School Calendar 2023-2024

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The religious holiday "problem" is helped the next two school years by many of them falling on weekends. In the 23-24 calendar there are only two stand-alone religious holidays:

Yom Kippur 9/25
Eid al Fitr 4/10

In the 24-25 calendar there are four, but two of them are paired with quarter-ends, so again, only two "random" days off.

Rosh Hashanah 10/3
Diwali 11/1
Lunar New Year 1/29 (TW, combined with Q2 end)
Eid al Fitr 3/31 (combined with Q3 end)

The problem comes in the 25-26 calendar when a bunch of them come during the school year. I'm sure it would be completely insensitive, but I wonder if they could gather a religious contingent to pick one between Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur and one of the Eids. Or just look at the absentee data from the past.

Rosh Hashanah 9/23
Yom Kippur 10/2
Diwali 10/21
Lunar New Year 2/17 (TW)
Eid-al-Fitr 3/20
Orthodox Good Friday (TW)
Eid-al-Adha

Or get rid of all of them since this is a public, secular school system.

Any school board candidate who will advocate for getting rid of these absurd days off of school has my vote.

This!! 1000% agree. It is getting out of hand.

Dear school board,
There is no pleasing these people. They are probably the same ones who asked for a three year calendar to plan vacations. They are youngkin trolls looking for ANY angle (including the calendar) too trumpet about voting out the school board. There are more sane people and parents in the county that outnumber these fools. Please don't listen.

Thanks,

Most People

Huh? I’m a lifelong Dem. Never voted R in my life. I am voting for any R to replace this school board, though. Will be a first for me.
And I am far from alone. Most of my D friends hate the religion days off. I think the out of touch folks are you all who support endless four day weeks

Huh? I don't care one way or another about the days off. If you think making the school board R so charters and vouchers can be approved is fixing the issue, you are being shortsighted and are unable to control you anger over 5 days off. You are also playing right into Republican's hands. It's 5 days. You can handle it, your kids can handle it.

I’m sure you were surprised when Youngkin won because you are out of touch and think everyone in this area shares your viewpoints. I didn’t vote for him but wasn’t surprised by it. School has become something many people don’t recognize when they think of their own experiences either in this county or elsewhere. This school board makes everything overly complicated and this can’t get anything done. If it was just thing most people would overlook it. But it’s every little thing adding up. I personally am pissed that there is an extra week of the school year because of these holidays not because there would be too many people absent, but to make the school board feel good about themselves. Other people have their reasons to be upset about any number of things from the calendar to the OCR lawsuit to overuse of technology to overcrowding on their school. Most of the school board members seem to only be listening to people in their own little bubble who are telling they’re doing a great job. They are going to be in for a rude awakening in November. I think you’re going to see people vote for republican candidates just to get some balance on the board even when they would never vote R for state or national office.

You focus your pandemic anger on the schools as it is exactly what the republicans want from you to do as they strip people of their rights and dismantle government. Rage is a powerful destructive emotion and republicans are playing you. if you are an easy mark I’m sorry.

Sorry, your condescending and hyperbolic tone is not going to work on me. I’m not sure it works on anyone. It’s part of why McAuliffe lost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. There are plenty of never-Youngkin people who think most kids should go to school on Eid, Diwali, Yom Kippur, etc, etc, and that those who need a day off for PERSONAL reasons should be given leniency in their schedule.

People are extremely impulsive short-sighted if they think having to deal with their kids for those 5 days is worth voting in republicans for charters and vouchers and Christian nationalism in FCPS.

I said that I and many others are "never Youngkins"...meaning Never would vote for him or his kind. BUT I don't want all these religious days in the school year. I'm still not voting for crazy christian nationalists. But if you give me an independent or establishment republican candidate for school board, I'm definitely going to consider it over Frisch or Omeish or others.

Can I ask what disturbs you so much about the holidays? Are your kids failing? Can you not find childcare? What is the issue here?
I'm asking because I just don't care. My kids go to school, they are doing fine, if they stay home we enjoy those days too. Is it just the religious part or is it any days off? I'm just confused why you are so heated up by this.

