APS no school tomorrow (Wed Apr 10)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They could also get rid of the half days for training and combine those with religious holidays. Make a recording and provide copies of materials available to those who miss the session.

They’re increasing the number of half days next year.

The schedule Halloween week next year is especially stupid. I've been considering just pulling my kids that week as APS has come up with a schedule that makes that week a big waste. It just so stupid. They could move the half day and give everyone a longer weekend, but since when did they use common sense in making a calendar?

Right now it's:
Wednesday= half day for training
Thursday= Halloween
Friday= no school

Why on earth isn't the half day on Thursday??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spring break shouldn’t be connected to Easter.

And we shouldn’t have off for all of these various religious holidays. It’s all or none and I vote none.

Have flexibility around assignments/testing on those days, if absolutely necessary.

+1

Just because a bunch of humans thousands of years ago made up some stories about God and now people still identify with this based on where their ancestors are from (even though we all know deep down that even if there is a God, religion I just a bunch of made up malarkey) doesn’t mean my kids shouldn’t go to school today. A Wednesday off is so disruptive to the school week and can’t be made into a long weekend. My SN kid was really out of sorts this morning from the change in schedule and I had to pay nearly $500 out of pocket on camps in order to work because a holiday I don’t even celebrate.

I think I could stomach it better if it were cited as a staffing issue (for instance I know there have been bus driver shortages during orthodox Easter). Because then I’m being inconvenienced for a rational, statistical decision regarding school operations.

But being out a bunch of money and dealing with a morning kid meltdown so someone else can practice their religion (I am not religious so I do not seek any sort of inconvenience from others for this purpose) just grates.

And totally agree about separating SB and Easter. I also don’t want to pay higher airfare just so people can travel to take their family photos and post “He Is Risen” all over their FB feeds.

If people want a school year that acknowledges their religion then choose a religious based school. The end.

You're fine with accommodations due to staffing issues because of people observing their religious holidays, but not closing school for religious holidays because of staffing issues from people observing their religious holidays. Got it.

No, I’m okay with accommodations due to staffing issues (which could be related to religious leave).

I’m not okay with days off to recognize religious holidays in some misguided attempt for APS to legitimize religious beliefs. And I think most people agree with this even if they won’t admit because there are a total of 10k+ religions in the world and we are not closing down schools for all of these. Clearly there is an unstated threshold for recognizing a holiday. I would like APS to actually bother having a policy regarding this rather than just pick and choose religious holidays based on some nebulous decision about which holidays matter. It’s not the school’s place to decide this and it opens the door to other groups claiming they are being marginalized.

Bottom line, schools should look at operational metrics, not the merits of religious holidays, and try to consolidate days off to minimize disruption to families.

APE has entered the room. lol

This attitude, right here, is why APS is so messed up. Someone says decisions should be made on operational grounds, with clear policies guiding those decision, and your response is "lol Trumper MAGAT". APS can do no wrong, and anyone who thinks it can do better is somehow a bigot. Deep down, you think that APS belongs to you, and because you think yourself a good person, anyone who disagrees with you must be not just a bad person, but the worst sort of person you can imagine.

It's pretty obvious what the outcome is going to be. Things are going to continue to get crummier until it's too obvious to deny anymore and enough people will come around to actually start fixing things rather than forming a circle and singing "Kum-bah-yah" in the face of any failures. And once it does happen people are going to pretend that they agreed with the critics all along. You won't be able to find a single person willing to admit they were wrong.

But that process will take years, and have real impacts on students' lives and learning. It would be nice if we could skip the years-long decline in school system performance and talk about those issues now rather than have to wait until APS' partisan defenders are too embarrassed to keep defending it.

DP.

Maybe if APE weren’t incessantly disparaging APS we could have reasonable discussions and push APS in some areas. But APE is drowning out everyone else to foster discourse and position for their political objectives (vouchers seem likely). They are utilizing the Bannon “flood the zone” approach with complaints, requests, and whining. Infiltrating committees and the SB.

Given all of that, it’s understandable that the PP read the comment as more of the nonstop APE crap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spring break shouldn’t be connected to Easter.

And we shouldn’t have off for all of these various religious holidays. It’s all or none and I vote none.

Have flexibility around assignments/testing on those days, if absolutely necessary.

+1

Just because a bunch of humans thousands of years ago made up some stories about God and now people still identify with this based on where their ancestors are from (even though we all know deep down that even if there is a God, religion I just a bunch of made up malarkey) doesn’t mean my kids shouldn’t go to school today. A Wednesday off is so disruptive to the school week and can’t be made into a long weekend. My SN kid was really out of sorts this morning from the change in schedule and I had to pay nearly $500 out of pocket on camps in order to work because a holiday I don’t even celebrate.

