Melanie Meren's FB post about the calendar

[Anonymous]

I’m just imagining the website updates.

“We had the chance to save Fairfax households hundreds of thousands of dollars this year, amid record levels of county unemployment and rising cost of living. The savings would have come no additional cost to the taxpayers. BUT we believed a grumpy person on the Internet, who said it wasn’t our job.”

Sounds like a winner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, love the non-5 day weeks. They are great. Summer is such a pain to plan, and we (and most of our friends) much prefer a day here and there, rather than additional weeks in the summer.

I agree! We love the 4 day weeks! It really helps with the sleep for middle and high schoolers.

Time to be a parent. The entire school system doesn't operate around the needs of your special child.

Right back at ya with the endless whining about days off at times you don’t like and early dismissals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, love the non-5 day weeks. They are great. Summer is such a pain to plan, and we (and most of our friends) much prefer a day here and there, rather than additional weeks in the summer.

I agree! We love the 4 day weeks! It really helps with the sleep for middle and high schoolers.

Time to be a parent. The entire school system doesn't operate around the needs of your special child.

And it doesn’t operate around your need for a 5 day week. As long as the kids get in the required hours of instructional time I do not care. I prefer the 4 day weeks and so do a lot of parents and teachers. Your whining isn’t going to change that. Time to be a parent and deal with it.

Precisely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, love the non-5 day weeks. They are great. Summer is such a pain to plan, and we (and most of our friends) much prefer a day here and there, rather than additional weeks in the summer.

I agree! We love the 4 day weeks! It really helps with the sleep for middle and high schoolers.

Time to be a parent. The entire school system doesn't operate around the needs of your special child.

And it doesn’t operate around your need for a 5 day week. As long as the kids get in the required hours of instructional time I do not care. I prefer the 4 day weeks and so do a lot of parents and teachers. Your whining isn’t going to change that. Time to be a parent and deal with it.

The vast majority of kids need a 5 day school week. I don't know of any parent that prefers a 4 day week, seriously, no one I know wants a 4 day school week. It is awful for working parents and most families in the US have working parents.

The 5 day week provides stability and consistency that is needed by all kids, even HS students. If your kid is so overwhelmed with the homework in their schedule, look at altering their schedule so it is less intense. Be a parent. Stop whining about your kid needing to study for classes that you allowed them to take or even encouraged them to take.

Irrelevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, love the non-5 day weeks. They are great. Summer is such a pain to plan, and we (and most of our friends) much prefer a day here and there, rather than additional weeks in the summer.

I agree! We love the 4 day weeks! It really helps with the sleep for middle and high schoolers.

Time to be a parent. The entire school system doesn't operate around the needs of your special child.

Right back at ya with the endless whining about days off at times you don’t like and early dismissals.

Good to know that you're against effective education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, love the non-5 day weeks. They are great. Summer is such a pain to plan, and we (and most of our friends) much prefer a day here and there, rather than additional weeks in the summer.

I agree! We love the 4 day weeks! It really helps with the sleep for middle and high schoolers.

Time to be a parent. The entire school system doesn't operate around the needs of your special child.

And it doesn’t operate around your need for a 5 day week. As long as the kids get in the required hours of instructional time I do not care. I prefer the 4 day weeks and so do a lot of parents and teachers. Your whining isn’t going to change that. Time to be a parent and deal with it.

The vast majority of kids need a 5 day school week. I don't know of any parent that prefers a 4 day week, seriously, no one I know wants a 4 day school week. It is awful for working parents and most families in the US have working parents.

The 5 day week provides stability and consistency that is needed by all kids, even HS students. If your kid is so overwhelmed with the homework in their schedule, look at altering their schedule so it is less intense. Be a parent. Stop whining about your kid needing to study for classes that you allowed them to take or even encouraged them to take.

Irrelevant.

Saying this more often doesn’t make it true. Even Reid has had to acknowledge it. 2026 campaign year is all about “affordability” and this is free chicken.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, love the non-5 day weeks. They are great. Summer is such a pain to plan, and we (and most of our friends) much prefer a day here and there, rather than additional weeks in the summer.

I agree! We love the 4 day weeks! It really helps with the sleep for middle and high schoolers.

Time to be a parent. The entire school system doesn't operate around the needs of your special child.

And it doesn’t operate around your need for a 5 day week. As long as the kids get in the required hours of instructional time I do not care. I prefer the 4 day weeks and so do a lot of parents and teachers. Your whining isn’t going to change that. Time to be a parent and deal with it.

