Melanie Meren's FB post about the calendar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone explain why Orthodox Good Friday is a holiday in 2025-2026 and an O day in 2026-2027?

It makes the week after Spring Break this year really strange. They have Monday as a TW and then Friday as a holiday.

It is likely because it allows families to have essentially a two week spring break and only miss four days of schools.

Same with Memorial Day being a five day weekend. Families can take the full week off and only miss two days of school.

I love the schedule!

Why? I am genuinely curious why you don't want your kids learning?

Even on a good week, the amount of content is pretty low. If you ever want to do a deep dive, go and look at the pacing guide. There is nothing that cannot be easily caught up on.

And have you ever been in an ES after SOLs are done? Unless your child failed the SOL and is getting remediation, there is very little of substance happening. Sure, the administration claims that teachers are teaching to parents, but everyone knows that the year is wrapping up.

I agree. The vast majority of core instruction is completed well before the end of the school year. The remaining weeks are largely review, reinforcement, and wrap-up—not essential new content. Any material missed during that period can be caught up quickly, especially for students who are already meeting grade-level expectations.

Secondary math teacher here. I'm unsure how some teachers in other schools are two weeks behind their pacing guide. We've only had a few snowdays. Our department is usually at pace or slightly ahead of where we're supposed to be...

To tack onto this post, High School could end after SOLs in May every single year and kids would be fine. The pacing guide is set up to go so slow that teachers could easily get everything they need to get in before May if they planned accordingly. It's a common topic of discussion in our curriculum team leader meetings. Anything after the SOLs is purely filler and a joke among teachers and students, especially upperclassmen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone explain why Orthodox Good Friday is a holiday in 2025-2026 and an O day in 2026-2027?

It makes the week after Spring Break this year really strange. They have Monday as a TW and then Friday as a holiday.

It is likely because it allows families to have essentially a two week spring break and only miss four days of schools.

Same with Memorial Day being a five day weekend. Families can take the full week off and only miss two days of school.

I love the schedule!

Why? I am genuinely curious why you don't want your kids learning?

Even on a good week, the amount of content is pretty low. If you ever want to do a deep dive, go and look at the pacing guide. There is nothing that cannot be easily caught up on.

And have you ever been in an ES after SOLs are done? Unless your child failed the SOL and is getting remediation, there is very little of substance happening. Sure, the administration claims that teachers are teaching to parents, but everyone knows that the year is wrapping up.

I agree. The vast majority of core instruction is completed well before the end of the school year. The remaining weeks are largely review, reinforcement, and wrap-up—not essential new content. Any material missed during that period can be caught up quickly, especially for students who are already meeting grade-level expectations.

Secondary math teacher here. I'm unsure how some teachers in other schools are two weeks behind their pacing guide. We've only had a few snowdays. Our department is usually at pace or slightly ahead of where we're supposed to be...

To tack onto this post, High School could end after SOLs in May every single year and kids would be fine. The pacing guide is set up to go so slow that teachers could easily get everything they need to get in before May if they planned accordingly. It's a common topic of discussion in our curriculum team leader meetings. Anything after the SOLs is purely filler and a joke among teachers and students, especially upperclassmen.

Are you forced to assess the performance matters tests this year? That has added an extra day to every single one of our units

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone explain why Orthodox Good Friday is a holiday in 2025-2026 and an O day in 2026-2027?

It makes the week after Spring Break this year really strange. They have Monday as a TW and then Friday as a holiday.

There's no rational reason for it.

Embrace it then. Take a nice two week spring break.

Your kid is going to be as dumb as you are.

Insults are usually a substitute for thinking.

Sorry, I call it like I see it.

Now someone is dumb for taking a two week spring break with their family?

Again an emotional, dramatic, ridiculous, and hilarious response.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone explain why Orthodox Good Friday is a holiday in 2025-2026 and an O day in 2026-2027?

It makes the week after Spring Break this year really strange. They have Monday as a TW and then Friday as a holiday.

It is likely because it allows families to have essentially a two week spring break and only miss four days of schools.

Same with Memorial Day being a five day weekend. Families can take the full week off and only miss two days of school.