I think I could stomach it better if it were cited as a staffing issue (for instance I know there have been bus driver shortages during orthodox Easter). Because then I’m being inconvenienced for a rational, statistical decision regarding school operations.

But being out a bunch of money and dealing with a morning kid meltdown so someone else can practice their religion (I am not religious so I do not seek any sort of inconvenience from others for this purpose) just grates.

And totally agree about separating SB and Easter. I also don’t want to pay higher airfare just so people can travel to take their family photos and post “He Is Risen” all over their FB feeds.

If people want a school year that acknowledges their religion then choose a religious based school. The end.

You're fine with accommodations due to staffing issues because of people observing their religious holidays, but not closing school for religious holidays because of staffing issues from people observing their religious holidays. Got it.

No, I’m okay with accommodations due to staffing issues (which could be related to religious leave).

I’m not okay with days off to recognize religious holidays in some misguided attempt for APS to legitimize religious beliefs. And I think most people agree with this even if they won’t admit because there are a total of 10k+ religions in the world and we are not closing down schools for all of these. Clearly there is an unstated threshold for recognizing a holiday. I would like APS to actually bother having a policy regarding this rather than just pick and choose religious holidays based on some nebulous decision about which holidays matter. It’s not the school’s place to decide this and it opens the door to other groups claiming they are being marginalized.

Bottom line, schools should look at operational metrics, not the merits of religious holidays, and try to consolidate days off to minimize disruption to families.

APE has entered the room. lol

This attitude, right here, is why APS is so messed up. Someone says decisions should be made on operational grounds, with clear policies guiding those decision, and your response is "lol Trumper MAGAT". APS can do no wrong, and anyone who thinks it can do better is somehow a bigot. Deep down, you think that APS belongs to you, and because you think yourself a good person, anyone who disagrees with you must be not just a bad person, but the worst sort of person you can imagine.

It's pretty obvious what the outcome is going to be. Things are going to continue to get crummier until it's too obvious to deny anymore and enough people will come around to actually start fixing things rather than forming a circle and singing "Kum-bah-yah" in the face of any failures. And once it does happen people are going to pretend that they agreed with the critics all along. You won't be able to find a single person willing to admit they were wrong.

But that process will take years, and have real impacts on students' lives and learning. It would be nice if we could skip the years-long decline in school system performance and talk about those issues now rather than have to wait until APS' partisan defenders are too embarrassed to keep defending it.

DP.

Maybe if APE weren’t incessantly disparaging APS we could have reasonable discussions and push APS in some areas. But APE is drowning out everyone else to foster discourse and position for their political objectives (vouchers seem likely). They are utilizing the Bannon “flood the zone” approach with complaints, requests, and whining. Infiltrating committees and the SB.

Given all of that, it’s understandable that the PP read the comment as more of the nonstop APE crap.

I’m the PP whose comment is being discussed and I’m not part of APE.

Letting the existence of a third party (which has apparently become synonymous with political ideology for many people) shut down discourse about APS policies is not a good place for us to be in.

I think a PP had a good point that we’re continuing to use partisan politics as a lens for how we discuss decisions made by our local school system and it’s chilling people’s ability to criticize or questions decisions that are being made in fear of being called MAGA Trumper.

[Anonymous]

I really don't think this has anything to do with APE. I think where parents get frustrated is that Syphax is setting the schedule based on different priorities than parents.

Parent priorities:
(1) Schedule with fewer gaps to support student learning
(2) Consolidated/fewer breaks to simplify childcare and allow for some weekend/holiday travel/longer summers
(3) Consistency so the schedule isn't always changing and people can plan

School district priorities:
(1) Matching Fairfax
(2) Support of diverse groups by providing religious holidays
(3) Time off for teacher training and grading
(4) Avoiding operational complications like election day
(5) Teacher sentiment

Consistency and fewer random days off isn't considered. It would be great if APS considered parent/family priorities, but it doesn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spring break shouldn’t be connected to Easter.

And we shouldn’t have off for all of these various religious holidays. It’s all or none and I vote none.

Have flexibility around assignments/testing on those days, if absolutely necessary.

+1

Just because a bunch of humans thousands of years ago made up some stories about God and now people still identify with this based on where their ancestors are from (even though we all know deep down that even if there is a God, religion I just a bunch of made up malarkey) doesn’t mean my kids shouldn’t go to school today. A Wednesday off is so disruptive to the school week and can’t be made into a long weekend. My SN kid was really out of sorts this morning from the change in schedule and I had to pay nearly $500 out of pocket on camps in order to work because a holiday I don’t even celebrate.

