2020-2021 FCPS Calender

[Anonymous]

We used to start AFTER Labor Day, have a normal Christmas break (not 2-2.5 weeks), go for 183 days with teachers working 193, and get out somewhere around June 11-13 or so (with the option to get those extra 3 days back if we didn't use them). There was only a 10 day discrepancy between student days and teacher days. Teachers works 5 days before the year started, had 1 work day after school ended, and had 4 work days during the year (1 after Q1, 2 after Q2, and 1 after Q3).

Now, we start a week BEFORE Labor Day, have an excessively long Christmas break, go for 180 days with teachers working 194, and get out somewhere around June 18 or so (with no option to get snow time back we don't use.). Now there's a 14 day discrepancy between student days and teacher days. Teachers now start up to 7 days before the year started (useless), have 6 work days spread randomly throughout the year, and 1 day after the year is over.

[Anonymous]

I would LOVE to get one calendar for every year. Like we start a week before Labor Day, have 10-14 days off over Christmas (depending on where it falls), the week before Easter as Spring break, and done the first week or two of June. Just pick one freaking schedule so we don't have to do this every year, it's insane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Links to calendars:

ORIGINAL Version 1 (3/1/19): https://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/B9V4QK67739C/$file/2020_2021%20Standard%20Calendar%20Version%201%20draft.pdf

ORIGINAL Version 2 (3/1/19): https://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/B9V4QM67756E/$file/2020_2021%20Standard%20Calendar%20Version%202%20draft.pdf

NEW Version 1 (4/3/19): https://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/BAWLCT4FB277/$file/2020_2021%20Standard%20Calendar%20Version%201%20draft%20WS.pdf

NEW Version 2 (4/31/9): https://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/BAWLCV4FB27F/$file/2020_2021%20Standard%20Calendar%20Version%202%20draft%20WS.pdf

NEW Version 3 (3/28/19): https://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/BAWLCX4FB288/$file/2020_2021%20Standard%20Calendar%20Version%203%20draft%20WS.pdf

It's all just a re-jiggering of holidays and start dates.

If you want to get out earlier, you need to shorten Christmas break and start weeks before Labor Day.

If you want to get out later, you need to keep Christmas break to two weeks and start only a week or so before Labor Day.

If you want a happy medium, you start a week before Labor Day and shorten Christmas break. This seems to be the only option NOT being considered which is baffling to me because this is what the county did for yeeeeeeaaaaars before f-ing around with all this snow day waiver nonsense.

Thanks for posting. Is the 1/20/20 holiday the inauguration? That's a nice long weekend. Nice that they put the TWD in the middle of that and MLK so people could get away for a longer trip.

[Anonymous]

Why make the last day of school on a Monday? That's so stupid. I don't think 2 week christmas break is going anywhere. They voted on that years ago and determined that was needed for teachers and students. Prior to that, break varied and would be a week+a few days or two weeks long depending on Christmas day. 2 weeks just keeps it consistent now. I like verson 1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My preferred calendar is considered to be a modified year round calendar. I think 2-3 weeks between quarters and a 6-8 week summer is best for all.

Oh how I wish the school system would seriously consider this schedule. I am a teacher and a parent and I would love it. This way, you can embed professional development for teachers (a couple days during each of the quarterly breaks), w/o having to front- or back-load it onto the school year, and you don't have to take time away from your classroom/students w/ sub coverage (which the superintendent has said multiple times that he wants us as a system to get away from). Kids that require childcare when school is not in session need it no matter how you break up the school year--in my mind's eye, you can get camps going for the quarterly breaks (I realize staffing them might prove to be challenging, since college kids will be away--I'm not sure how it could work).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My preferred calendar is considered to be a modified year round calendar. I think 2-3 weeks between quarters and a 6-8 week summer is best for all.

Oh how I wish the school system would seriously consider this schedule. I am a teacher and a parent and I would love it. This way, you can embed professional development for teachers (a couple days during each of the quarterly breaks), w/o having to front- or back-load it onto the school year, and you don't have to take time away from your classroom/students w/ sub coverage (which the superintendent has said multiple times that he wants us as a system to get away from). Kids that require childcare when school is not in session need it no matter how you break up the school year--in my mind's eye, you can get camps going for the quarterly breaks (I realize staffing them might prove to be challenging, since college kids will be away--I'm not sure how it could work).

I also support this (am a parent). Has or will this ever be seriously considered?

[Anonymous]

Does it bother anyone else that there are no months that have entirely full weeks of school? May and June have the least amounts of disruption.

All the other months, kids are in a full week, then at some point or points through the rest of the month there are early releases or no school days.

Spring break should not be dictated by Easter. Why go on break then have the next week be the quarter end with another early release and holiday???
End the damn quarter and go on break!

A modified calendar is what this school system needs.

[Anonymous]

I just looked at all three again and what disturbs me the most as a teacher is the inequity in the length of the quarters in V1 and V3.

