All these days off...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In 2020, 3% of the the adult living in Fairfax County identified as Jewish. (This does not include the under 18s and does not include employees that live outside of the county)

Hindus are around the same percentage (diwali off)

Orthodox Christians are a much tinier group. Are they even 1%? Yet we have Orthodox Epiphany off (Jan 17) and Orthodox Easter off (April 10)

FCPS gives Day of the Dead/All Saints Day off. (Nov 1)

That one is a complete head scratcher. Catholics (and Mexicans) do not view that as a day to take off work or school. All Saints Day is a Holy Day of Obligation, but you don't take off work or school to meet the obligation. You simply go to Mass in the early morning or to one of the many evening Mass options. All Saints Day is not a particularly huge feast day accompanied by a bunch of significant religious and cultural traditions that require one to take off work and school.

Giving All Saints Day/ day of the dead off as a religious cultural holiday is performative and shows that FCPS doesn’t understand the holiday.

November 1 is not a day off.

It has been on past calenders.

I’ve worked in FCPS for 25 years. I promise that All Saints Day has never been a religious holiday. If there was no school that day, it’s because it was a weekend or a teacher workday.

The calender lists it as All Saints Day/ Day of the Dead, so FCPS acknowleges the day off as a religious holiday.

Look at the calendar again. It is NOT a day off. No where does it say it is a day off. Please link the calendar.

Well it frequently falls on a Saturday or Sunday for the next couple years, so jumping ahead you can see in 2027-28 it’s off. There was a bunch of talk at the SB meeting when they added this. They decided to give it off for the holiday, but line it up every year as the official end of the quarter (you’ll notice every other quarter moves end dates a bit from year to year, except the first to accomodate this)

The SB meetings are all online you can still find it I’m sure but I’m not digging around for it.

https://www.fcps.edu/system/files/forms/2025-02/2027-2028-standard-school-year-calendar.pdf

Ding! Ding! Ding! It follows the quarter end. Friday before is Diwali which is listed as a holiday. Monday, Nov 1 is a "School Planning Day" and Nov 2 is a "Teacher Workday," which is traditional at the end of the quarter.

And, if it was a holiday on a prior year, it is because it was Quarter end Teacher Workday. It has never been a school holiday because of religion. Not in FCPS.

You're all idiots. They give it off to set up for the election which is on the next day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m horrified with how many just yank their kids from school for vacations

What do you expect with so many partial weeks?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m horrified with how many just yank their kids from school for vacations

What do you expect with so many partial weeks?

It proof that they don’t value school after all their complaints about FCPS. FCPS definitely won’t change the calendar if parents continue to leave and go on vacation.

[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:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In 2020, 3% of the the adult living in Fairfax County identified as Jewish. (This does not include the under 18s and does not include employees that live outside of the county)

Hindus are around the same percentage (diwali off)

Orthodox Christians are a much tinier group. Are they even 1%? Yet we have Orthodox Epiphany off (Jan 17) and Orthodox Easter off (April 10)

FCPS gives Day of the Dead/All Saints Day off. (Nov 1)

That one is a complete head scratcher. Catholics (and Mexicans) do not view that as a day to take off work or school. All Saints Day is a Holy Day of Obligation, but you don't take off work or school to meet the obligation. You simply go to Mass in the early morning or to one of the many evening Mass options. All Saints Day is not a particularly huge feast day accompanied by a bunch of significant religious and cultural traditions that require one to take off work and school.

Giving All Saints Day/ day of the dead off as a religious cultural holiday is performative and shows that FCPS doesn’t understand the holiday.

November 1 is not a day off.

That’s because it’s a Saturday. The holiday is still listed because it’s always off when it’s not on a weekend. They plan the end of the quarter around it so it’s always a 4 day break.

Exactly.

But if you ask any Catholic, practicing Cathokic or just culturally catholic, they will tell you unequivocally that All Saints Day should not be a day off school.

All Catholics feel this way? Is this why schools in all of Italy and France shut down?

I’ve heard Catholics upset when it wasn’t off because their church only had morning services.

I think maybe some people within a religion may have differing thoughts.

Not sure what the schools in France or Italy have to do with FCPS.

I guess you didn’t see the comment I was replying to. So here ya go:

“But if you ask any Catholic, practicing Cathokic or just culturally catholic, they will tell you unequivocally that All Saints Day should not be a day off school.”