The vast majority of kids need a 5 day school week. I don't know of any parent that prefers a 4 day week, seriously, no one I know wants a 4 day school week. It is awful for working parents and most families in the US have working parents.

The 5 day week provides stability and consistency that is needed by all kids, even HS students. If your kid is so overwhelmed with the homework in their schedule, look at altering their schedule so it is less intense. Be a parent. Stop whining about your kid needing to study for classes that you allowed them to take or even encouraged them to take.

But the current, approved, calendar works great for me. Sorry, I’m not the one whining, you are. I’m good with things as is.

+1 same

Pretty sure you two are way outnumbered by the parents who have been contacting the school board saying it's a ridiculous calendar. Imagine trying to gaslight people into thinking that 5 day school weeks are some crazy thing to want and expect. Sorry your fragile kids can't handle it, but most of them can.

Honey, your “contacting” is doing nothing but making you feel falsely important. It’s changing nothing.

Oh, and there are more than two people responding in ways you don’t like. I’m at least #3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The religious holidays are here to stay. And so is the extra planning time for teachers. Deal with it.

Cool, then hold school on Federal Holidays, that will help a good amount. It gives back 4 days and causes more complete weeks. easy fix.

Will never happen hahahaha.

You’re just screwed I guess.

It already happens— Columbus/Indigenous Is one of the TW days. Do the same for veterans and one of the Memorial days.

Kids are not in school on TW.

Right, teachers can do TW on those days, kids can have the TW in the classroom. No cost to FCPS and saves parents thousands.

LOLOLOLOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of my favorite things in life is watching people purposefully have kids then complaining about the scheduling/planning issues that come with having kids. Almost as if they were forced into parenthood.

Like sorry Karen, I guess no one warned you that having 3 kids while you and Chad both work 9-5s that can barely financially support the 5 of you financially may come with obstacles.

But I digress, much easier for parents to moan and complain than to adapt and overcome.

Parents vote, and the calendar is set by elected officials. I don’t understand how it’s whining to expect your elected officials to work for their constituents?

It's whining when what you voted for didn't win. You voted, your preference lost. Set a good example for Johnny and Suzie by adapting and overcoming.

No one voted for early release.

Oh, you don’t understand representative government. You’re dumb. That’s sad.

[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]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d be happy enough with the 26-27 calendar as is, as long as the dumb 3 hour early releases are going the way of the dodo. My kids’ ES has given up on any instruction on those days. They use them for class test makeups if a kid was sick and then spend the rest of the time for all the other kids on “team building activities” and playing games. Meanwhile SOL’s are sneaking up on us … only March, April, and maybe a week of May left to go and we have to get through spring break in there …

My guess is, if they can get rid of the early release, Meren can declare victory. It’s an intensely unpopular policy.

Hopefully, they can draw some guidelines for commonsense reformed to the calendar going forward: TW/SD days only permitted on Monday or Friday, teacher training moved virtual and carried out to some extent during snow days, TW days layered on top of either federal or religious holidays, whichever makes more sense.

None of your ideas make sense and/or are feasible. Get real.

TW/PD on a Friday? Never going to happen. Fridays are not productive. No one ever schedules meetings for Friday afternoons. By then, teachers are exhausted.

Virtual teacher training on snow days. doesn’t make sense as teachers’ own children would be at home. A snow day means teachers are off period.

TW on a religious or federal holiday? I don’t think so.

From the perspective of a normal professional adult who is also a parent, professional expectations in 2026 include working five day weeks (even Friday!) teleworking in inclement weather (even if children are home) and not having every religious or federal holiday as PTO. I believe our teachers are professional adults who can adapt to higher professional expectations to save taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Sheeesh, what 19th century boss do you have?!

Professional expectations in 2026 also include unlimited PTO, full time remote work, and a focus on mental health outside of work. Sorry your company hasn’t gotten with the times of R.O.W.E.

Very few jobs offer unlimited PTO and full time remote work. I worked for a company with “unlimited PTO” and the people who took that literally ended up being counseled and then fired. Every contract has a number of hours that employees have to work, drop under that and you are gone. Any contract where you have deadlines or work in teams will have limits on the amount of PTO you can take.

Most of the world reverted to at least hybrid if not full time office after COVID. There are some remote jobs but they are hard to find.

The normal work environment is still 9-5 in the office. You can work to find something else but it isn’t easy.

A bunch of opinion based generalizations here.