I love the schedule!

Why? I am genuinely curious why you don't want your kids learning?

Even on a good week, the amount of content is pretty low. If you ever want to do a deep dive, go and look at the pacing guide. There is nothing that cannot be easily caught up on.

And have you ever been in an ES after SOLs are done? Unless your child failed the SOL and is getting remediation, there is very little of substance happening. Sure, the administration claims that teachers are teaching to parents, but everyone knows that the year is wrapping up.

I agree. The vast majority of core instruction is completed well before the end of the school year. The remaining weeks are largely review, reinforcement, and wrap-up—not essential new content. Any material missed during that period can be caught up quickly, especially for students who are already meeting grade-level expectations.

Secondary math teacher here. I'm unsure how some teachers in other schools are two weeks behind their pacing guide. We've only had a few snowdays. Our department is usually at pace or slightly ahead of where we're supposed to be...

To tack onto this post, High School could end after SOLs in May every single year and kids would be fine. The pacing guide is set up to go so slow that teachers could easily get everything they need to get in before May if they planned accordingly. It's a common topic of discussion in our curriculum team leader meetings. Anything after the SOLs is purely filler and a joke among teachers and students, especially upperclassmen.

Are you forced to assess the performance matters tests this year? That has added an extra day to every single one of our units

Yes, we use the performance matters tests (I thought that was county wide this year). It has replaced our regular unit test day that we would have already been using, so hasn't added any additional time. Performance Matters sucks in general.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone explain why Orthodox Good Friday is a holiday in 2025-2026 and an O day in 2026-2027?

It makes the week after Spring Break this year really strange. They have Monday as a TW and then Friday as a holiday.

There's no rational reason for it.

Embrace it then. Take a nice two week spring break.

Your kid is going to be as dumb as you are.

Insults are usually a substitute for thinking.

Sorry, I call it like I see it.

Now someone is dumb for taking a two week spring break with their family?

Again an emotional, dramatic, ridiculous, and hilarious response.

Oh good, Mrs Dramatic is back.

Go away, you add nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone explain why Orthodox Good Friday is a holiday in 2025-2026 and an O day in 2026-2027?

It makes the week after Spring Break this year really strange. They have Monday as a TW and then Friday as a holiday.

It is likely because it allows families to have essentially a two week spring break and only miss four days of schools.

Same with Memorial Day being a five day weekend. Families can take the full week off and only miss two days of school.

I love the schedule!

Why? I am genuinely curious why you don't want your kids learning?

Even on a good week, the amount of content is pretty low. If you ever want to do a deep dive, go and look at the pacing guide. There is nothing that cannot be easily caught up on.

And have you ever been in an ES after SOLs are done? Unless your child failed the SOL and is getting remediation, there is very little of substance happening. Sure, the administration claims that teachers are teaching to parents, but everyone knows that the year is wrapping up.

I agree. The vast majority of core instruction is completed well before the end of the school year. The remaining weeks are largely review, reinforcement, and wrap-up—not essential new content. Any material missed during that period can be caught up quickly, especially for students who are already meeting grade-level expectations.

Secondary math teacher here. I'm unsure how some teachers in other schools are two weeks behind their pacing guide. We've only had a few snowdays. Our department is usually at pace or slightly ahead of where we're supposed to be...

To tack onto this post, High School could end after SOLs in May every single year and kids would be fine. The pacing guide is set up to go so slow that teachers could easily get everything they need to get in before May if they planned accordingly. It's a common topic of discussion in our curriculum team leader meetings. Anything after the SOLs is purely filler and a joke among teachers and students, especially upperclassmen.

Are you forced to assess the performance matters tests this year? That has added an extra day to every single one of our units

Yes, we use the performance matters tests (I thought that was county wide this year). It has replaced our regular unit test day that we would have already been using, so hasn't added any additional time. Performance Matters sucks in general.

Oh man, we refuse to use them as unit tests because they are so awful and unit tests are 70% of their grade. Some of them are only 10 MC questions and half of them reference extensions! We are still giving our own hand written tests on paper/pencil (not multiple choice), and give the PM as a review day activity, but it takes them an hour to do the questions most units. We've eliminated true review days when we can, but sometimes they need more (and the PM can't be done at home).