I think I could stomach it better if it were cited as a staffing issue (for instance I know there have been bus driver shortages during orthodox Easter). Because then I’m being inconvenienced for a rational, statistical decision regarding school operations.

But being out a bunch of money and dealing with a morning kid meltdown so someone else can practice their religion (I am not religious so I do not seek any sort of inconvenience from others for this purpose) just grates.

And totally agree about separating SB and Easter. I also don’t want to pay higher airfare just so people can travel to take their family photos and post “He Is Risen” all over their FB feeds.

If people want a school year that acknowledges their religion then choose a religious based school. The end.

You're fine with accommodations due to staffing issues because of people observing their religious holidays, but not closing school for religious holidays because of staffing issues from people observing their religious holidays. Got it.

No, I’m okay with accommodations due to staffing issues (which could be related to religious leave).

I’m not okay with days off to recognize religious holidays in some misguided attempt for APS to legitimize religious beliefs. And I think most people agree with this even if they won’t admit because there are a total of 10k+ religions in the world and we are not closing down schools for all of these. Clearly there is an unstated threshold for recognizing a holiday. I would like APS to actually bother having a policy regarding this rather than just pick and choose religious holidays based on some nebulous decision about which holidays matter. It’s not the school’s place to decide this and it opens the door to other groups claiming they are being marginalized.

Bottom line, schools should look at operational metrics, not the merits of religious holidays, and try to consolidate days off to minimize disruption to families.

APE has entered the room. lol

This attitude, right here, is why APS is so messed up. Someone says decisions should be made on operational grounds, with clear policies guiding those decision, and your response is "lol Trumper MAGAT". APS can do no wrong, and anyone who thinks it can do better is somehow a bigot. Deep down, you think that APS belongs to you, and because you think yourself a good person, anyone who disagrees with you must be not just a bad person, but the worst sort of person you can imagine.

It's pretty obvious what the outcome is going to be. Things are going to continue to get crummier until it's too obvious to deny anymore and enough people will come around to actually start fixing things rather than forming a circle and singing "Kum-bah-yah" in the face of any failures. And once it does happen people are going to pretend that they agreed with the critics all along. You won't be able to find a single person willing to admit they were wrong.

But that process will take years, and have real impacts on students' lives and learning. It would be nice if we could skip the years-long decline in school system performance and talk about those issues now rather than have to wait until APS' partisan defenders are too embarrassed to keep defending it.

DP.

Maybe if APE weren’t incessantly disparaging APS we could have reasonable discussions and push APS in some areas. But APE is drowning out everyone else to foster discourse and position for their political objectives (vouchers seem likely). They are utilizing the Bannon “flood the zone” approach with complaints, requests, and whining. Infiltrating committees and the SB.

Given all of that, it’s understandable that the PP read the comment as more of the nonstop APE crap.

I’m the PP whose comment is being discussed and I’m not part of APE.

Letting the existence of a third party (which has apparently become synonymous with political ideology for many people) shut down discourse about APS policies is not a good place for us to be in.

I think a PP had a good point that we’re continuing to use partisan politics as a lens for how we discuss decisions made by our local school system and it’s chilling people’s ability to criticize or questions decisions that are being made in fear of being called MAGA Trumper.

Hopefully APE will STFU so the rest of us who actually want APS to succeed can continue to advocate without that noise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spring break shouldn’t be connected to Easter.

And we shouldn’t have off for all of these various religious holidays. It’s all or none and I vote none.

Have flexibility around assignments/testing on those days, if absolutely necessary.

+1

Just because a bunch of humans thousands of years ago made up some stories about God and now people still identify with this based on where their ancestors are from (even though we all know deep down that even if there is a God, religion I just a bunch of made up malarkey) doesn’t mean my kids shouldn’t go to school today. A Wednesday off is so disruptive to the school week and can’t be made into a long weekend. My SN kid was really out of sorts this morning from the change in schedule and I had to pay nearly $500 out of pocket on camps in order to work because a holiday I don’t even celebrate.

I think I could stomach it better if it were cited as a staffing issue (for instance I know there have been bus driver shortages during orthodox Easter). Because then I’m being inconvenienced for a rational, statistical decision regarding school operations.

But being out a bunch of money and dealing with a morning kid meltdown so someone else can practice their religion (I am not religious so I do not seek any sort of inconvenience from others for this purpose) just grates.

And totally agree about separating SB and Easter. I also don’t want to pay higher airfare just so people can travel to take their family photos and post “He Is Risen” all over their FB feeds.

If people want a school year that acknowledges their religion then choose a religious based school. The end.

You're fine with accommodations due to staffing issues because of people observing their religious holidays, but not closing school for religious holidays because of staffing issues from people observing their religious holidays. Got it.