“Very few jobs offer unlimited PTO”

In my sector, pharmaceuticals, it’s pretty common. In fact my last 3 companies (severance, merger, promotion) have all offered unlimited PTO. I’ve been approached by multiple competitors, none have any verbiage about contract hours etc. I work on a team and have deadlines, as long as my work is submitted by the deadline, they could care less when and where I do it. As professionals, we have the freedom and the ability to plan our meetings when it works for us.

I think there’s some confusion about what a ROWE workplace is. This may not be common in your sector unfortunately, but it’s very common in others. I’d encourage you to explore better opportunities where the company prioritizes your happiness and mental health as much as they do your work. They’re out there!

I have worked for pretty much every major Defense Contractor in the area. One offered unlimited PTO and they started that 3 years ago. Two people on my team were let go for abusing said policy within a year. You work in a sector that offers it but most don't. I promise you that the parents working retail jobs and house cleaning and other blue collar jobs were they are working for a company do not have remote work and unlimited PTO.

"This may not be common in your sector unfortunately"

Reading comprehension is key.

Obviously retail jobs and house cleaning and other blue collar jobs do not have remote work and unlimited PTO. McDonalds doesn't offer remote work either, shocker. Those aren't ROWE workplaces (mainly a corporate term), and most of them are not 9-5s either, everyone knows that...

As sure as we both are of that, I'm also sure that there are countless corporate accounting, marketing, and engineering jobs (white collar) that are remote with unlimited PTO. The median household income in Fairfax County (census.gov) is north of $150k with the average person making $70k+. Those aren't retail employees or house cleaners...

Are you suggesting that FCPS is or should be an ROWE employer? I don’t see any value to our students in having teachers out of the classroom more than they already are, but, but that would have nothing to do with changes to the calendar and you should perhaps start a new thread advocating for such workplace benefits.

In the meantime, while discussing an important proposal aimed at addressing affordability, I would suggest you consider the following:

https://www.ffxnow.com/2025/10/03/number-of-jobless-fairfax-residents-up-nearly-28-over-2024-as-more-uncertainty-looms/

Straight out of your article:

"Unemployment figures for Virginia localities and metro areas are reported a month after being compiled. The August figures came out the same day the federal government entered a partial shutdown as Congress failed to agree on a spending plan at the start of the fiscal year."

And here I thought you were advocating for the house cleaners and retail employees?

I’m for all families for whom the cost of childcare is being needlessly driven up by FCPS. Yes its the retain employees, it’s also the VA nurses and the TSA workers who are part of the federal government. What do you think the school board should do to reduce the childcare burden on Fairfax families?

I personally don’t believe any school board/public school system has a responsibility to reduce the cost of private childcare for anyone.

That’s a reasonable belief. It isn’t one shared by at least some members of the current board.
Do you suggest they should not respond to their constituents?

Oh, they'll respond, but response and meaningful change are two different things.

"Thank you for sharing your concerns about the rising cost of childcare. I understand the burden this places on families. I will bring this issue up at our next School Board meeting for discussion."

Followed by no change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, love the non-5 day weeks. They are great. Summer is such a pain to plan, and we (and most of our friends) much prefer a day here and there, rather than additional weeks in the summer.

I agree! We love the 4 day weeks! It really helps with the sleep for middle and high schoolers.

Time to be a parent. The entire school system doesn't operate around the needs of your special child.

And it doesn’t operate around your need for a 5 day week. As long as the kids get in the required hours of instructional time I do not care. I prefer the 4 day weeks and so do a lot of parents and teachers. Your whining isn’t going to change that. Time to be a parent and deal with it.

Good to know you don't care about learning.

And no teacher likes the calendar.

Teacher here. I can assure you that the vast majority of us LOVE the current calendar. Makes it incredibly easy to take mini weekend vacations with our families without taking a ton of, if any, leave.

We hope for snow days, cherish the random holidays, and almost all of us can tell you how few "full weeks" we have until spring break and the end of the year.

Here's to hoping it snows on Monday, so we only have two full weeks before spring break!

Teachers with this attitude are the reason people think the profession is a jobs program rather than for the benefit of students.

I saw a teacher on a local weather Facebook account comment "School closings are my love language". With her occupation featured on her profile. Can you imagine publicly stating that you hope to do your job as little as possible? Some teachers truly lack professionalism. If they wonder why they don't get treated as full fledged professionals, they need to look at some of their colleagues.

I think if you are a corporate desk worker that would be a bit lazy but, whatever. Can you imagine if you signed up to teach the next generation, expecting praise for your noble career, and publicly brag about how much you love slacking off? So gross.

Most of the teachers I know are really worried about their kids falling behind or not doing well on standardized tests because of the haphazard schedules. A specialist friend - helping kids who need extra instruction - said she has seen her Monday kids 2x in 6 weeks.