I'm not worried, we will totally finish everything by June, but it won't be done by May 1 when SOLs/AP/IB/etc starts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone explain why Orthodox Good Friday is a holiday in 2025-2026 and an O day in 2026-2027?

It makes the week after Spring Break this year really strange. They have Monday as a TW and then Friday as a holiday.

There's no rational reason for it.

Embrace it then. Take a nice two week spring break.

Your kid is going to be as dumb as you are.

Insults are usually a substitute for thinking.

Sorry, I call it like I see it.

Now someone is dumb for taking a two week spring break with their family?

Again an emotional, dramatic, ridiculous, and hilarious response.

Oh good, Mrs Dramatic is back.

Go away, you add nothing.

I am going away... on a two week vacation with my family during spring break and the week after.

Praying every night that my kids aren't going to be intellectually deficient for the rest of their existence for missing those 3 days...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone explain why Orthodox Good Friday is a holiday in 2025-2026 and an O day in 2026-2027?

It makes the week after Spring Break this year really strange. They have Monday as a TW and then Friday as a holiday.

It is likely because it allows families to have essentially a two week spring break and only miss four days of schools.

Same with Memorial Day being a five day weekend. Families can take the full week off and only miss two days of school.

I love the schedule!

Why? I am genuinely curious why you don't want your kids learning?

Even on a good week, the amount of content is pretty low. If you ever want to do a deep dive, go and look at the pacing guide. There is nothing that cannot be easily caught up on.

And have you ever been in an ES after SOLs are done? Unless your child failed the SOL and is getting remediation, there is very little of substance happening. Sure, the administration claims that teachers are teaching to parents, but everyone knows that the year is wrapping up.

I agree. The vast majority of core instruction is completed well before the end of the school year. The remaining weeks are largely review, reinforcement, and wrap-up—not essential new content. Any material missed during that period can be caught up quickly, especially for students who are already meeting grade-level expectations.

Secondary math teacher here. I'm unsure how some teachers in other schools are two weeks behind their pacing guide. We've only had a few snowdays. Our department is usually at pace or slightly ahead of where we're supposed to be...

To tack onto this post, High School could end after SOLs in May every single year and kids would be fine. The pacing guide is set up to go so slow that teachers could easily get everything they need to get in before May if they planned accordingly. It's a common topic of discussion in our curriculum team leader meetings. Anything after the SOLs is purely filler and a joke among teachers and students, especially upperclassmen.

Are you forced to assess the performance matters tests this year? That has added an extra day to every single one of our units

Yes, we use the performance matters tests (I thought that was county wide this year). It has replaced our regular unit test day that we would have already been using, so hasn't added any additional time. Performance Matters sucks in general.

Oh man, we refuse to use them as unit tests because they are so awful and unit tests are 70% of their grade. Some of them are only 10 MC questions and half of them reference extensions! We are still giving our own hand written tests on paper/pencil (not multiple choice), and give the PM as a review day activity, but it takes them an hour to do the questions most units. We've eliminated true review days when we can, but sometimes they need more (and the PM can't be done at home).

I'm not worried, we will totally finish everything by June, but it won't be done by May 1 when SOLs/AP/IB/etc starts.

Does not finishing everything by early May put the students at a disadvantage come test time, in your opinion?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone explain why Orthodox Good Friday is a holiday in 2025-2026 and an O day in 2026-2027?

It makes the week after Spring Break this year really strange. They have Monday as a TW and then Friday as a holiday.

There's no rational reason for it.

Embrace it then. Take a nice two week spring break.

Your kid is going to be as dumb as you are.

Insults are usually a substitute for thinking.

Sorry, I call it like I see it.

Now someone is dumb for taking a two week spring break with their family?

Again an emotional, dramatic, ridiculous, and hilarious response.

Oh good, Mrs Dramatic is back.

Go away, you add nothing.

I am going away... on a two week vacation with my family during spring break and the week after.