No, I’m okay with accommodations due to staffing issues (which could be related to religious leave).

I’m not okay with days off to recognize religious holidays in some misguided attempt for APS to legitimize religious beliefs. And I think most people agree with this even if they won’t admit because there are a total of 10k+ religions in the world and we are not closing down schools for all of these. Clearly there is an unstated threshold for recognizing a holiday. I would like APS to actually bother having a policy regarding this rather than just pick and choose religious holidays based on some nebulous decision about which holidays matter. It’s not the school’s place to decide this and it opens the door to other groups claiming they are being marginalized.

Bottom line, schools should look at operational metrics, not the merits of religious holidays, and try to consolidate days off to minimize disruption to families.

APE has entered the room. lol

This attitude, right here, is why APS is so messed up. Someone says decisions should be made on operational grounds, with clear policies guiding those decision, and your response is "lol Trumper MAGAT". APS can do no wrong, and anyone who thinks it can do better is somehow a bigot. Deep down, you think that APS belongs to you, and because you think yourself a good person, anyone who disagrees with you must be not just a bad person, but the worst sort of person you can imagine.

It's pretty obvious what the outcome is going to be. Things are going to continue to get crummier until it's too obvious to deny anymore and enough people will come around to actually start fixing things rather than forming a circle and singing "Kum-bah-yah" in the face of any failures. And once it does happen people are going to pretend that they agreed with the critics all along. You won't be able to find a single person willing to admit they were wrong.

But that process will take years, and have real impacts on students' lives and learning. It would be nice if we could skip the years-long decline in school system performance and talk about those issues now rather than have to wait until APS' partisan defenders are too embarrassed to keep defending it.

DP.

Maybe if APE weren’t incessantly disparaging APS we could have reasonable discussions and push APS in some areas. But APE is drowning out everyone else to foster discourse and position for their political objectives (vouchers seem likely). They are utilizing the Bannon “flood the zone” approach with complaints, requests, and whining. Infiltrating committees and the SB.

Given all of that, it’s understandable that the PP read the comment as more of the nonstop APE crap.

I’m the PP whose comment is being discussed and I’m not part of APE.

Letting the existence of a third party (which has apparently become synonymous with political ideology for many people) shut down discourse about APS policies is not a good place for us to be in.

I think a PP had a good point that we’re continuing to use partisan politics as a lens for how we discuss decisions made by our local school system and it’s chilling people’s ability to criticize or questions decisions that are being made in fear of being called MAGA Trumper.

This is what happens when Republicans make our schools a political war zone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS calendar is terrible with all these choppy weeks

Horrendous

I think APS needs to offer extended day coverage at schools on these single days off like Fairfax County does. It would make working parents' lives so much easier.

School isn't day care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Attendance is important though. Ha. We really couldn’t consolidate today’s holiday with the grading day?

It's a religious holiday so no. APS doesn't control when Eid al-Fitr is. No one has an issue when Christmas falls in the middle of the week and we build spring break around easter every single year, I don't think it is THAT much of a burden to have ONE day off a year so that students of another major religion get some protected time with their families where they aren't missing content etc. for one major holiday. I am Christian, for the record. Yes it is annoying how it falls with the grading period, it has felt like a lot lately. But I don't think the general premise is flawed.

Except, this is a Christian country. There's hardly anyone in this country who celebrates Eid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Attendance is important though. Ha. We really couldn’t consolidate today’s holiday with the grading day?

It's a religious holiday so no. APS doesn't control when Eid al-Fitr is. No one has an issue when Christmas falls in the middle of the week and we build spring break around easter every single year, I don't think it is THAT much of a burden to have ONE day off a year so that students of another major religion get some protected time with their families where they aren't missing content etc. for one major holiday. I am Christian, for the record. Yes it is annoying how it falls with the grading period, it has felt like a lot lately. But I don't think the general premise is flawed.

Except, this is a Christian country. There's hardly anyone in this country who celebrates Eid.

BULLCRAP. It’s a secular country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spring break shouldn’t be connected to Easter.

And we shouldn’t have off for all of these various religious holidays. It’s all or none and I vote none.

Have flexibility around assignments/testing on those days, if absolutely necessary.

+1

Just because a bunch of humans thousands of years ago made up some stories about God and now people still identify with this based on where their ancestors are from (even though we all know deep down that even if there is a God, religion I just a bunch of made up malarkey) doesn’t mean my kids shouldn’t go to school today. A Wednesday off is so disruptive to the school week and can’t be made into a long weekend. My SN kid was really out of sorts this morning from the change in schedule and I had to pay nearly $500 out of pocket on camps in order to work because a holiday I don’t even celebrate.

