Proposed APS Calendar Policy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Staff doesn’t want this. Majority live in FFX and starting a week later than them means they don’t have to find childcare. Staff AND parents don’t want this. Sutton is probably just white-splaining that there are many families who never comment or give feed back due to language/literacy barriers, but that doesn’t mean ignore those who do or assume it’s not representative of the majority. I have yet to hear of any large constituency FOR the earlier start.

I don’t think there is anyone outside of Syphax that thinks this choppy, dragged out schedule is good for children. Stupid is stupid, whether it is in English or Elvish.

Question is what is it going to take to stop it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did the board discuss this last night?

Yes. Here is my summary:

- according to presenter (forgot his name), policy will allow us to end earlier in June because we start earlier. If that’s the case ءwhy not include it in the policy.

-Mary Kadara was the only board member who cared about parental input. Said that if the comments overwhelmingly oppose the earlier start date then need to articulate exactly why we are doing this. Rick Goldstein asked difficult questions but was cut off by Cristina Diazء Torres.

-Bethany Sutton basically said that the comments do not represent the wider APS community and probably represent the most extreme negative positions. Said that most APS community members didn’t comment. Well if that’s the case then why have comments at all?

- No one addressed the overwhelming opposition to the religious holidays. Dr Duran mentioned that he sat on a committee a few years ago the committee determined which holidays were important. My understanding is this was a northern Virginia wide committee.

I was disappointed by Bethany Sutton’s comments and found Diaz Torres rubber stamping of everything quite annoying. She doesn’t ask critical questions at all and always defers to the superintendent. What a waste of a seat. I didn’t get where Rick Goldstein was going with his questions but at least he was asking questions.

CDT is so terrible she literally closed the meeting by saying "we will adopt this policy on September 7." Boy, why even bother to vote?

It’s pretty convenient to dismiss parental feedback when it doesn’t align with what you want.

Grateful for Kadera but she’s only one vote.

Kadera won’t acknowledge the trade offs though. She won’t admit the reason for this fiasco is because the holidays make the calendar so difficult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did the board discuss this last night?

Yes. Here is my summary:

- according to presenter (forgot his name), policy will allow us to end earlier in June because we start earlier. If that’s the case ءwhy not include it in the policy.

-Mary Kadara was the only board member who cared about parental input. Said that if the comments overwhelmingly oppose the earlier start date then need to articulate exactly why we are doing this. Rick Goldstein asked difficult questions but was cut off by Cristina Diazء Torres.

-Bethany Sutton basically said that the comments do not represent the wider APS community and probably represent the most extreme negative positions. Said that most APS community members didn’t comment. Well if that’s the case then why have comments at all?

- No one addressed the overwhelming opposition to the religious holidays. Dr Duran mentioned that he sat on a committee a few years ago the committee determined which holidays were important. My understanding is this was a northern Virginia wide committee.

I was disappointed by Bethany Sutton’s comments and found Diaz Torres rubber stamping of everything quite annoying. She doesn’t ask critical questions at all and always defers to the superintendent. What a waste of a seat. I didn’t get where Rick Goldstein was going with his questions but at least he was asking questions.

CDT is so terrible she literally closed the meeting by saying "we will adopt this policy on September 7." Boy, why even bother to vote?

It’s pretty convenient to dismiss parental feedback when it doesn’t align with what you want.

Grateful for Kadera but she’s only one vote.

Kadera won’t acknowledge the trade offs though. She won’t admit the reason for this fiasco is because the holidays make the calendar so difficult.

Yes I think this is the problem. No one seemed to want to discuss the random full days and half days off. We just need to have less random days off in the middle of the week. Don’t care what these days are, whether teacher work days, early release days, federal holidays or religious holidays. We just need them to take out something.

I also don’t mind starting a week earlier in August if we get out by the first week of June. But the policy doesn’t guarantee that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If starting earlier really means getting out earlier, they need to include that in the policy. For example, out by June 10… or a minimum of 10 weeks for summer break. I feel like they don’t want to say that, because they actually have a no intention of ending earlier.

Yes, agree with this. Would really like to have a guarantee of an earlier end date with an earlier start date.
Plenty of other states start in the 2nd and 3rd week of August but not one of them is still in school in the 3rd week of June.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know where to find APS contracts? I would love to know how much $$ they’re spending on ThoughtExchange to then dismiss it as not inclusive enough. A quick google shows Seattle Public Schools spent $325k for a 3 year contract

I would like to know this too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did the board discuss this last night?

Yes. Here is my summary:

- according to presenter (forgot his name), policy will allow us to end earlier in June because we start earlier. If that’s the case ءwhy not include it in the policy.

-Mary Kadara was the only board member who cared about parental input. Said that if the comments overwhelmingly oppose the earlier start date then need to articulate exactly why we are doing this. Rick Goldstein asked difficult questions but was cut off by Cristina Diazء Torres.

-Bethany Sutton basically said that the comments do not represent the wider APS community and probably represent the most extreme negative positions. Said that most APS community members didn’t comment. Well if that’s the case then why have comments at all?

