APS calendar- 26-27

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:They either need to come off the 180 day commitment or eliminate holidays — don’t care if religious or Columbus Day or whatever. Something has to give. The calendar is out of control. We’ve gotten nothing out of moving up a week. They just added more days off. All the nonsense about more instructional days before AP exams was just a scam to put in the religious holidays.

go blame APE, they had their usual tantrum until APS caved and added this extra time. which no one wants and it's just a waste.

Stop. You cannot blame this horrible calendar on APE.

APE wanted more school days. You got em!

It went from 178/179 to 180

yeah that's the 2 days people are complaining about having to be in school the week of Xmas-- Dec 21 and 22nd. Thanks APE!

Looks like Eid and Yom Kippur to me

Oh sure let's have school on actual Jewish holidays so you can get two days off that are not even holidays the week of yours?

As a Jew (not OP), I support this, and most (Reform Jewish) friends do as well. I didn't have Yom Kippur or Rosh Hashanah off when I was in school. No new material was taught those days. I'd rather have the same time off that friends/family have off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They either need to come off the 180 day commitment or eliminate holidays — don’t care if religious or Columbus Day or whatever. Something has to give. The calendar is out of control. We’ve gotten nothing out of moving up a week. They just added more days off. All the nonsense about more instructional days before AP exams was just a scam to put in the religious holidays.

go blame APE, they had their usual tantrum until APS caved and added this extra time. which no one wants and it's just a waste.

Stop. You cannot blame this horrible calendar on APE.

APE wanted more school days. You got em!

It went from 178/179 to 180

yeah that's the 2 days people are complaining about having to be in school the week of Xmas-- Dec 21 and 22nd. Thanks APE!

Looks like Eid and Yom Kippur to me

Oh sure let's have school on actual Jewish holidays so you can get two days off that are not even holidays the week of yours?

I would like to see what attendance was like before they added the holidays. This year my Jewish spouse went to work on Yom Kippur while I stayed home with the kids. I want to know how many kids and teachers were missing school for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Diwali, and the Eids before they added them to the calendar. To my understanding, none of this was every analyzed in Arlington, they just copied Fairfax's calendar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They either need to come off the 180 day commitment or eliminate holidays — don’t care if religious or Columbus Day or whatever. Something has to give. The calendar is out of control. We’ve gotten nothing out of moving up a week. They just added more days off. All the nonsense about more instructional days before AP exams was just a scam to put in the religious holidays.

go blame APE, they had their usual tantrum until APS caved and added this extra time. which no one wants and it's just a waste.

Stop. You cannot blame this horrible calendar on APE.

APE wanted more school days. You got em!

It went from 178/179 to 180

yeah that's the 2 days people are complaining about having to be in school the week of Xmas-- Dec 21 and 22nd. Thanks APE!

Looks like Eid and Yom Kippur to me

Oh sure let's have school on actual Jewish holidays so you can get two days off that are not even holidays the week of yours?

I would like to see what attendance was like before they added the holidays. This year my Jewish spouse went to work on Yom Kippur while I stayed home with the kids. I want to know how many kids and teachers were missing school for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Diwali, and the Eids before they added them to the calendar. To my understanding, none of this was every analyzed in Arlington, they just copied Fairfax's calendar.

Diwali is a night festival. APS screwed up just having religious observance days because it encouraged them to throw in unnecessary holidays like Dia de Los Muertos, Lunar New Year, etc.

[Anonymous]

If they don't want to get rid of religious holidays, they should get rid of Veteran's day, Columbus day and grade prep days.

But honestly the school board candidate who just won the election was very clear she supports all the random days off for the sake of diversity so I doubt this will change since there is no political pressure to change it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if APS will rethink school on December 21 and 22. The Fairfax board has a thread about emails from FCPS about not missing schools around the breaks, attendance is important etc.

We won’t be traveling so my kids will be there but I’m going to guess there will be a lot of student and staff absences.

Such a stupid schedule. No one is going to be there those days.

We'll be there! I have no issue with those days. Why do we need to stop school on December 18th for a holiday that is a FULL WEEK LATER?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they need to make a choice between grading days at the end of the marking period and religious holidays.

Or cut the Federal holidays like Indigenous Peoples day, MLK day, President's Day, etc. They can be observed as part of the curriculum.

They could. But many parents are off on these days. Virtually no one is off on the non-federal religious holidays.