If the salaries are so unbearable, do these kids a favor and take a different job.

Most of the public school teachers I know are unapologetic that they NEED the many days off and that they work harder than anyone. So insufferable. They are lazy low iq people. The good ones go to private schools. Ask me how I know.

Then be sure to homeschool, because knowingly putting your kids into a room with “lazy, low IQ people” makes you a terrible parent, and you aren’t a terrible parent, are you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of my favorite things in life is watching people purposefully have kids then complaining about the scheduling/planning issues that come with having kids. Almost as if they were forced into parenthood.

Like sorry Karen, I guess no one warned you that having 3 kids while you and Chad both work 9-5s that can barely financially support the 5 of you financially may come with obstacles.

But I digress, much easier for parents to moan and complain than to adapt and overcome.

Imagine if FCPS adopted the (majority of) Colorado school schedule... 7.5 hour days, 4 days a week, 144 days a year.

HOW WOULD ANYONE SURVIVE?!

If it were standard and expected, people and the community would adapt. It's the uncertainty that is burdening people so much. If we all knew going into our children's school years that it would be M-TH or Monday Tuesday, Thursday Friday people would plan for that. Employers would all know and they would likewise plan around it the same way we all currently know that there is no school on Saturdays or Sundays.

There would be workplaces that gave the option to work Saturdays because some people could work that day and their spouse work the Friday or Wednesday that kids were off. There would be private supplemental daycare places, businesses that offer martial arts or academics that would be open those days. Parents might get together and form co-ops to support each other with that one day a week off with babysitting and homework supervision and social time.

Again, the uncertainty and it changing one year to the next is the issue.

There’s nothing uncertain about our current calendar. It’s been set for years, including the days off.

What day is early release next year?

Hopefully NEVER!!!!!

There will be early release next year. Calm down before you pop a blood vessel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[i]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d be happy enough with the 26-27 calendar as is, as long as the dumb 3 hour early releases are going the way of the dodo. My kids’ ES has given up on any instruction on those days. They use them for class test makeups if a kid was sick and then spend the rest of the time for all the other kids on “team building activities” and playing games. Meanwhile SOL’s are sneaking up on us … only March, April, and maybe a week of May left to go and we have to get through spring break in there …

My guess is, if they can get rid of the early release, Meren can declare victory. It’s an intensely unpopular policy.

Hopefully, they can draw some guidelines for commonsense reformed to the calendar going forward: TW/SD days only permitted on Monday or Friday, teacher training moved virtual and carried out to some extent during snow days, TW days layered on top of either federal or religious holidays, whichever makes more sense.

None of your ideas make sense and/or are feasible. Get real.

TW/PD on a Friday? Never going to happen. Fridays are not productive. No one ever schedules meetings for Friday afternoons. By then, teachers are exhausted.

Virtual teacher training on snow days. doesn’t make sense as teachers’ own children would be at home. A snow day means teachers are off period.

TW on a religious or federal holiday? I don’t think so.

From the perspective of a normal professional adult who is also a parent, professional expectations in 2026 include working five day weeks (even Friday!) teleworking in inclement weather (even if children are home) and not having every religious or federal holiday as PTO. I believe our teachers are professional adults who can adapt to higher professional expectations to save taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Sheeesh, what 19th century boss do you have?!

Professional expectations in 2026 also include unlimited PTO, full time remote work, and a focus on mental health outside of work. Sorry your company hasn’t gotten with the times of R.O.W.E.

Very few jobs offer unlimited PTO and full time remote work. I worked for a company with “unlimited PTO” and the people who took that literally ended up being counseled and then fired. Every contract has a number of hours that employees have to work, drop under that and you are gone. Any contract where you have deadlines or work in teams will have limits on the amount of PTO you can take.

Most of the world reverted to at least hybrid if not full time office after COVID. There are some remote jobs but they are hard to find.

The normal work environment is still 9-5 in the office. You can work to find something else but it isn’t easy.

A bunch of opinion based generalizations here.

“Very few jobs offer unlimited PTO”

In my sector, pharmaceuticals, it’s pretty common. In fact my last 3 companies (severance, merger, promotion) have all offered unlimited PTO. I’ve been approached by multiple competitors, none have any verbiage about contract hours etc. I work on a team and have deadlines, as long as my work is submitted by the deadline, they could care less when and where I do it. As professionals, we have the freedom and the ability to plan our meetings when it works for us.