I think I could stomach it better if it were cited as a staffing issue (for instance I know there have been bus driver shortages during orthodox Easter). Because then I’m being inconvenienced for a rational, statistical decision regarding school operations.

But being out a bunch of money and dealing with a morning kid meltdown so someone else can practice their religion (I am not religious so I do not seek any sort of inconvenience from others for this purpose) just grates.

And totally agree about separating SB and Easter. I also don’t want to pay higher airfare just so people can travel to take their family photos and post “He Is Risen” all over their FB feeds.

If people want a school year that acknowledges their religion then choose a religious based school. The end.

You're fine with accommodations due to staffing issues because of people observing their religious holidays, but not closing school for religious holidays because of staffing issues from people observing their religious holidays. Got it.

No, I’m okay with accommodations due to staffing issues (which could be related to religious leave).

I’m not okay with days off to recognize religious holidays in some misguided attempt for APS to legitimize religious beliefs. And I think most people agree with this even if they won’t admit because there are a total of 10k+ religions in the world and we are not closing down schools for all of these. Clearly there is an unstated threshold for recognizing a holiday. I would like APS to actually bother having a policy regarding this rather than just pick and choose religious holidays based on some nebulous decision about which holidays matter. It’s not the school’s place to decide this and it opens the door to other groups claiming they are being marginalized.

Bottom line, schools should look at operational metrics, not the merits of religious holidays, and try to consolidate days off to minimize disruption to families.

APE has entered the room. lol

This attitude, right here, is why APS is so messed up. Someone says decisions should be made on operational grounds, with clear policies guiding those decision, and your response is "lol Trumper MAGAT". APS can do no wrong, and anyone who thinks it can do better is somehow a bigot. Deep down, you think that APS belongs to you, and because you think yourself a good person, anyone who disagrees with you must be not just a bad person, but the worst sort of person you can imagine.

It's pretty obvious what the outcome is going to be. Things are going to continue to get crummier until it's too obvious to deny anymore and enough people will come around to actually start fixing things rather than forming a circle and singing "Kum-bah-yah" in the face of any failures. And once it does happen people are going to pretend that they agreed with the critics all along. You won't be able to find a single person willing to admit they were wrong.

But that process will take years, and have real impacts on students' lives and learning. It would be nice if we could skip the years-long decline in school system performance and talk about those issues now rather than have to wait until APS' partisan defenders are too embarrassed to keep defending it.

DP.

Maybe if APE weren’t incessantly disparaging APS we could have reasonable discussions and push APS in some areas. But APE is drowning out everyone else to foster discourse and position for their political objectives (vouchers seem likely). They are utilizing the Bannon “flood the zone” approach with complaints, requests, and whining. Infiltrating committees and the SB.

Given all of that, it’s understandable that the PP read the comment as more of the nonstop APE crap.

I’m the PP whose comment is being discussed and I’m not part of APE.

Letting the existence of a third party (which has apparently become synonymous with political ideology for many people) shut down discourse about APS policies is not a good place for us to be in.

I think a PP had a good point that we’re continuing to use partisan politics as a lens for how we discuss decisions made by our local school system and it’s chilling people’s ability to criticize or questions decisions that are being made in fear of being called MAGA Trumper.

This is what happens when Republicans make our schools a political war zone.

It is not the Republican's fault that the APS scheduled Halloween week next year to have an early release on the 30th, Halloween on the 31st, and Diwali on Nov 1st. That Wed-Fri stretch is immediately followed by the next Tuesday off for election day Nov 5. Less than a week later we have Veteran's Day on the 11.

There is 1 full week of school in October and 1 full week of school in November and then APS wonders why so many kids are chronically absent. You can blame plenty of things on the Republicans but this schedule is 100% on deep blue APS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spring break shouldn’t be connected to Easter.

And we shouldn’t have off for all of these various religious holidays. It’s all or none and I vote none.

Have flexibility around assignments/testing on those days, if absolutely necessary.

+1

Just because a bunch of humans thousands of years ago made up some stories about God and now people still identify with this based on where their ancestors are from (even though we all know deep down that even if there is a God, religion I just a bunch of made up malarkey) doesn’t mean my kids shouldn’t go to school today. A Wednesday off is so disruptive to the school week and can’t be made into a long weekend. My SN kid was really out of sorts this morning from the change in schedule and I had to pay nearly $500 out of pocket on camps in order to work because a holiday I don’t even celebrate.

I think I could stomach it better if it were cited as a staffing issue (for instance I know there have been bus driver shortages during orthodox Easter). Because then I’m being inconvenienced for a rational, statistical decision regarding school operations.

But being out a bunch of money and dealing with a morning kid meltdown so someone else can practice their religion (I am not religious so I do not seek any sort of inconvenience from others for this purpose) just grates.