- No one addressed the overwhelming opposition to the religious holidays. Dr Duran mentioned that he sat on a committee a few years ago the committee determined which holidays were important. My understanding is this was a northern Virginia wide committee.

I was disappointed by Bethany Sutton’s comments and found Diaz Torres rubber stamping of everything quite annoying. She doesn’t ask critical questions at all and always defers to the superintendent. What a waste of a seat. I didn’t get where Rick Goldstein was going with his questions but at least he was asking questions.

Kadera also asked, if alignment of the start date/starting two weeks before Labor Day was so important for staff retention, then why did this not come through in the comments any of the three times APS has asked.

Kadera is the only school board member worth anything

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Staff doesn’t want this. Majority live in FFX and starting a week later than them means they don’t have to find childcare. Staff AND parents don’t want this. Sutton is probably just white-splaining that there are many families who never comment or give feed back due to language/literacy barriers, but that doesn’t mean ignore those who do or assume it’s not representative of the majority. I have yet to hear of any large constituency FOR the earlier start.

The majority of us do not live in Fairfax. I believe the last figure I saw was that 47% of APS staff live in Arlington, the rest are spread out between surrounding counties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m actually confused why school has to end so late in June. I have kids in elementary school so maybe I’m missing something. But June seemed to be filled with class parties, field day, picnics, movie days etc. I’m fine with having a week for that but why have an entire month? If the are so dead set on august can we at least push for ending a week early in June? As for the religious holidays if they want to keep them there should be a basis for picking them such as by student population. Also can eliminate Columbus Day, Presidents’ Day and Veterans Day as holidays (though honestly should just be less religious holidays.) I am also confused over why Election Day has to be off. The explanation for that is always that elections happen in schools. But why do they have to? Why can’t they take place in public libraries or rec centers? I just don’t get it.

The goal is 180 days of school. We have too many religious holiday closures which means the calendar gets longer and longer. We added 5 new holidays last year and a couple the year before that. There are people lobbying for even more because it’s not fair that some are recognized over others. They’re not wrong which is why we need to just end it.

If you didn’t have two full weeks for winter break and starting two weeks before Labor Day, the school year would be shorter.

Don’t solely blame religious holidays.

I agree. The two week winter break used to be a ceiling, not a floor, and only when the days lined up just right. The number of teacher work days and professional days is also a big contributor. There’s no reason schools need to be closed on Election Day, Veterans Day, or Columbus Day.

Mind you I think the religious holidays are out of control too. But if APS were that committed to them they could have swapped them with existing, unnecessary days off. I say we scale back on all of them.

Schools are polling places for Election Day - they have to be closed.

Arlington has an abundance of (expensive and expansive) community centers that are perfect for election day, and as far as I know, already used for this purpose.

[Anonymous]

I think the next step is to write to every school board member to share our thoughts. For me I will say that if they are insistent on starting earlier in august then we need to end by the first week of June. I will also reiterate the importance of addressing the many days off during the school year. They will vote in two weeks. I don’t know if that is enough time for them to change their minds

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two weeks off for winter break sounds BRUTAL. Whhhhhyyyyy?

So people can go on an actual vacation and still see family for Christmas.

Some of us can’t take a vacation and piecing together childcare is $$$$.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know where to find APS contracts? I would love to know how much $$ they’re spending on ThoughtExchange to then dismiss it as not inclusive enough. A quick google shows Seattle Public Schools spent $325k for a 3 year contract

I would like to know this too

What is ThoughtExchange?

[Anonymous]

Teachers, here is a school board member who cares what you think, so tell her: https://www.facebook.com/100064717850437/posts/pfbid02qTWPmxKwpn9dKEeS5AbjBdZ5j8H9KDAAk7EkHijK9vXSLDAd1ySjZxYqyZC5Y75il/?app=fbl

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers, here is a school board member who cares what you think, so tell her: https://www.facebook.com/100064717850437/posts/pfbid02qTWPmxKwpn9dKEeS5AbjBdZ5j8H9KDAAk7EkHijK9vXSLDAd1ySjZxYqyZC5Y75il/?app=fbl

I assume she is satisfied she has the pulse of the families APS serves and who pay the bills as well…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers, here is a school board member who cares what you think, so tell her: https://www.facebook.com/100064717850437/posts/pfbid02qTWPmxKwpn9dKEeS5AbjBdZ5j8H9KDAAk7EkHijK9vXSLDAd1ySjZxYqyZC5Y75il/?app=fbl

Link doesn’t work for me (I don’t have FB). Who is it and what did s/he say?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers, here is a school board member who cares what you think, so tell her: https://www.facebook.com/100064717850437/posts/pfbid02qTWPmxKwpn9dKEeS5AbjBdZ5j8H9KDAAk7EkHijK9vXSLDAd1ySjZxYqyZC5Y75il/?app=fbl

Link doesn’t work for me (I don’t have FB). Who is it and what did s/he say?

It’s the Mary Kadera for Arlington FB page. She’s soliciting feedback on the calendar proposal.