V!: 47, 40, 50, 43
V2: 42, 47, 46, 45
V3: 47, 44, 50, 39

40 days v. 50 days (in V1) or 50 v. 39 (V3) is a difference of 2 weeks. Quarter 1, in most years past, has been short (appx 42 days). The more you can equally distribute a year's worth of content over the 4 quarters, the better (42 v. 47 is a single week).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just looked at all three again and what disturbs me the most as a teacher is the inequity in the length of the quarters in V1 and V3.

V!: 47, 40, 50, 43
V2: 42, 47, 46, 45
V3: 47, 44, 50, 39

40 days v. 50 days (in V1) or 50 v. 39 (V3) is a difference of 2 weeks. Quarter 1, in most years past, has been short (appx 42 days). The more you can equally distribute a year's worth of content over the 4 quarters, the better (42 v. 47 is a single week).

Why is there never a 4th quarter workday for grading?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My preferred calendar is considered to be a modified year round calendar. I think 2-3 weeks between quarters and a 6-8 week summer is best for all.

Oh how I wish the school system would seriously consider this schedule. I am a teacher and a parent and I would love it. This way, you can embed professional development for teachers (a couple days during each of the quarterly breaks), w/o having to front- or back-load it onto the school year, and you don't have to take time away from your classroom/students w/ sub coverage (which the superintendent has said multiple times that he wants us as a system to get away from). Kids that require childcare when school is not in session need it no matter how you break up the school year--in my mind's eye, you can get camps going for the quarterly breaks (I realize staffing them might prove to be challenging, since college kids will be away--I'm not sure how it could work).

I also support this (am a parent). Has or will this ever be seriously considered?

Give it a bit of time and the folks who think this idea is awful will show up and yell at you. I would love a year round schedule but so many people are tied to the traditional schedule that getting any traction on a year round idea is challenging.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My preferred calendar is considered to be a modified year round calendar. I think 2-3 weeks between quarters and a 6-8 week summer is best for all.

Oh how I wish the school system would seriously consider this schedule. I am a teacher and a parent and I would love it. This way, you can embed professional development for teachers (a couple days during each of the quarterly breaks), w/o having to front- or back-load it onto the school year, and you don't have to take time away from your classroom/students w/ sub coverage (which the superintendent has said multiple times that he wants us as a system to get away from). Kids that require childcare when school is not in session need it no matter how you break up the school year--in my mind's eye, you can get camps going for the quarterly breaks (I realize staffing them might prove to be challenging, since college kids will be away--I'm not sure how it could work).

I also support this (am a parent). Has or will this ever be seriously considered?

Give it a bit of time and the folks who think this idea is awful will show up and yell at you. I would love a year round schedule but so many people are tied to the traditional schedule that getting any traction on a year round idea is challenging.

Right! The wealthy people who take their kids to the beach every summer will freak out!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My preferred calendar is considered to be a modified year round calendar. I think 2-3 weeks between quarters and a 6-8 week summer is best for all.

Oh how I wish the school system would seriously consider this schedule. I am a teacher and a parent and I would love it. This way, you can embed professional development for teachers (a couple days during each of the quarterly breaks), w/o having to front- or back-load it onto the school year, and you don't have to take time away from your classroom/students w/ sub coverage (which the superintendent has said multiple times that he wants us as a system to get away from). Kids that require childcare when school is not in session need it no matter how you break up the school year--in my mind's eye, you can get camps going for the quarterly breaks (I realize staffing them might prove to be challenging, since college kids will be away--I'm not sure how it could work).

I also support this (am a parent). Has or will this ever be seriously considered?

Give it a bit of time and the folks who think this idea is awful will show up and yell at you. I would love a year round schedule but so many people are tied to the traditional schedule that getting any traction on a year round idea is challenging.

Well that is a bummer. I feel like the current LT is trying to be creatively proactive with the schedules, even if they seem weird to those of us that have been under the umbrella of tradition for so so long. I see a year-round schedule beneficial--the state even worked in the best interest of school systems to get the "Kings Dominion" law passed, so they can start earlier in the year w/o 735276 caveats to consider (read: waivers).

I know a lot of the citizenry has a problem with how many teacher workdays/professional development days that are scheduled into the calendar, but in order to be a premier workforce, we have to have them. The art & science of teaching changes at an astonishing rate, and we need the time to learn, plan, adapt, and reflect. We can't do that when we are in front of kids--we are actively teaching them. For those that say "do it during your planning period then" don't understand that those precious windows of time are used to meet with parents, grade the daily work that students are doing, preparing for the next day's lessons. Perhaps the school day should be longer, but then it's longer for the students as well, or we can't offer the wide-range of after-school activities that we currently do.

[Anonymous]

Folks - FCPS experimented with a year-round calendar about a decade ago. It’s one of the items eliminated when the budget was cut.

[Anonymous]

I can not get over the fact the calendar allows for up to 125 hours or 20 days off due to weather or other emergencies!

At least shorten the school year once we know we are not going to use them!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can not get over the fact the calendar allows for up to 125 hours or 20 days off due to weather or other emergencies!

At least shorten the school year once we know we are not going to use them!

They can’t take days off the calendar. They have to keep 180 days even if they don’t attend 180. They could shorten the school day at the end of the year as long as the hours stay above 990. High schools shorten the student day at the end of the year, but that won’t happen at the ES Level.