Praying every night that my kids aren't going to be intellectually deficient for the rest of their existence for missing those 3 days...

It's probably too late for them. Sorry you're not a better parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone explain why Orthodox Good Friday is a holiday in 2025-2026 and an O day in 2026-2027?

It makes the week after Spring Break this year really strange. They have Monday as a TW and then Friday as a holiday.

There's no rational reason for it.

Embrace it then. Take a nice two week spring break.

Your kid is going to be as dumb as you are.

Insults are usually a substitute for thinking.

Sorry, I call it like I see it.

Now someone is dumb for taking a two week spring break with their family?

Again an emotional, dramatic, ridiculous, and hilarious response.

Oh good, Mrs Dramatic is back.

Go away, you add nothing.

I am going away... on a two week vacation with my family during spring break and the week after.

Praying every night that my kids aren't going to be intellectually deficient for the rest of their existence for missing those 3 days...

It's probably too late for them. Sorry you're not a better parent.

Hopefully her scholarship won't be revoked and his 4.3 gpa won't be decimated, but the ocean water will be clear!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone explain why Orthodox Good Friday is a holiday in 2025-2026 and an O day in 2026-2027?

It makes the week after Spring Break this year really strange. They have Monday as a TW and then Friday as a holiday.

There's no rational reason for it.

Embrace it then. Take a nice two week spring break.

Your kid is going to be as dumb as you are.

Insults are usually a substitute for thinking.

Sorry, I call it like I see it.

Now someone is dumb for taking a two week spring break with their family?

Again an emotional, dramatic, ridiculous, and hilarious response.

Oh good, Mrs Dramatic is back.

Go away, you add nothing.

I am going away... on a two week vacation with my family during spring break and the week after.

Praying every night that my kids aren't going to be intellectually deficient for the rest of their existence for missing those 3 days...

It's probably too late for them. Sorry you're not a better parent.

Hopefully her scholarship won't be revoked and his 4.3 gpa won't be decimated, but the ocean water will be clear!

Gee. No way would my kid have wanted to take two weeks away from Senior activities the year she graduated. Lots of things going on in the Spring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone explain why Orthodox Good Friday is a holiday in 2025-2026 and an O day in 2026-2027?

It makes the week after Spring Break this year really strange. They have Monday as a TW and then Friday as a holiday.

It is likely because it allows families to have essentially a two week spring break and only miss four days of schools.

Same with Memorial Day being a five day weekend. Families can take the full week off and only miss two days of school.

I love the schedule!

Why? I am genuinely curious why you don't want your kids learning?

Even on a good week, the amount of content is pretty low. If you ever want to do a deep dive, go and look at the pacing guide. There is nothing that cannot be easily caught up on.

And have you ever been in an ES after SOLs are done? Unless your child failed the SOL and is getting remediation, there is very little of substance happening. Sure, the administration claims that teachers are teaching to parents, but everyone knows that the year is wrapping up.

I agree. The vast majority of core instruction is completed well before the end of the school year. The remaining weeks are largely review, reinforcement, and wrap-up—not essential new content. Any material missed during that period can be caught up quickly, especially for students who are already meeting grade-level expectations.

Secondary math teacher here. I'm unsure how some teachers in other schools are two weeks behind their pacing guide. We've only had a few snowdays. Our department is usually at pace or slightly ahead of where we're supposed to be...

To tack onto this post, High School could end after SOLs in May every single year and kids would be fine. The pacing guide is set up to go so slow that teachers could easily get everything they need to get in before May if they planned accordingly. It's a common topic of discussion in our curriculum team leader meetings. Anything after the SOLs is purely filler and a joke among teachers and students, especially upperclassmen.

Are you forced to assess the performance matters tests this year? That has added an extra day to every single one of our units

Yes, we use the performance matters tests (I thought that was county wide this year). It has replaced our regular unit test day that we would have already been using, so hasn't added any additional time. Performance Matters sucks in general.

Oh man, we refuse to use them as unit tests because they are so awful and unit tests are 70% of their grade. Some of them are only 10 MC questions and half of them reference extensions! We are still giving our own hand written tests on paper/pencil (not multiple choice), and give the PM as a review day activity, but it takes them an hour to do the questions most units. We've eliminated true review days when we can, but sometimes they need more (and the PM can't be done at home).