It sounds like you all are just angry and need to focus it. Youngkin gave everyone the green light to focus pandemic anger on schools and here you all are doing just that, but on the calendar (?).

Also, establishment republicans don't really exist anymore.

What disturbs me about this comment is how privileged it is. You assume that every family can easily take time off work to stay home with their child(ren) on these days. For many lower to middle-income families, that's not possible. It is a financial hardship to pay for care on those days. Or to take time off work (and not get paid) to stay home. The calendar once again shows that this school board doesn't care about lower income families.

[Anonymous]

What disturbs about religious holidays in public schools is I don’t think religion belongs in public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What disturbs about religious holidays in public schools is I don’t think religion belongs in public schools.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The religious holiday "problem" is helped the next two school years by many of them falling on weekends. In the 23-24 calendar there are only two stand-alone religious holidays:

Yom Kippur 9/25
Eid al Fitr 4/10

In the 24-25 calendar there are four, but two of them are paired with quarter-ends, so again, only two "random" days off.

Rosh Hashanah 10/3
Diwali 11/1
Lunar New Year 1/29 (TW, combined with Q2 end)
Eid al Fitr 3/31 (combined with Q3 end)

The problem comes in the 25-26 calendar when a bunch of them come during the school year. I'm sure it would be completely insensitive, but I wonder if they could gather a religious contingent to pick one between Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur and one of the Eids. Or just look at the absentee data from the past.

Rosh Hashanah 9/23
Yom Kippur 10/2
Diwali 10/21
Lunar New Year 2/17 (TW)
Eid-al-Fitr 3/20
Orthodox Good Friday (TW)
Eid-al-Adha

Or get rid of all of them since this is a public, secular school system.

Any school board candidate who will advocate for getting rid of these absurd days off of school has my vote.

This!! 1000% agree. It is getting out of hand.

Dear school board,
There is no pleasing these people. They are probably the same ones who asked for a three year calendar to plan vacations. They are youngkin trolls looking for ANY angle (including the calendar) too trumpet about voting out the school board. There are more sane people and parents in the county that outnumber these fools. Please don't listen.

Thanks,

Most People

Huh? I’m a lifelong Dem. Never voted R in my life. I am voting for any R to replace this school board, though. Will be a first for me.
And I am far from alone. Most of my D friends hate the religion days off. I think the out of touch folks are you all who support endless four day weeks

Huh? I don't care one way or another about the days off. If you think making the school board R so charters and vouchers can be approved is fixing the issue, you are being shortsighted and are unable to control you anger over 5 days off. You are also playing right into Republican's hands. It's 5 days. You can handle it, your kids can handle it.

I’m sure you were surprised when Youngkin won because you are out of touch and think everyone in this area shares your viewpoints. I didn’t vote for him but wasn’t surprised by it. School has become something many people don’t recognize when they think of their own experiences either in this county or elsewhere. This school board makes everything overly complicated and this can’t get anything done. If it was just thing most people would overlook it. But it’s every little thing adding up. I personally am pissed that there is an extra week of the school year because of these holidays not because there would be too many people absent, but to make the school board feel good about themselves. Other people have their reasons to be upset about any number of things from the calendar to the OCR lawsuit to overuse of technology to overcrowding on their school. Most of the school board members seem to only be listening to people in their own little bubble who are telling they’re doing a great job. They are going to be in for a rude awakening in November. I think you’re going to see people vote for republican candidates just to get some balance on the board even when they would never vote R for state or national office.

You focus your pandemic anger on the schools as it is exactly what the republicans want from you to do as they strip people of their rights and dismantle government. Rage is a powerful destructive emotion and republicans are playing you. if you are an easy mark I’m sorry.

Not PP and I don’t have pandemic anger: the worst part for my kids was my MS one became really socially isolated when FCPS chose to let sports practice but no other extracurriculars. That’s way behind us now though.