I am generally not a supporter of APS closing school for religious holidays but the counterpoint is that no one has to miss school for Columbus Day or President's Day observance (and most parents would love a day off from work when the kids are in school - that is the holy grail!!!). But if you are Jewish and observing Yom Kippur, your kids can't go to school that day. That said, that is not true for all the religious holidays. Even with Rosh Hashanah some families would probably let their kids go to school for the afternoon by high school.

Well, my point was that if a parent is already off work, 1) they don’t need to find childcare for young kids, and 2) they can take a long weekend trip with the family. Sending kids to school on every federal holiday while having all these religious ones off would be pretty annoying. That said, I agree they don’t need EVERY federal holiday off. And if they start after Labor Day again, no need to factor in Labor Day and the Friday before. So get rid of a couple of fed days, religious holidays, and get back at least a week of summer break.

For those who don't work for the government, which are many people, we are finding childcare or taking time off for both religious and Federal holidays right now. Dropping some of these days, regardless of the category, would be helpful. It's too much.

I wish APS would adopt the model from Falls Church City where we still have school on religious holidays, but teachers don't introduce new content or test on those days. Students get excused absences for their religious holidays.

We had that, didn't work

I don't think there was a policy not to introduce new content or test on those days. I never saw a list of the holidays where the rule would apply or heard it mentioned. I think APS just ignored the holidays.

Not true, I remember lots of talk about this back when they handled it this way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they need to make a choice between grading days at the end of the marking period and religious holidays.

Or cut the Federal holidays like Indigenous Peoples day, MLK day, President's Day, etc. They can be observed as part of the curriculum.

They could. But many parents are off on these days. Virtually no one is off on the non-federal religious holidays.

I am generally not a supporter of APS closing school for religious holidays but the counterpoint is that no one has to miss school for Columbus Day or President's Day observance (and most parents would love a day off from work when the kids are in school - that is the holy grail!!!). But if you are Jewish and observing Yom Kippur, your kids can't go to school that day. That said, that is not true for all the religious holidays. Even with Rosh Hashanah some families would probably let their kids go to school for the afternoon by high school.

Well, my point was that if a parent is already off work, 1) they don’t need to find childcare for young kids, and 2) they can take a long weekend trip with the family. Sending kids to school on every federal holiday while having all these religious ones off would be pretty annoying. That said, I agree they don’t need EVERY federal holiday off. And if they start after Labor Day again, no need to factor in Labor Day and the Friday before. So get rid of a couple of fed days, religious holidays, and get back at least a week of summer break.

For those who don't work for the government, which are many people, we are finding childcare or taking time off for both religious and Federal holidays right now. Dropping some of these days, regardless of the category, would be helpful. It's too much.

I wish APS would adopt the model from Falls Church City where we still have school on religious holidays, but teachers don't introduce new content or test on those days. Students get excused absences for their religious holidays.

We had that, didn't work

In what way did it “not work”? We had 10-11 week long summers under that system.

Do you know how hard it is to not introduce new content? It didn't work very well for teachers who had to adjust to not introducing new content even though it was a school day. Some teachers ignored it and there were complaints of new content anyways. Or for those who followed, there were awkward days where they couldn't do very much so it was a waste for those who were there. There were also a lot of absences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if APS will rethink school on December 21 and 22. The Fairfax board has a thread about emails from FCPS about not missing schools around the breaks, attendance is important etc.

We won’t be traveling so my kids will be there but I’m going to guess there will be a lot of student and staff absences.

Such a stupid schedule. No one is going to be there those days.

We'll be there! I have no issue with those days. Why do we need to stop school on December 18th for a holiday that is a FULL WEEK LATER?

Because, like it or not, that’s when a lot of adults have time off of work and travel.

Let’s be real — the celebration of Christmas isn’t religious at all for many people. It’s a fun Santa holiday and time for winter travel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they need to make a choice between grading days at the end of the marking period and religious holidays.

Or cut the Federal holidays like Indigenous Peoples day, MLK day, President's Day, etc. They can be observed as part of the curriculum.

They could. But many parents are off on these days. Virtually no one is off on the non-federal religious holidays.

I am generally not a supporter of APS closing school for religious holidays but the counterpoint is that no one has to miss school for Columbus Day or President's Day observance (and most parents would love a day off from work when the kids are in school - that is the holy grail!!!). But if you are Jewish and observing Yom Kippur, your kids can't go to school that day. That said, that is not true for all the religious holidays. Even with Rosh Hashanah some families would probably let their kids go to school for the afternoon by high school.