Just responding to this absolute falsehood. Catholics all around the world take the day off. There’s way more countries all over Europe and South America where all schools close for catholic observance of the day.

Maybe white bread yuppie Catholics in NOVA sit it out, but they don’t speak for all.

And to go a step further, maybe you’ve noticed we have a high population in of South American catholic students?

I read your comment and it's still irrelevant. I'm sure many countries take varying religious and other holidays off. It's irrelevant to an American school system.

And no I haven't noticed we have a lot of South American Catholic students. How would anyone know that?

You would know it if you were familiar with the demographics of the county.

Sure, go ahead and show us these demographics that show South American Catholics students.

Have you not noticed any Latinos in the DCUM area?

LOL, now you're moving the goalposts. Hilarious to watch.

I'm so confused. Do you really not believe that we have a lot of students from South/Central America in FCPS? Do you really not realize that many of the immigrants from South/Central America are Catholic?

We know you're confused, because you've gone from South American, to Latino, to South/Central American students. None of these are the same. And there certainly aren't enough of them to justify closing schools.

Maybe not where your kids go to school. At the last 2 schools that I’ve taught at (30 minutes apart), they make-up 30-50% of the population. One year, I had 3 white students.

And, they are still not wanting off for November 1st.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In 2020, 3% of the the adult living in Fairfax County identified as Jewish. (This does not include the under 18s and does not include employees that live outside of the county)

Hindus are around the same percentage (diwali off)

Orthodox Christians are a much tinier group. Are they even 1%? Yet we have Orthodox Epiphany off (Jan 17) and Orthodox Easter off (April 10)

FCPS gives Day of the Dead/All Saints Day off. (Nov 1)

That one is a complete head scratcher. Catholics (and Mexicans) do not view that as a day to take off work or school. All Saints Day is a Holy Day of Obligation, but you don't take off work or school to meet the obligation. You simply go to Mass in the early morning or to one of the many evening Mass options. All Saints Day is not a particularly huge feast day accompanied by a bunch of significant religious and cultural traditions that require one to take off work and school.

Giving All Saints Day/ day of the dead off as a religious cultural holiday is performative and shows that FCPS doesn’t understand the holiday.

November 1 is not a day off.

It has been on past calenders.

I’ve worked in FCPS for 25 years. I promise that All Saints Day has never been a religious holiday. If there was no school that day, it’s because it was a weekend or a teacher workday.

The calender lists it as All Saints Day/ Day of the Dead, so FCPS acknowleges the day off as a religious holiday.

Look at the calendar again. It is NOT a day off. No where does it say it is a day off. Please link the calendar.

Well it frequently falls on a Saturday or Sunday for the next couple years, so jumping ahead you can see in 2027-28 it’s off. There was a bunch of talk at the SB meeting when they added this. They decided to give it off for the holiday, but line it up every year as the official end of the quarter (you’ll notice every other quarter moves end dates a bit from year to year, except the first to accomodate this)

The SB meetings are all online you can still find it I’m sure but I’m not digging around for it.

https://www.fcps.edu/system/files/forms/2025-02/2027-2028-standard-school-year-calendar.pdf

Ding! Ding! Ding! It follows the quarter end. Friday before is Diwali which is listed as a holiday. Monday, Nov 1 is a "School Planning Day" and Nov 2 is a "Teacher Workday," which is traditional at the end of the quarter.

And, if it was a holiday on a prior year, it is because it was Quarter end Teacher Workday. It has never been a school holiday because of religion. Not in FCPS.

The quarter used to end on a different day before FCPS started adding all the religious holidays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My conspiracy theory about this is that FCPS noticed a lot of staff absences (IA’s, bus drivers, cafeteria aides etc.) during the Muslim holidays. At least at my kids’ ES, those positions are heavily held by Middle Eastern immigrants. So they thought that to help operations, they’d give the Eid’s off as holidays for everyone. But then someone questioned the optics of that and not giving the Jewish, Orthodox, Hindu etc. holidays too and even cultural celebrations like Dia de los Muertos, which was given as a “PW” day and an “O” day in the past. Lunar New Year too. So they just added all the holidays ever created so that no one would be offended. Now here we are.

Yur thery is incorrect.

There was a committee comprised of various people including religious leaders that looked at the enrollment data to determinine which days to add to the calender based off attendance.

They came up with a much shorter list, of around 3 holidays.

