidays were selected.

So why do faith leaders get to decide my non-religious kid's public school calendar?

They don't. They were asked for a recommendation and they made one. They had no power beyond that. That's how a public system works--members of the community make recommendations for all kinds of things and then elected officials and professional staff take those recommendations and use them to help inform decisions.

The public school system must still follow the First Amendment. These added religious holidays don't pass the smell test regardless of how hard the School Board tries to hide it.

What part of the first amendment (exactly) is it going against?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think all these calendars and the multitude of religious days off is ridiculous. I don't know why we have to start 2 weeks before Labor Day because the religious camps insist on having their religion dictate the school calendars. If you must celebrate YK or RH, go to a Jewish school. Diwali or Bohdi Day? I guess go to an Indian school, or learn to adapt. And now we have Eid and Ramadan off?

Let's see how many more groups we can accommodate so that we start in July and have 2 days off each week. This wokeness is out of control.

And you religious folk need to stop forcing your religious observances on the rest of us.

+1

This is an appalling attitude. Even if you don’t think religious holidays should result in school closures, telling minoritized groups to go elsewhere is disgusting. Opinions differ greatly and there is no calendar that will make everyone happy. It’s okay to disagree and debate, but maybe try to be a little more respectful in your discourse.

Absolutely not. If religious groups insist on pushing their religious observances on us, I will insist that they go elsewhere. Can you for one second image that we were shutting school for white Mormons or Evangelicals? The tone on this board would be incredibly different. But for some reason, we're fine with inserting religion back into school - even when we've worked so hard to separate public sector from it - provided its minority groups. It's hypocritical, and I'm calling the left out on it. Get rid of the religious days, and stick to fed calendar only. You need a religious accommodation? You'll get an excused absence, or you can find a religiously based schools like most of the Catholics that I know.

We have a two week Christmas break and spring break tied to Easter! Sure we don’t call it Christmas break or Easter break but that’s what it is. Otherwise winter break could be at the end of quarter in January and spring break would be at the end of third quarter. I’m with the atheist PP who wants no religious holidays at all but it’s really rich for Christians to take the longest breaks tied to their holidays and deny others the right to their holiday.

Can you please name one other school district, not private school, a school district that doesn’t give off the time between Christmas and New Year’s. FCPS is not about to be the first. They would lose every single teacher they have.

The point is the vitriolic PP used evangelicals and Mormons as examples of groups that aren’t getting special treatment but, hello, yes we get off for their holidays. I’m Jewish and I actually agree about not having all of the days off for all the different religious holidays because it’s just too much (I do think there should bug be tests or major activities on those days) but the OP’s attitude was really offensive and derogatory about other peoples’ religious observances. The Jewish holidays that were added to the calendar are the most important Jewish holidays of the year and this is a complicated issue for a lot of people that doesn’t mean we need to send our kids to a religious school because it’s something that’s been grappled with in the school calendar, and the same is true for the holidays of other major religions.

This is the problem. You only want your group's days off because they are the "most important days". But each group wants their most important days, too. So how many days do we end up adding? Cumulatively, there are too many days of religious observance and we cannot accommodate them all. So they all should go. Federal holidays only. If you need a religious accommodation or calendar based on religious observances, there are private school options but we should not utilize the public school calendar to create a religious calendar - which is exactly what has been done here. That's not vitriolic. That's basic logic.

I've posted this before but it bears repeating--in 2019 FCPS convened a group of faith leaders from across the county for a series of meetings that included looking at all the holidays. The group talked about how each holiday was observed and whether school impacted a student's ability to participate in the observance. Out of those meetings, and with the full support of all the faith leaders in the group, four holidays were recommended to become days off. That's where that list came from. While this group couldn't possible claim to have "official' powers to represent all members of their faith groups, they all felt comfortable with the list. So can we please stop this narrative that SOME groups are pushing their way to the front and leaving out other groups? Because it's simply not true and not how these holidays were selected.

So why do faith leaders get to decide my non-religious kid's public school calendar?

They don't. They were asked for a recommendation and they made one. They had no power beyond that. That's how a public system works--members of the community make recommendations for all kinds of things and then elected officials and professional staff take those recommendations and use them to help inform decisions.

I seem to remember some communities being SHOCKED that the board wasn’t rubber stamping these recommendations. They clearly felt they had decision making authority.