Why didn’t APS start this week?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They don’t care what you want. The teachers get the schedule they want.

They tried to match FCPS this year but then FCPS adopted after us and made a bunch of changes. Going forward expect us to match to FCPS. The teachers who live there and have kids in school there want this. The community engagement within Arlington is just optics.

This is exactly right.

Yep. They polled a few years back and majority parents/community wanted post-Labor Day start. Teachers didn't.

We saw how that went.

Don't bother thinking about it. Just look at the calendar when it comes out.

You do realize that the State changed regulations a few years back and you had to get a waiver NOT to start before Labor Day?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wish they would have followed through with what they said in 2019 (or 2018?) and made calendar decisions by April of the prior year so I could plan better!

The calendar was adopted in December 2020, that’s plenty of time

Barely. Most camp registrations are in January, booking vacation rentals starts in December, etc

Then book and plan for July and early August and avoid any potential conflicts with end and start of school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wish they would have followed through with what they said in 2019 (or 2018?) and made calendar decisions by April of the prior year so I could plan better!

The calendar was adopted in December 2020, that’s plenty of time

Barely. Most camp registrations are in January, booking vacation rentals starts in December, etc

We book our vacations in Sept. So December is late for us. But my point was they promised to start doing it in April of the prior year and I wish that would have happened.

Rich folks' problems and whining. Just schedule your freakin' vacation for when you know it absolutely won't conflict. A lot of people don't even get to take vacations; but I see why schools should bend over backwards to accommodate your planning 9 months out....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wish they would have followed through with what they said in 2019 (or 2018?) and made calendar decisions by April of the prior year so I could plan better!

The calendar was adopted in December 2020, that’s plenty of time

Lots of people book summer vacations well before that timing.

Well guess what you know they are off all of July and 1/2 of august. The end of august is hurricane season.

The hard part is there aren't camps the week before school starts, so people use that week as vacation to fill the childcare gap. But it's not clear what week that will be. We already booked our vacation rental for next August, as it was filling up. Hopefully we predicted the right week before school starting.

APS really should set a calendar earlier. It's not like holidays aren't known more than a year in advance. My school district as a kid had a 5 year calendar and each year they set the calendar for the 5th year out.

Ever consider just taking time off and staying home or taking local day trips? A week of "childcare" doesn't mean your whole family has to leave town together. And if you have to plan vacation from your employer, do you really need to do it 9 months ahead?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wish they would have followed through with what they said in 2019 (or 2018?) and made calendar decisions by April of the prior year so I could plan better!

The calendar was adopted in December 2020, that’s plenty of time

Lots of people book summer vacations well before that timing.

Well guess what you know they are off all of July and 1/2 of august. The end of august is hurricane season.

The hard part is there aren't camps the week before school starts, so people use that week as vacation to fill the childcare gap. But it's not clear what week that will be. We already booked our vacation rental for next August, as it was filling up. Hopefully we predicted the right week before school starting.

APS really should set a calendar earlier. It's not like holidays aren't known more than a year in advance. My school district as a kid had a 5 year calendar and each year they set the calendar for the 5th year out.

My APS kid is at an Arlington county camp right now

[Anonymous]

Because it makes no sense to put kids in school in the middle of freakin August. This place gets more backwards all the time. This schedule is stupid because you put the kids back in for four days and then take five days off. Just start after Labor Day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wish they would have followed through with what they said in 2019 (or 2018?) and made calendar decisions by April of the prior year so I could plan better!

The calendar was adopted in December 2020, that’s plenty of time

Barely. Most camp registrations are in January, booking vacation rentals starts in December, etc

We book our vacations in Sept. So December is late for us. But my point was they promised to start doing it in April of the prior year and I wish that would have happened.

I didn't say they HAVE to but they said they would. Just wish they had continued that
Rich folks' problems and whining. Just schedule your freakin' vacation for when you know it absolutely won't conflict. A lot of people don't even get to take vacations; but I see why schools should bend over backwards to accommodate your planning 9 months out....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wish they would have followed through with what they said in 2019 (or 2018?) and made calendar decisions by April of the prior year so I could plan better!

The calendar was adopted in December 2020, that’s plenty of time

Barely. Most camp registrations are in January, booking vacation rentals starts in December, etc

We book our vacations in Sept. So December is late for us. But my point was they promised to start doing it in April of the prior year and I wish that would have happened.

I didn't say they HAVE to but they said they would. Just wish they had continued that
Rich folks' problems and whining. Just schedule your freakin' vacation for when you know it absolutely won't conflict. A lot of people don't even get to take vacations; but I see why schools should bend over backwards to accommodate your planning 9 months out....

Not sure why that got messed up but....


I didn't say they HAVE to but they said they would. Just wish they had continued that policy.

[Anonymous]

Boofrickinghoo. I don’t get why people are so caught up with APS calendars. They change. They don’t change. Who cares. Just follow the calendar and stop whining.

[Anonymous]

This is not Burger King. If you want it your way, home school!

[Anonymous]

Of course people can live without booking vacations a year out. If there was some good reason the calendar couldn’t be set sooner, that would make sense. But since there isn’t, the school system should plan further ahead & let people know. There’s really no downside to this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because it makes no sense to put kids in school in the middle of freakin August. This place gets more backwards all the time. This schedule is stupid because you put the kids back in for four days and then take five days off. Just start after Labor Day.

This!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because it makes no sense to put kids in school in the middle of freakin August. This place gets more backwards all the time. This schedule is stupid because you put the kids back in for four days and then take five days off. Just start after Labor Day.

This!!!!!

Not this!!!!!

So much preliminary stuff happens in the first few days of school, with very little learning. Schedule changes, learning classroom rules, going over course outlines and expectations, learning a new school and/or new teachers...at least they can get much of that out of the way in the first week and then get to learning right after Rosh Hashanah. It's not like they're in for 4 days and APS gave them a 5-day, M-F vacation. They are in for 4 days, followed by a closure on Friday that is mandated by Virginia state law, then the Labor Day weekend (Monday is a federal holiday), and then Tuesday is Rosh Hashanah, an important Jewish holiday.

[Anonymous]

Don't care which calendar they use, but I hope they better align with Fairfax next year. It's nuts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because it makes no sense to put kids in school in the middle of freakin August. This place gets more backwards all the time. This schedule is stupid because you put the kids back in for four days and then take five days off. Just start after Labor Day.

This!!!!!

Not this!!!!!

So much preliminary stuff happens in the first few days of school, with very little learning. Schedule changes, learning classroom rules, going over course outlines and expectations, learning a new school and/or new teachers...at least they can get much of that out of the way in the first week and then get to learning right after Rosh Hashanah. It's not like they're in for 4 days and APS gave them a 5-day, M-F vacation. They are in for 4 days, followed by a closure on Friday that is mandated by Virginia state law, then the Labor Day weekend (Monday is a federal holiday), and then Tuesday is Rosh Hashanah, an important Jewish holiday. [/quote
Check your privilege. How many parents can swing these half weeks?