But I agree with PP on all accounts - I would not vote for Rs at federal or state levels but I’m fed up with the SB’s focus on stuff that feels “performance-ish” and the religious holidays for reasons entirely unneeded operationally are one part of that. Increasing focus on the gap between demographics vs helping each kid achieve (which may not all be at the same pace) is another frustration, no textbooks is frustrating as I don’t think the random copies and online games are as useful, etc. I think having an all D SB has created an echo chamber where Megan as a genuine D moderate has been seen as an agitator because she hasn’t been on exactly the same page as the other members. More diversity of perspectives on the SB would be helpful.

Did you watch the last meeting and the vote on the calendar?

Which R will you consider voting for in the SB election? I’m not set on voting straight ticket (although technically they don’t run as a D or R), but I’d like to here some names. If anyone knows of a moderate R running for school board (at large or Springfield District) please share.

In the springfield district I know of a R candidate and a libertarian candidate who just got enough sigs to be on the ballot. I’m personally not voting for anyone who is on the current school board again due to the school closures for one year during covid. I was D from 1999 to 2022 and now I am an independent. If Laura Jane Cohen gets the D delegate nomination she is not running for school board again per her website the last time I checked. I am most likely not going to vote D again for school board in springfield district but I will wait to decide until I see who is running.

At large Saundra Davis will be running as an independent that I know of.

I haven’t found them in a search. Do you have the names?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am shocked at the number of teacher work days. I am new to the county and my parents were both teachers. Never had teacher work days. Teachers, has the profession changed so much that this is necessary?

YES! So much unnecessary paperwork-I blame FCPS and certain parents and their lawsuits and unnecessary demands-which have created even more paperwork. So here we are-teachers need work days or a half day every week. But parents complained constantly about half days because they want their kids in school to save on daycare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. There are plenty of never-Youngkin people who think most kids should go to school on Eid, Diwali, Yom Kippur, etc, etc, and that those who need a day off for PERSONAL reasons should be given leniency in their schedule.

People are extremely impulsive short-sighted if they think having to deal with their kids for those 5 days is worth voting in republicans for charters and vouchers and Christian nationalism in FCPS.

I said that I and many others are "never Youngkins"...meaning Never would vote for him or his kind. BUT I don't want all these religious days in the school year. I'm still not voting for crazy christian nationalists. But if you give me an independent or establishment republican candidate for school board, I'm definitely going to consider it over Frisch or Omeish or others.

Can I ask what disturbs you so much about the holidays? Are your kids failing? Can you not find childcare? What is the issue here?
I'm asking because I just don't care. My kids go to school, they are doing fine, if they stay home we enjoy those days too. Is it just the religious part or is it any days off? I'm just confused why you are so heated up by this.

It sounds like you all are just angry and need to focus it. Youngkin gave everyone the green light to focus pandemic anger on schools and here you all are doing just that, but on the calendar (?).

Also, establishment republicans don't really exist anymore.

What disturbs me about this comment is how privileged it is. You assume that every family can easily take time off work to stay home with their child(ren) on these days. For many lower to middle-income families, that's not possible. It is a financial hardship to pay for care on those days. Or to take time off work (and not get paid) to stay home. The calendar once again shows that this school board doesn't care about lower income families.

I was asking a DCUM poster what THEIR issue was. I assume that most posters here are on the middle/ UMC side. First rule of writing is to address your audience, maybe I made assumptions about my audience, but I’m guessing I am not that wrong. Clearly you and I can sit at the computer and second guess the school board, but I’m not sure those potential Republican school board members would be more likely than our current board to listen to low income stakeholders when developing the calendar.

[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:The religious holiday "problem" is helped the next two school years by many of them falling on weekends. In the 23-24 calendar there are only two stand-alone religious holidays:

Yom Kippur 9/25
Eid al Fitr 4/10

In the 24-25 calendar there are four, but two of them are paired with quarter-ends, so again, only two "random" days off.

Rosh Hashanah 10/3
Diwali 11/1
Lunar New Year 1/29 (TW, combined with Q2 end)
Eid al Fitr 3/31 (combined with Q3 end)

The problem comes in the 25-26 calendar when a bunch of them come during the school year. I'm sure it would be completely insensitive, but I wonder if they could gather a religious contingent to pick one between Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur and one of the Eids. Or just look at the absentee data from the past.