Well, my point was that if a parent is already off work, 1) they don’t need to find childcare for young kids, and 2) they can take a long weekend trip with the family. Sending kids to school on every federal holiday while having all these religious ones off would be pretty annoying. That said, I agree they don’t need EVERY federal holiday off. And if they start after Labor Day again, no need to factor in Labor Day and the Friday before. So get rid of a couple of fed days, religious holidays, and get back at least a week of summer break.

For those who don't work for the government, which are many people, we are finding childcare or taking time off for both religious and Federal holidays right now. Dropping some of these days, regardless of the category, would be helpful. It's too much.

I wish APS would adopt the model from Falls Church City where we still have school on religious holidays, but teachers don't introduce new content or test on those days. Students get excused absences for their religious holidays.

We had that, didn't work

I don't think there was a policy not to introduce new content or test on those days. I never saw a list of the holidays where the rule would apply or heard it mentioned. I think APS just ignored the holidays.

Not true, I remember lots of talk about this back when they handled it this way.

What was the list of holidays? Is it the same as those they added to the calendar? I never saw a list....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if APS will rethink school on December 21 and 22. The Fairfax board has a thread about emails from FCPS about not missing schools around the breaks, attendance is important etc.

We won’t be traveling so my kids will be there but I’m going to guess there will be a lot of student and staff absences.

Such a stupid schedule. No one is going to be there those days.

We'll be there! I have no issue with those days. Why do we need to stop school on December 18th for a holiday that is a FULL WEEK LATER?

It's a time when many schools are closed and adults have vacation, allowing people to travel to see family or vacation. Two contiguous weeks off really facilitates travel for those with family that isn't close by.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if APS will rethink school on December 21 and 22. The Fairfax board has a thread about emails from FCPS about not missing schools around the breaks, attendance is important etc.

We won’t be traveling so my kids will be there but I’m going to guess there will be a lot of student and staff absences.

Such a stupid schedule. No one is going to be there those days.

We'll be there! I have no issue with those days. Why do we need to stop school on December 18th for a holiday that is a FULL WEEK LATER?

It's a time when many schools are closed and adults have vacation, allowing people to travel to see family or vacation. Two contiguous weeks off really facilitates travel for those with family that isn't close by.

It does. But it's only relatively recently that APS did two full weeks, and other school districts don't do it either (MCPS for instance.) I'm guessing most teachers won't do much during those dates. But DD says they're having review/parties in several of her MS classes tomorrow and Friday, so now those activities will just be pushed back a few days.

[Anonymous]

I'd LOVE to see them cement Spring Break to the first week of April. I hate that it moves around. Just nail it down!! Also, planning less around the Christian holidays means you don't have to plan for every other holiday off. So let's release Spring break!

I'd also love to have a week long fall break instead of all the random days off (election day followed by Vet's day always drives me nuts).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd LOVE to see them cement Spring Break to the first week of April. I hate that it moves around. Just nail it down!! Also, planning less around the Christian holidays means you don't have to plan for every other holiday off. So let's release Spring break!

I'd also love to have a week long fall break instead of all the random days off (election day followed by Vet's day always drives me nuts).

I’d like spring break to be the end of third quarter and include the grade prep day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd LOVE to see them cement Spring Break to the first week of April. I hate that it moves around. Just nail it down!! Also, planning less around the Christian holidays means you don't have to plan for every other holiday off. So let's release Spring break!

I'd also love to have a week long fall break instead of all the random days off (election day followed by Vet's day always drives me nuts).

I’d like spring break to be the end of third quarter and include the grade prep day.

Sounds good to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd LOVE to see them cement Spring Break to the first week of April. I hate that it moves around. Just nail it down!! Also, planning less around the Christian holidays means you don't have to plan for every other holiday off. So let's release Spring break!

I'd also love to have a week long fall break instead of all the random days off (election day followed by Vet's day always drives me nuts).

I’d like spring break to be the end of third quarter and include the grade prep day.

Sounds good to me.

Yup, let's do this. I'm onboard for fall break (taking away any combination of Friday before Labor Day, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Columbus Day, Election Day, Veteran's Day, Eid or Diwali works for me - if you tack it on to Thanksgiving you only need to pick two) and making Spring Break a fixed week instead of floating with Easter.