And totally agree about separating SB and Easter. I also don’t want to pay higher airfare just so people can travel to take their family photos and post “He Is Risen” all over their FB feeds.

If people want a school year that acknowledges their religion then choose a religious based school. The end.

You're fine with accommodations due to staffing issues because of people observing their religious holidays, but not closing school for religious holidays because of staffing issues from people observing their religious holidays. Got it.

No, I’m okay with accommodations due to staffing issues (which could be related to religious leave).

I’m not okay with days off to recognize religious holidays in some misguided attempt for APS to legitimize religious beliefs. And I think most people agree with this even if they won’t admit because there are a total of 10k+ religions in the world and we are not closing down schools for all of these. Clearly there is an unstated threshold for recognizing a holiday. I would like APS to actually bother having a policy regarding this rather than just pick and choose religious holidays based on some nebulous decision about which holidays matter. It’s not the school’s place to decide this and it opens the door to other groups claiming they are being marginalized.

Bottom line, schools should look at operational metrics, not the merits of religious holidays, and try to consolidate days off to minimize disruption to families.

APE has entered the room. lol

This attitude, right here, is why APS is so messed up. Someone says decisions should be made on operational grounds, with clear policies guiding those decision, and your response is "lol Trumper MAGAT". APS can do no wrong, and anyone who thinks it can do better is somehow a bigot. Deep down, you think that APS belongs to you, and because you think yourself a good person, anyone who disagrees with you must be not just a bad person, but the worst sort of person you can imagine.

It's pretty obvious what the outcome is going to be. Things are going to continue to get crummier until it's too obvious to deny anymore and enough people will come around to actually start fixing things rather than forming a circle and singing "Kum-bah-yah" in the face of any failures. And once it does happen people are going to pretend that they agreed with the critics all along. You won't be able to find a single person willing to admit they were wrong.

But that process will take years, and have real impacts on students' lives and learning. It would be nice if we could skip the years-long decline in school system performance and talk about those issues now rather than have to wait until APS' partisan defenders are too embarrassed to keep defending it.

DP.

Maybe if APE weren’t incessantly disparaging APS we could have reasonable discussions and push APS in some areas. But APE is drowning out everyone else to foster discourse and position for their political objectives (vouchers seem likely). They are utilizing the Bannon “flood the zone” approach with complaints, requests, and whining. Infiltrating committees and the SB.

Given all of that, it’s understandable that the PP read the comment as more of the nonstop APE crap.

I’m the PP whose comment is being discussed and I’m not part of APE.

Letting the existence of a third party (which has apparently become synonymous with political ideology for many people) shut down discourse about APS policies is not a good place for us to be in.

I think a PP had a good point that we’re continuing to use partisan politics as a lens for how we discuss decisions made by our local school system and it’s chilling people’s ability to criticize or questions decisions that are being made in fear of being called MAGA Trumper.

This is what happens when Republicans make our schools a political war zone.

It is not the Republican's fault that the APS scheduled Halloween week next year to have an early release on the 30th, Halloween on the 31st, and Diwali on Nov 1st. That Wed-Fri stretch is immediately followed by the next Tuesday off for election day Nov 5. Less than a week later we have Veteran's Day on the 11.

There is 1 full week of school in October and 1 full week of school in November and then APS wonders why so many kids are chronically absent. You can blame plenty of things on the Republicans but this schedule is 100% on deep blue APS.

It's not red or blue, it's just a lack of common sense. Why on earth can't teacher training take place on election day? Cut that half day for training and consolidate it with a day off the following week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Attendance is important though. Ha. We really couldn’t consolidate today’s holiday with the grading day?

It's a religious holiday so no. APS doesn't control when Eid al-Fitr is. No one has an issue when Christmas falls in the middle of the week and we build spring break around easter every single year, I don't think it is THAT much of a burden to have ONE day off a year so that students of another major religion get some protected time with their families where they aren't missing content etc. for one major holiday. I am Christian, for the record. Yes it is annoying how it falls with the grading period, it has felt like a lot lately. But I don't think the general premise is flawed.

Except, this is a Christian country. There's hardly anyone in this country who celebrates Eid.

I weep for your subpar childhood education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spring break shouldn’t be connected to Easter.

And we shouldn’t have off for all of these various religious holidays. It’s all or none and I vote none.

Have flexibility around assignments/testing on those days, if absolutely necessary.

+1

Just because a bunch of humans thousands of years ago made up some stories about God and now people still identify with this based on where their ancestors are from (even though we all know deep down that even if there is a God, religion I just a bunch of made up malarkey) doesn’t mean my kids shouldn’t go to school today. A Wednesday off is so disruptive to the school week and can’t be made into a long weekend. My SN kid was really out of sorts this morning from the change in schedule and I had to pay nearly $500 out of pocket on camps in order to work because a holiday I don’t even celebrate.