I'm not worried, we will totally finish everything by June, but it won't be done by May 1 when SOLs/AP/IB/etc starts.

Does not finishing everything by early May put the students at a disadvantage come test time, in your opinion?

No. Not at all. If anything, it helps them instead of rushing and glossing over things, we have time to actually process material and backfill holes from prior classes before pushing forward. The content we have covered (90% of it by the AP exam) is known well. A day of desmos tricks in advisory gets them half the remaining stuff. If they can't pass the test with that, they would not have passed it rushing through everything either.

But the reality is by the time they get to geometry/algebra 2, the SOL is unimportant. They've almost all passed algebra 1, so it's just a box to check vs. necessary for graduation. We pull the dozen kids who actually need to pass the SOL and do some in depth review with them, but the other ones tend to pass fine or not take it at all (depending on age).

In my AP classes, we finish curriculum by the end of march/early april each year. I'm not behind there at all. They have far fewer standards than the SOL classes though, ironically enough. This year we will finish all but 3 days of lessons by spring break. I'm starting exam review during that tiny short week (since I assume attendance will be low) and will hit the last 3 days of lessons mid april. Still buys 3ish additional weeks of review afterward. Post AP exam I have a handful of projects but it's really just fluff time because they are so checked out and their schedule is so spotty with other AP exams and finals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I can't believe I just read all of this. This is... a lot.

The idea that the school board/school system is somehow responsible for easing the financial burden of child care costs (or the costs of ANYTHING outside of school is ludicrous. Your child is your financial responsibility. It's called being a parent. The fact that needs to be explained to people who are currently parents is incredibly sad.

For what it's worth, the Virginia Department of Education has a Child Care Subsidy Program. Explain your circumstance and try applying.

Here is the link for those who actually need it: https://www.childcare.virginia.gov/families/paying-for-child-care

I truly feel bad for the people struggling, but help/solutions are out there beyond hoping that the schoolboard will change the schedule on the sole basis that it financially helps families. Hope isn't a plan. But YOU do need a plan on how to financially be responsible for YOUR child.

The calendar is released well in advance. There are numerous changes YOU can make as a parent for YOUR child to better be able to handle the financial burden of increased childcare needs besides hoping for someone else to help YOU afford YOUR child.

Own? Move to a smaller house with less of a mortgage. Use the savings to offset the increased childcare costs.

Rent? Move to a cheaper apartment. Use the savings to offset the increased childcare costs.

Have a car payment? Sell it and buy a cheaper car. Use the savings to offset the increased childcare costs.

Car paid off? Sell it and buy a used older car. Use the money you made off of your car sale to offset the increased childcare costs.

Eat at home? Shop at cheaper grocery stores and buy in bulk. Use the savings to offset the increased childcare costs.

Eat out? Eat out a few times less per month. Use the savings to offset the increased childcare costs.

These are just a few of MANY solutions/sacrifices that YOU as a parent should be willing to make to financially support YOUR child.

Are these difficult changes? Yes, and I'm sure there will be lots of arguments why they're preposterous ideas to some and how they shouldn't have to make them. But again, it's YOUR child and YOU should be willing to do anything to be able to financially provide the best YOU can.

The hard truth is, if it was that important of an issue or was really hurting your pockets that much, you would. But it's easier to anonymously complain on the internet, send some emails to your school board politicians, and rely on hope.

I'm so happy your husband can afford to pay your nanny.

My wife and I pay child care for three kids. Both work full time. I almost six figures pretax and my wife makes less than 50k pretax. We factor childcare expenses into our budget at the beginning of the school year and put that money in a separate account each paycheck. We utilize the school calendar to know what random days we’ll need extra care and factor in 11 days extra for each of the potential snow days. If we don’t have the snow days, we put the excess money towards our family vacation in the summer.