Rosh Hashanah 9/23
Yom Kippur 10/2
Diwali 10/21
Lunar New Year 2/17 (TW)
Eid-al-Fitr 3/20
Orthodox Good Friday (TW)
Eid-al-Adha

Or get rid of all of them since this is a public, secular school system.

Any school board candidate who will advocate for getting rid of these absurd days off of school has my vote.

This!! 1000% agree. It is getting out of hand.

Dear school board,
There is no pleasing these people. They are probably the same ones who asked for a three year calendar to plan vacations. They are youngkin trolls looking for ANY angle (including the calendar) too trumpet about voting out the school board. There are more sane people and parents in the county that outnumber these fools. Please don't listen.

Thanks,

Most People

Huh? I’m a lifelong Dem. Never voted R in my life. I am voting for any R to replace this school board, though. Will be a first for me.
And I am far from alone. Most of my D friends hate the religion days off. I think the out of touch folks are you all who support endless four day weeks

Huh? I don't care one way or another about the days off. If you think making the school board R so charters and vouchers can be approved is fixing the issue, you are being shortsighted and are unable to control you anger over 5 days off. You are also playing right into Republican's hands. It's 5 days. You can handle it, your kids can handle it.

I’m sure you were surprised when Youngkin won because you are out of touch and think everyone in this area shares your viewpoints. I didn’t vote for him but wasn’t surprised by it. School has become something many people don’t recognize when they think of their own experiences either in this county or elsewhere. This school board makes everything overly complicated and this can’t get anything done. If it was just thing most people would overlook it. But it’s every little thing adding up. I personally am pissed that there is an extra week of the school year because of these holidays not because there would be too many people absent, but to make the school board feel good about themselves. Other people have their reasons to be upset about any number of things from the calendar to the OCR lawsuit to overuse of technology to overcrowding on their school. Most of the school board members seem to only be listening to people in their own little bubble who are telling they’re doing a great job. They are going to be in for a rude awakening in November. I think you’re going to see people vote for republican candidates just to get some balance on the board even when they would never vote R for state or national office.

You focus your pandemic anger on the schools as it is exactly what the republicans want from you to do as they strip people of their rights and dismantle government. Rage is a powerful destructive emotion and republicans are playing you. if you are an easy mark I’m sorry.

Not PP and I don’t have pandemic anger: the worst part for my kids was my MS one became really socially isolated when FCPS chose to let sports practice but no other extracurriculars. That’s way behind us now though.

But I agree with PP on all accounts - I would not vote for Rs at federal or state levels but I’m fed up with the SB’s focus on stuff that feels “performance-ish” and the religious holidays for reasons entirely unneeded operationally are one part of that. Increasing focus on the gap between demographics vs helping each kid achieve (which may not all be at the same pace) is another frustration, no textbooks is frustrating as I don’t think the random copies and online games are as useful, etc. I think having an all D SB has created an echo chamber where Megan as a genuine D moderate has been seen as an agitator because she hasn’t been on exactly the same page as the other members. More diversity of perspectives on the SB would be helpful.

Did you watch the last meeting and the vote on the calendar?

Which R will you consider voting for in the SB election? I’m not set on voting straight ticket (although technically they don’t run as a D or R), but I’d like to here some names. If anyone knows of a moderate R running for school board (at large or Springfield District) please share.

In the springfield district I know of a R candidate and a libertarian candidate who just got enough sigs to be on the ballot. I’m personally not voting for anyone who is on the current school board again due to the school closures for one year during covid. I was D from 1999 to 2022 and now I am an independent. If Laura Jane Cohen gets the D delegate nomination she is not running for school board again per her website the last time I checked. I am most likely not going to vote D again for school board in springfield district but I will wait to decide until I see who is running.

At large Saundra Davis will be running as an independent that I know of.

I haven’t found them in a search. Do you have the names?

As soon as I see that they have websites I’ll post them here. I don’t want to be the announcer myself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am shocked at the number of teacher work days. I am new to the county and my parents were both teachers. Never had teacher work days. Teachers, has the profession changed so much that this is necessary?