I think I could stomach it better if it were cited as a staffing issue (for instance I know there have been bus driver shortages during orthodox Easter). Because then I’m being inconvenienced for a rational, statistical decision regarding school operations.

But being out a bunch of money and dealing with a morning kid meltdown so someone else can practice their religion (I am not religious so I do not seek any sort of inconvenience from others for this purpose) just grates.

And totally agree about separating SB and Easter. I also don’t want to pay higher airfare just so people can travel to take their family photos and post “He Is Risen” all over their FB feeds.

If people want a school year that acknowledges their religion then choose a religious based school. The end.

You're fine with accommodations due to staffing issues because of people observing their religious holidays, but not closing school for religious holidays because of staffing issues from people observing their religious holidays. Got it.

No, I’m okay with accommodations due to staffing issues (which could be related to religious leave).

I’m not okay with days off to recognize religious holidays in some misguided attempt for APS to legitimize religious beliefs. And I think most people agree with this even if they won’t admit because there are a total of 10k+ religions in the world and we are not closing down schools for all of these. Clearly there is an unstated threshold for recognizing a holiday. I would like APS to actually bother having a policy regarding this rather than just pick and choose religious holidays based on some nebulous decision about which holidays matter. It’s not the school’s place to decide this and it opens the door to other groups claiming they are being marginalized.

Bottom line, schools should look at operational metrics, not the merits of religious holidays, and try to consolidate days off to minimize disruption to families.

APE has entered the room. lol

This attitude, right here, is why APS is so messed up. Someone says decisions should be made on operational grounds, with clear policies guiding those decision, and your response is "lol Trumper MAGAT". APS can do no wrong, and anyone who thinks it can do better is somehow a bigot. Deep down, you think that APS belongs to you, and because you think yourself a good person, anyone who disagrees with you must be not just a bad person, but the worst sort of person you can imagine.

It's pretty obvious what the outcome is going to be. Things are going to continue to get crummier until it's too obvious to deny anymore and enough people will come around to actually start fixing things rather than forming a circle and singing "Kum-bah-yah" in the face of any failures. And once it does happen people are going to pretend that they agreed with the critics all along. You won't be able to find a single person willing to admit they were wrong.

But that process will take years, and have real impacts on students' lives and learning. It would be nice if we could skip the years-long decline in school system performance and talk about those issues now rather than have to wait until APS' partisan defenders are too embarrassed to keep defending it.

DP.

Maybe if APE weren’t incessantly disparaging APS we could have reasonable discussions and push APS in some areas. But APE is drowning out everyone else to foster discourse and position for their political objectives (vouchers seem likely). They are utilizing the Bannon “flood the zone” approach with complaints, requests, and whining. Infiltrating committees and the SB.

Given all of that, it’s understandable that the PP read the comment as more of the nonstop APE crap.

I’m the PP whose comment is being discussed and I’m not part of APE.

Letting the existence of a third party (which has apparently become synonymous with political ideology for many people) shut down discourse about APS policies is not a good place for us to be in.

I think a PP had a good point that we’re continuing to use partisan politics as a lens for how we discuss decisions made by our local school system and it’s chilling people’s ability to criticize or questions decisions that are being made in fear of being called MAGA Trumper.

This is what happens when Republicans make our schools a political war zone.

It is not the Republican's fault that the APS scheduled Halloween week next year to have an early release on the 30th, Halloween on the 31st, and Diwali on Nov 1st. That Wed-Fri stretch is immediately followed by the next Tuesday off for election day Nov 5. Less than a week later we have Veteran's Day on the 11.

There is 1 full week of school in October and 1 full week of school in November and then APS wonders why so many kids are chronically absent. You can blame plenty of things on the Republicans but this schedule is 100% on deep blue APS.

+1

And why is there a grade prep day on Monday? If we had to take Wed off for Eid then make GP day on Tues or Thurs.

Instead of dropping $1k on camps (it’s about $250/day per kid for camp with aftercare, so 2 days x 2 kids), my family could have used that money toward going away for a couple nights. And more importantly there wouldn’t be so many disruptions to the school week.

I’ll add regarding the underlying issue of religion though, if this is a basis to close school for a day, then why are kids allowed to have athletics, clubs, dances, etc. over the weekends despite some religions having sabbath those days? What about religions that disagree with coed events or trans rights?

I just cannot believe that so many liberals have glommed onto religion in secular schools as a cause and that if you have concerns about it you’re considered MAGA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spring break shouldn’t be connected to Easter.