FCPS added a bunch of other religious and cultural days, beyond the very short list originslly proposed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My conspiracy theory about this is that FCPS noticed a lot of staff absences (IA’s, bus drivers, cafeteria aides etc.) during the Muslim holidays. At least at my kids’ ES, those positions are heavily held by Middle Eastern immigrants. So they thought that to help operations, they’d give the Eid’s off as holidays for everyone. But then someone questioned the optics of that and not giving the Jewish, Orthodox, Hindu etc. holidays too and even cultural celebrations like Dia de los Muertos, which was given as a “PW” day and an “O” day in the past. Lunar New Year too. So they just added all the holidays ever created so that no one would be offended. Now here we are.

Yur thery is incorrect.

There was a committee comprised of various people including religious leaders that looked at the enrollment data to determinine which days to add to the calender based off attendance.

They came up with a much shorter list, of around 3 holidays.

FCPS added a bunch of other religious and cultural days, beyond the very short list originslly proposed

This should say your thoeory is CORRECT, not incorrect.

The list based on attendance was quite short.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My conspiracy theory about this is that FCPS noticed a lot of staff absences (IA’s, bus drivers, cafeteria aides etc.) during the Muslim holidays. At least at my kids’ ES, those positions are heavily held by Middle Eastern immigrants. So they thought that to help operations, they’d give the Eid’s off as holidays for everyone. But then someone questioned the optics of that and not giving the Jewish, Orthodox, Hindu etc. holidays too and even cultural celebrations like Dia de los Muertos, which was given as a “PW” day and an “O” day in the past. Lunar New Year too. So they just added all the holidays ever created so that no one would be offended. Now here we are.

Tell me you’re a white Christian without saying you’re a white Christian.

If you followed the caledar saga over the past 6 or 7 years, you would know that she is correct and her relugion has nothing to do with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. With all the days off, we still have kids taking trips on school days. Have already had several kids go on vacation and miss school.

Because if FCPS doesn't care enough about education to have the kids in school 5 days per week, why should the families care?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m horrified with how many just yank their kids from school for vacations

What do you expect with so many partial weeks?

It proof that they don’t value school after all their complaints about FCPS. FCPS definitely won’t change the calendar if parents continue to leave and go on vacation.

I’m just saying if there were more full weeks on and more full weeks off, most families would travel on the schools-out weeks. But with a short summer and few weeks off, families will fit in travel when their kids will only miss 3 days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m horrified with how many just yank their kids from school for vacations

What do you expect with so many partial weeks?

It proof that they don’t value school after all their complaints about FCPS. FCPS definitely won’t change the calendar if parents continue to leave and go on vacation.

It is proof that families are following the lead of the FCPS school board, which sets the example that it doesn't matter if you attend school every dsy because the majority of weeks are only 3 or 4 days of classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m horrified with how many just yank their kids from school for vacations

What do you expect with so many partial weeks?

It proof that they don’t value school after all their complaints about FCPS. FCPS definitely won’t change the calendar if parents continue to leave and go on vacation.

It is proof that families are following the lead of the FCPS school board, which sets the example that it doesn't matter if you attend school every dsy because the majority of weeks are only 3 or 4 days of classes.

lol. More like proof that families are following FCPS lead that was set during COVID that kids don’t need to actually be in school to learn.

(I’m making that up.. it’s not proof of anything except you thinking your own confirmation bias is proof)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. With all the days off, we still have kids taking trips on school days. Have already had several kids go on vacation and miss school.

Because if FCPS doesn't care enough about education to have the kids in school 5 days per week, why should the families care?

Right. School clearly doesn’t matter since they take off for even non religious holidays. They aren’t giving families 5 days off straight for a vacation so families have to take off.

[Anonymous]

My school at least is now coding absences as unexcused for travel, regardless of filling out the silly prearranged absence form.

Makes it 1000x easier for me, I can just say, "Sorry, it was unexcused, look at schoology and prepare yourself for the retake." vs having to privately tutor the week of lessons they missed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. With all the days off, we still have kids taking trips on school days. Have already had several kids go on vacation and miss school.

Because if FCPS doesn't care enough about education to have the kids in school 5 days per week, why should the families care?

Exactly! Have school on a random Friday after a Thursday off? Why not to Friday and have a 4 day weekend? Stop giving stupid days off and I bet more people come to school! There ain’t time to travel in the summer