We’re not rich by any means for this area, but we make it work. Some years we have more money left over, some we have less. Some months we eat out more, some months we eat out less. We chose to have 3 kids and their wellbeing comes first. The last thing we’re going to do is consider them or their needs a financial burden. It’s just part of being their parents.

So what would you do with an extra $5000 this year?

Presumably, as good parents, it would go to help your kids, right?

What is it that an erratic calendar does that is worth $5000 to you?

An extra $5000? Currently we’d put it towards a low cost starter car for our oldest. She’ll be getting her license soon and it would help us all if she had her own vehicle to drive. She already has a job she’s been saving money at for insurance, gas, and property taxes, but having her able to drive there herself and help with her siblings needs would be beneficial to herself and the whole family.

So why is supporting an erratic calendar, and resisting any efforts for elected officials to be accountable to the priorities of their constituents more important than your oldest getting a car?

Well, for starters, changing the current calendar would not save my family $5000 a year.

Right, I imagine as the parent of someone approaching driving age that is the case. If you can put yourself in the position of people with elementary age children, why should they support an erratic Calendar – – which does cost many of them $5000 or more per year— instead of advocating for better for their families?

I have two elementary aged children…

I’m just a firm believer that I should not expect the public school system / the politicians on the school board to help ME financially support MY children. It’s really that simple.

Except...you think their educations should be free and most likely hit certain standards that are completely unrelatable for most of the United States. It was not that long ago that having children meant you would pay school fees and it most of the world, it's still like that. So you DO expect public offices to support your children financially. Stop pretending because you don't want one specific change that you are carrying the entire financial burden of having children yourself.

I actually vehemently disagree with literally all of what you say I think. I would happily pay school fees, another way for me to help financially contribute to my children (not the other way around). I’m also incredibly realistic about the education they receive in FCPS and what standards FCPS should uphold financially and ethically, but thanks for telling me what I think.

I’m sure you make your spouse incredibly happy with that trait!

But you don't. You could pay and go to private school but you choose not to pay. You could be an amazing citizen and pay your taxes to support broader education in society and pay more to contribute more to your children's future. But you don't.

Fortunately, our kids enjoy their public schools. We asked when our oldest was younger if she wanted to attend a private school, but she was uninterested. If she did, we’d do everything we could to make it work. I suppose we’ll ask our younger children when they get a little older, but they’re doing great at their current elementary school and I doubt they’ll want to leave their friends.

We pay our fair share of taxes. We choose to contribute our extra funds to our church, but we make a small donation to our HS sports team every year and are active members of the PTSA and booster club to help raise the funds we can’t afford to donate ourselves.

But you already knew that since you know everything about everyone else!

FCPS cost per pupil is $22,000. Since you don't expect anyone else to pay for your children, how about you take on the full burden of that cost (which is actually mostly shouldered by people without kids using the schools). You know, it's called being a parent.

I'm sure you can make checks payable to Karl Frisch.

Not thinking the school system is responsible for easing the financial burden of child care has certainly triggered some folks here tonight and brought out some interesting takes.

I’m unsure how the opinion that FCPS is not responsible for helping lower my cost of child care OUTSIDE of school is relevant to me taking on the full burden of FCPS’ cost per pupil to be IN school.

Because they set the school day. If FCPS cited some sort of obscure research saying that kids do great if they get one day a month of classroom instruction and the rest of the time they should really be shadowing adults so that's what FCPS is now doing, this board would be up in arms. Why? Because you expect free education and you most likely could not afford it at its current cost otherwise.

But someone who says "this is really different than what I have encountered in my life AND what you did just a few years ago AND what I structured my life and decision to have kids around, please reconsider" is a bad parent and a mooch? When you are also completely dependent on the public education system? I'm really glad you have a part-time job or the money for a au pair or whatever but not everyone who isn't in your situation is doing it wrong.

Lol did you really just say your decision to have kids was based on the FCPS calendar?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[Anonymous]

People on here who love all these breaks and days off and think education should be the minimum required by law are shockingly stupid. I can't even rationalize that they exist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People on here who love all these breaks and days off and think education should be the minimum required by law are shockingly stupid. I can't even rationalize that they exist.

People who freak out over a few missed days are really too stupid to function.