latest calendar survey

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2 weeks at winter doesn't bother me. Its easy to get grandparents involved for child care and nice to have extra time off to be festive. I dont want to be at work so using school closures as a reason to take PTO is fine with me.

I wish summer break was longer. And I wish the religious holidays were gone.

If you want a longer summer break, asking for a shorter winter break is probably the best way to get there. If you Google articles from the time when FCPS started allowing the extra religious holidays, you will see why they are not going to get rid of them. If there is one thing FCPS hates, it's bad press. And the religious groups know this. If FCPS takes back those holidays they will go back to the press like they did before and complain that the district is not inclusive.

[Anonymous]

Me too. I know some people love it, but I was glad to be able to share that keeping a two-week winter break (when we often have snow days soon after) is a low-priority for my family.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The advocates for the religious holidays were incredibly vocal with the last board and they got their way. Teachers demanded a two week winter break. The average family perspective doesn’t stand a chance.

You don't want a 2 week winter break? Most families that I know want it to stay that way. We generally do not want a 12 week summer. (But most of us want to get rid of the religious holidays.)

Hell no. One week is plenty. There are always tons of snow closures in Jan/Feb, it feels like they basically don't go to school from Nov-Feb.

Same for us. Two weeks over winter is ridiculous given the other closures we are bound to get and most of us can't afford to travel

Same here. I grew up in an area where we went to school up to and maybe even on December 23, then back to school right after New Year’s Day. This was in an area where most people celebrated Christmas. No one complained. The long winter break is just too much on top of everything else, including the inevitable snow days at that time of year. If people want to take two week long trips, they should do it in the summer or miss a few few days of school. Sorry that it’s hotter then, but we all have to make choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2 weeks at winter doesn't bother me. Its easy to get grandparents involved for child care and nice to have extra time off to be festive. I dont want to be at work so using school closures as a reason to take PTO is fine with me.

I wish summer break was longer. And I wish the religious holidays were gone.

So you want 2 weeks for your own holiday to "be festive," but don't want other religions to have ONE day for their holidays? Please sit with your hypocrisy for a minute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just took it. I was surprised how short it was AND surprised we got to actually vote on getting rid of the religious holidays. I did note that Christmas was included in the list of religious holidays so hope that doesn't confuse people since obviously we aren't going to be going to school on xmas since no one would be there.

Same with day before Thanksgiving. I don't think that question is based in reality either.

Setting days off years in advance to movable sun holidays that don’t actually become solidified until a religious leader determines the actual day is a fool’s errand. Let me know what people celebrate their religious holiday early because FCPS put it on the calendar. Zero. And they will still take their actual day off of school! Make this make sense! It doesn’t and FCPS should not be scheduling these as holidays.

I would love to give Eid off for Muslims, but you're right that it's not realistic given that it can't be calculated in advance. This point doesn't apply to Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, or Diwali though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vote no on long winter break
Vote no on random religious holidays
Vote no on early release days
Vote no on 4 day school weeks

Vote yes on getting out earlier in the year.

I will vote yes on a long winter break.
I will vote yes on 4-day school weeks.

I will vote no on ES early-release days, but yes on end-of-quarter and end-of-year early release days.

I will vote no on random religious holidays even though my religion "benefits" from a few of the religious holidays.

There wasn't an option to vote no on ES early release days, which is what I really wanted. Those need to go. They are so disruptive and having them mid-week is even worse.

[Anonymous]

Where's the survey link?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vote no on long winter break
Vote no on random religious holidays
Vote no on early release days
Vote no on 4 day school weeks

Vote yes on getting out earlier in the year.

I will vote yes on a long winter break.
I will vote yes on 4-day school weeks.

I will vote no on ES early-release days, but yes on end-of-quarter and end-of-year early release days.

I will vote no on random religious holidays even though my religion "benefits" from a few of the religious holidays.

There wasn't an option to vote no on ES early release days, which is what I really wanted. Those need to go. They are so disruptive and having them mid-week is even worse.

The board thinks they “solved” this with limiting to eight. Be in touch to tell them it isn’t sufficient.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just took it. I was surprised how short it was AND surprised we got to actually vote on getting rid of the religious holidays. I did note that Christmas was included in the list of religious holidays so hope that doesn't confuse people since obviously we aren't going to be going to school on xmas since no one would be there.

Christmas is Teflon as it falls within the category of a religious holiday, a federal holiday, and Winter break.

[Anonymous]

Shocked they can't get rid of half days. Everyone I know complains bitterly about them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Shocked they can't get rid of half days. Everyone I know complains bitterly about them.

Yes, the elementary school early release days are awful. When they introduced them in 2024, it was to help teachers learn a new curriculum, but then they kept them this year with no justification.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where's the survey link?

It was sent by email and is tied to your email, so you can't use one shared by someone else. I got it this morning, but my husband hasn't gotten it yet, so I think they're sending it out in phases. Check your spam/junk.

[Anonymous]

Dumbest survey ever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where's the survey link?

If you are a parent of a FCPS kid you got it today already. If not, you shouldn't be taking it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vote no on long winter break
Vote no on random religious holidays
Vote no on early release days
Vote no on 4 day school weeks

Vote yes on getting out earlier in the year.

I will vote yes on a long winter break.
I will vote yes on 4-day school weeks.

I will vote no on ES early-release days, but yes on end-of-quarter and end-of-year early release days.

I will vote no on random religious holidays even though my religion "benefits" from a few of the religious holidays.

There wasn't an option to vote no on ES early release days, which is what I really wanted. Those need to go. They are so disruptive and having them mid-week is even worse.

The board thinks they “solved” this with limiting to eight. Be in touch to tell them it isn’t sufficient.

They limited it to four, not eight. The lack of ES planning time has been a problem since Garza got rid of half day Mondays. People cheered that but nothing was built in to replace that time. Reid snuck these random and disruptive early release days in because of the new state training a couple of years ago and then just sneakily kept scheduling them. The board didn’t call her on it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2 weeks at winter doesn't bother me. Its easy to get grandparents involved for child care and nice to have extra time off to be festive. I dont want to be at work so using school closures as a reason to take PTO is fine with me.

I wish summer break was longer. And I wish the religious holidays were gone.

If you want a longer summer break, asking for a shorter winter break is probably the best way to get there. If you Google articles from the time when FCPS started allowing the extra religious holidays, you will see why they are not going to get rid of them. If there is one thing FCPS hates, it's bad press. And the religious groups know this. If FCPS takes back those holidays they will go back to the press like they did before and complain that the district is not inclusive.

maybe maybe not. Loudon is proposing to get rid of all religious holidays. I feel like if they do it FCPS might follow.