I think there’s some confusion about what a ROWE workplace is. This may not be common in your sector unfortunately, but it’s very common in others. I’d encourage you to explore better opportunities where the company prioritizes your happiness and mental health as much as they do your work. They’re out there!

I have worked for pretty much every major Defense Contractor in the area. One offered unlimited PTO and they started that 3 years ago. Two people on my team were let go for abusing said policy within a year. You work in a sector that offers it but most don't. I promise you that the parents working retail jobs and house cleaning and other blue collar jobs were they are working for a company do not have remote work and unlimited PTO.

"This may not be common in your sector unfortunately"

Reading comprehension is key.

Obviously retail jobs and house cleaning and other blue collar jobs do not have remote work and unlimited PTO. McDonalds doesn't offer remote work either, shocker. Those aren't ROWE workplaces (mainly a corporate term), and most of them are not 9-5s either, everyone knows that...

As sure as we both are of that, I'm also sure that there are countless corporate accounting, marketing, and engineering jobs (white collar) that are remote with unlimited PTO. The median household income in Fairfax County (census.gov) is north of $150k with the average person making $70k+. Those aren't retail employees or house cleaners...

Are you suggesting that FCPS is or should be an ROWE employer? I don’t see any value to our students in having teachers out of the classroom more than they already are, but, but that would have nothing to do with changes to the calendar and you should perhaps start a new thread advocating for such workplace benefits.

In the meantime, while discussing an important proposal aimed at addressing affordability, I would suggest you consider the following:

https://www.ffxnow.com/2025/10/03/number-of-jobless-fairfax-residents-up-nearly-28-over-2024-as-more-uncertainty-looms/

Straight out of your article:

"Unemployment figures for Virginia localities and metro areas are reported a month after being compiled. The August figures came out the same day the federal government entered a partial shutdown as Congress failed to agree on a spending plan at the start of the fiscal year."

And here I thought you were advocating for the house cleaners and retail employees?

I’m for all families for whom the cost of childcare is being needlessly driven up by FCPS. Yes its the retain employees, it’s also the VA nurses and the TSA workers who are part of the federal government. What do you think the school board should do to reduce the childcare burden on Fairfax families?

I personally don’t believe any school board/public school system has a responsibility to reduce the cost of private childcare for anyone.

That’s a reasonable belief. It isn’t one shared by at least some members of the current board.
Do you suggest they should not respond to their constituents?

Oh, they'll respond, but response and meaningful change are two different things.

"Thank you for sharing your concerns about the rising cost of childcare. I understand the burden this places on families. I will bring this issue up at our next School Board meeting for discussion."

Followed by no change.

Much more likely for them to make an easy change – – get rid of early release— and then say they have responded with decisive action to their constituents concerns about affordability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of my favorite things in life is watching people purposefully have kids then complaining about the scheduling/planning issues that come with having kids. Almost as if they were forced into parenthood.

Like sorry Karen, I guess no one warned you that having 3 kids while you and Chad both work 9-5s that can barely financially support the 5 of you financially may come with obstacles.

But I digress, much easier for parents to moan and complain than to adapt and overcome.

Imagine if FCPS adopted the (majority of) Colorado school schedule... 7.5 hour days, 4 days a week, 144 days a year.

HOW WOULD ANYONE SURVIVE?!

If it were standard and expected, people and the community would adapt. It's the uncertainty that is burdening people so much. If we all knew going into our children's school years that it would be M-TH or Monday Tuesday, Thursday Friday people would plan for that. Employers would all know and they would likewise plan around it the same way we all currently know that there is no school on Saturdays or Sundays.

There would be workplaces that gave the option to work Saturdays because some people could work that day and their spouse work the Friday or Wednesday that kids were off. There would be private supplemental daycare places, businesses that offer martial arts or academics that would be open those days. Parents might get together and form co-ops to support each other with that one day a week off with babysitting and homework supervision and social time.

Again, the uncertainty and it changing one year to the next is the issue.

There’s nothing uncertain about our current calendar. It’s been set for years, including the days off.

What day is the Muslim holiday that is only known when some random dude sees the Moon?

Oh, you’re racist. How very surprising.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a HS teacher whose planning got cut by more than half this year thanks to IPR hall duty and additional required CTs and department meetings, those random days off are the only reason I’m staying afloat this year. I use every holiday and snow day to plan/grade.

If they disappear, they have to take something else off my plate. I can’t do it all with less time.

Everyone of those snow days and random days off is a tax of hundreds of thousands of dollars on the FCPS parent body. You are not presenting a good value proposition for keeping them.

You keep repeating this as if it’s the schools’ problem.

It 👏 is 👏 not. 👏