YES! So much unnecessary paperwork-I blame FCPS and certain parents and their lawsuits and unnecessary demands-which have created even more paperwork. So here we are-teachers need work days or a half day every week. But parents complained constantly about half days because they want their kids in school to save on daycare.

You can homeschool since you don’t need the custodial function of school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they never got rid of early release Mondays, teachers wouldn’t need all these teacher workdays throughout the year. They really never should have done away with that.

No other school system in the country has half day Mondays. There is literally no reason we needed them. We can just do what every other school system in the country has done since the 80s.

Umm our friends in Falls Church City have half day most Wednesdays. It's not as uncommon as you think.

I’d be okay with the return of 1/2 days, but I’d want them on Fridays. (ES parent who has other childcare arrangements) When 1/2 day Mondays were a thing, would SACC start early for those families enrolled?

That wouldn’t help teachers. They need Monday afternoons to plan for the week. By Friday they are exhausted. It is not productive for them to have Friday early release days. Also that would make it difficult to schedule quizzes or tests on Fridays. Kids often need the week to prep for a quiz or test. Parents would also abuse early release Fridays by going on long weekends and having their kids skip school Fridays.

I’m usually working on plans for each day the night before.

You don’t plan for the week on Mondays? That’s not efficient.

Tell me you don’t teach an ES grade without telling me you don’t teach an ES grade.

There is no way I can plan for an entire week on Monday. There is too much to plan and not enough time in one planning period.

I am a retired FCPS teacher thank you. With the early release days, I used to plan loosely for the week every Monday. You really shouldn’t be planning heavily each night during the week. Photocopies daily, maybe. But you should have an outline of the week and you can use previous year’s lessons and check the plan book from last year for the order with a few tweaks. I am in favor of going back to early release Mondays so teachers can plan better.

How many years have you been teaching?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an ES teacher I don't need 3 or 4 PD days at the end of the SY. I need a TW just before 4th quarter grades are due, which is a week or two before the end of the quarter.

Do you not want the full 15 TWs?

If they were actually teacher workdays, most teachers would be thrilled to have those days. But they aren't days for teachers to do planning, grading, data, or other tasks related to their classroom. Instead, those days are almost exclusively taken up by meetings, trainings, and team-building activities that are rarely helpful and are instead infuriating because teachers need time in their classrooms, not in meetings.

Ate least you don’t have to take a day off to go to those trainings. When I taught in FCPS, a lot of times we had to get subs to cover our classes to go these worthless trainings. Talk about infuriating!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they never got rid of early release Mondays, teachers wouldn’t need all these teacher workdays throughout the year. They really never should have done away with that.

No other school system in the country has half day Mondays. There is literally no reason we needed them. We can just do what every other school system in the country has done since the 80s.

Umm our friends in Falls Church City have half day most Wednesdays. It's not as uncommon as you think.

I’d be okay with the return of 1/2 days, but I’d want them on Fridays. (ES parent who has other childcare arrangements) When 1/2 day Mondays were a thing, would SACC start early for those families enrolled?

That wouldn’t help teachers. They need Monday afternoons to plan for the week. By Friday they are exhausted. It is not productive for them to have Friday early release days. Also that would make it difficult to schedule quizzes or tests on Fridays. Kids often need the week to prep for a quiz or test. Parents would also abuse early release Fridays by going on long weekends and having their kids skip school Fridays.

I’m usually working on plans for each day the night before.

You don’t plan for the week on Mondays? That’s not efficient.

Tell me you don’t teach an ES grade without telling me you don’t teach an ES grade.

There is no way I can plan for an entire week on Monday. There is too much to plan and not enough time in one planning period.

I am a retired FCPS teacher thank you. With the early release days, I used to plan loosely for the week every Monday. You really shouldn’t be planning heavily each night during the week. Photocopies daily, maybe. But you should have an outline of the week and you can use previous year’s lessons and check the plan book from last year for the order with a few tweaks. I am in favor of going back to early release Mondays so teachers can plan better.

How many years have you been teaching?

30 years

I didn’t always have all of the math stations, phonics groups, phonological awareness groups, intervention block, etc. I also didn’t have 2 planning periods a week taken up by CT meetings.

[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:The religious holiday "problem" is helped the next two school years by many of them falling on weekends. In the 23-24 calendar there are only two stand-alone religious holidays:

Yom Kippur 9/25
Eid al Fitr 4/10

In the 24-25 calendar there are four, but two of them are paired with quarter-ends, so again, only two "random" days off.

Rosh Hashanah 10/3
Diwali 11/1
Lunar New Year 1/29 (TW, combined with Q2 end)
Eid al Fitr 3/31 (combined with Q3 end)

The problem comes in the 25-26 calendar when a bunch of them come during the school year. I'm sure it would be completely insensitive, but I wonder if they could gather a religious contingent to pick one between Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur and one of the Eids. Or just look at the absentee data from the past.

Rosh Hashanah 9/23
Yom Kippur 10/2
Diwali 10/21
Lunar New Year 2/17 (TW)
Eid-al-Fitr 3/20
Orthodox Good Friday (TW)
Eid-al-Adha

Or get rid of all of them since this is a public, secular school system.

Any school board candidate who will advocate for getting rid of these absurd days off of school has my vote.

This!! 1000% agree. It is getting out of hand.

Dear school board,
There is no pleasing these people. They are probably the same ones who asked for a three year calendar to plan vacations. They are youngkin trolls looking for ANY angle (including the calendar) too trumpet about voting out the school board. There are more sane people and parents in the county that outnumber these fools. Please don't listen.

Thanks,

Most People

Huh? I’m a lifelong Dem. Never voted R in my life. I am voting for any R to replace this school board, though. Will be a first for me.
And I am far from alone. Most of my D friends hate the religion days off. I think the out of touch folks are you all who support endless four day weeks

Huh? I don't care one way or another about the days off. If you think making the school board R so charters and vouchers can be approved is fixing the issue, you are being shortsighted and are unable to control you anger over 5 days off. You are also playing right into Republican's hands. It's 5 days. You can handle it, your kids can handle it.

I’m sure you were surprised when Youngkin won because you are out of touch and think everyone in this area shares your viewpoints. I didn’t vote for him but wasn’t surprised by it. School has become something many people don’t recognize when they think of their own experiences either in this county or elsewhere. This school board makes everything overly complicated and this can’t get anything done. If it was just thing most people would overlook it. But it’s every little thing adding up. I personally am pissed that there is an extra week of the school year because of these holidays not because there would be too many people absent, but to make the school board feel good about themselves. Other people have their reasons to be upset about any number of things from the calendar to the OCR lawsuit to overuse of technology to overcrowding on their school. Most of the school board members seem to only be listening to people in their own little bubble who are telling they’re doing a great job. They are going to be in for a rude awakening in November. I think you’re going to see people vote for republican candidates just to get some balance on the board even when they would never vote R for state or national office.

You focus your pandemic anger on the schools as it is exactly what the republicans want from you to do as they strip people of their rights and dismantle government. Rage is a powerful destructive emotion and republicans are playing you. if you are an easy mark I’m sorry.

Not PP and I don’t have pandemic anger: the worst part for my kids was my MS one became really socially isolated when FCPS chose to let sports practice but no other extracurriculars. That’s way behind us now though.

But I agree with PP on all accounts - I would not vote for Rs at federal or state levels but I’m fed up with the SB’s focus on stuff that feels “performance-ish” and the religious holidays for reasons entirely unneeded operationally are one part of that. Increasing focus on the gap between demographics vs helping each kid achieve (which may not all be at the same pace) is another frustration, no textbooks is frustrating as I don’t think the random copies and online games are as useful, etc. I think having an all D SB has created an echo chamber where Megan as a genuine D moderate has been seen as an agitator because she hasn’t been on exactly the same page as the other members. More diversity of perspectives on the SB would be helpful.

Did you watch the last meeting and the vote on the calendar?

Which R will you consider voting for in the SB election? I’m not set on voting straight ticket (although technically they don’t run as a D or R), but I’d like to here some names. If anyone knows of a moderate R running for school board (at large or Springfield District) please share.

In the springfield district I know of a R candidate and a libertarian candidate who just got enough sigs to be on the ballot. I’m personally not voting for anyone who is on the current school board again due to the school closures for one year during covid. I was D from 1999 to 2022 and now I am an independent. If Laura Jane Cohen gets the D delegate nomination she is not running for school board again per her website the last time I checked. I am most likely not going to vote D again for school board in springfield district but I will wait to decide until I see who is running.

At large Saundra Davis will be running as an independent that I know of.

I haven’t found them in a search. Do you have the names?

As soon as I see that they have websites I’ll post them here. I don’t want to be the announcer myself.

Ok. Well, I’m not willing to say I’m going to vote for any R without knowing who they are, especially considering their recent track records.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an ES teacher I don't need 3 or 4 PD days at the end of the SY. I need a TW just before 4th quarter grades are due, which is a week or two before the end of the quarter.

Do you not want the full 15 TWs?

If they were actually teacher workdays, most teachers would be thrilled to have those days. But they aren't days for teachers to do planning, grading, data, or other tasks related to their classroom. Instead, those days are almost exclusively taken up by meetings, trainings, and team-building activities that are rarely helpful and are instead infuriating because teachers need time in their classrooms, not in meetings.

Ate least you don’t have to take a day off to go to those trainings. When I taught in FCPS, a lot of times we had to get subs to cover our classes to go these worthless trainings. Talk about infuriating!

I've worked for the county for almost 25 years, so I was around when there were meetings we had to take a sub day to attend, as well.

The useless meetings we have now aren't like the ones of the past. Administrators are basically tasked to keep us busy during those professional development days, so we have endless meetings about the same thing again and again. FCPS just changes the acronym and then makes us re-train about the same thing. One of our recent professional development days was teachers reading articles about collaboration and then building card houses and taking turns coloring to show we know how to collaborate. That went on for four hours, and they took attendance repeatedly to make sure we didn't sneak out. Useless.

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Anonymous wrote:If they never got rid of early release Mondays, teachers wouldn’t need all these teacher workdays throughout the year. They really never should have done away with that.

No other school system in the country has half day Mondays. There is literally no reason we needed them. We can just do what every other school system in the country has done since the 80s.

Umm our friends in Falls Church City have half day most Wednesdays. It's not as uncommon as you think.

I’d be okay with the return of 1/2 days, but I’d want them on Fridays. (ES parent who has other childcare arrangements) When 1/2 day Mondays were a thing, would SACC start early for those families enrolled?

That wouldn’t help teachers. They need Monday afternoons to plan for the week. By Friday they are exhausted. It is not productive for them to have Friday early release days. Also that would make it difficult to schedule quizzes or tests on Fridays. Kids often need the week to prep for a quiz or test. Parents would also abuse early release Fridays by going on long weekends and having their kids skip school Fridays.

I’m usually working on plans for each day the night before.

You don’t plan for the week on Mondays? That’s not efficient.

Tell me you don’t teach an ES grade without telling me you don’t teach an ES grade.

There is no way I can plan for an entire week on Monday. There is too much to plan and not enough time in one planning period.

I am a retired FCPS teacher thank you. With the early release days, I used to plan loosely for the week every Monday. You really shouldn’t be planning heavily each night during the week. Photocopies daily, maybe. But you should have an outline of the week and you can use previous year’s lessons and check the plan book from last year for the order with a few tweaks. I am in favor of going back to early release Mondays so teachers can plan better.

How many years have you been teaching?

30 years

I didn’t always have all of the math stations, phonics groups, phonological awareness groups, intervention block, etc. I also didn’t have 2 planning periods a week taken up by CT meetings.

+100, even retired teachers don’t “get it” anymore. The county has changed so much in the last 5 years, you can’t just always pull out a lesson from last year. And with teacher shortages, teachers are teaching a new grade every 2 years.