And we shouldn’t have off for all of these various religious holidays. It’s all or none and I vote none.

Have flexibility around assignments/testing on those days, if absolutely necessary.

+1

Just because a bunch of humans thousands of years ago made up some stories about God and now people still identify with this based on where their ancestors are from (even though we all know deep down that even if there is a God, religion I just a bunch of made up malarkey) doesn’t mean my kids shouldn’t go to school today. A Wednesday off is so disruptive to the school week and can’t be made into a long weekend. My SN kid was really out of sorts this morning from the change in schedule and I had to pay nearly $500 out of pocket on camps in order to work because a holiday I don’t even celebrate.

I think I could stomach it better if it were cited as a staffing issue (for instance I know there have been bus driver shortages during orthodox Easter). Because then I’m being inconvenienced for a rational, statistical decision regarding school operations.

But being out a bunch of money and dealing with a morning kid meltdown so someone else can practice their religion (I am not religious so I do not seek any sort of inconvenience from others for this purpose) just grates.

And totally agree about separating SB and Easter. I also don’t want to pay higher airfare just so people can travel to take their family photos and post “He Is Risen” all over their FB feeds.

If people want a school year that acknowledges their religion then choose a religious based school. The end.

You're fine with accommodations due to staffing issues because of people observing their religious holidays, but not closing school for religious holidays because of staffing issues from people observing their religious holidays. Got it.

No, I’m okay with accommodations due to staffing issues (which could be related to religious leave).

I’m not okay with days off to recognize religious holidays in some misguided attempt for APS to legitimize religious beliefs. And I think most people agree with this even if they won’t admit because there are a total of 10k+ religions in the world and we are not closing down schools for all of these. Clearly there is an unstated threshold for recognizing a holiday. I would like APS to actually bother having a policy regarding this rather than just pick and choose religious holidays based on some nebulous decision about which holidays matter. It’s not the school’s place to decide this and it opens the door to other groups claiming they are being marginalized.

Bottom line, schools should look at operational metrics, not the merits of religious holidays, and try to consolidate days off to minimize disruption to families.

APE has entered the room. lol

This attitude, right here, is why APS is so messed up. Someone says decisions should be made on operational grounds, with clear policies guiding those decision, and your response is "lol Trumper MAGAT". APS can do no wrong, and anyone who thinks it can do better is somehow a bigot. Deep down, you think that APS belongs to you, and because you think yourself a good person, anyone who disagrees with you must be not just a bad person, but the worst sort of person you can imagine.

It's pretty obvious what the outcome is going to be. Things are going to continue to get crummier until it's too obvious to deny anymore and enough people will come around to actually start fixing things rather than forming a circle and singing "Kum-bah-yah" in the face of any failures. And once it does happen people are going to pretend that they agreed with the critics all along. You won't be able to find a single person willing to admit they were wrong.

But that process will take years, and have real impacts on students' lives and learning. It would be nice if we could skip the years-long decline in school system performance and talk about those issues now rather than have to wait until APS' partisan defenders are too embarrassed to keep defending it.

DP.

Maybe if APE weren’t incessantly disparaging APS we could have reasonable discussions and push APS in some areas. But APE is drowning out everyone else to foster discourse and position for their political objectives (vouchers seem likely). They are utilizing the Bannon “flood the zone” approach with complaints, requests, and whining. Infiltrating committees and the SB.

Given all of that, it’s understandable that the PP read the comment as more of the nonstop APE crap.

I’m the PP whose comment is being discussed and I’m not part of APE.

Letting the existence of a third party (which has apparently become synonymous with political ideology for many people) shut down discourse about APS policies is not a good place for us to be in.

I think a PP had a good point that we’re continuing to use partisan politics as a lens for how we discuss decisions made by our local school system and it’s chilling people’s ability to criticize or questions decisions that are being made in fear of being called MAGA Trumper.

Hopefully APE will STFU so the rest of us who actually want APS to succeed can continue to advocate without that noise.

Not disagreeing with you, but I also don’t think the adults should stop talking just because some toddlers tantrum. APE has become a red herring these days for substantive discussion about issues in APS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spring break shouldn’t be connected to Easter.

And we shouldn’t have off for all of these various religious holidays. It’s all or none and I vote none.

Have flexibility around assignments/testing on those days, if absolutely necessary.

+1

Just because a bunch of humans thousands of years ago made up some stories about God and now people still identify with this based on where their ancestors are from (even though we all know deep down that even if there is a God, religion I just a bunch of made up malarkey) doesn’t mean my kids shouldn’t go to school today. A Wednesday off is so disruptive to the school week and can’t be made into a long weekend. My SN kid was really out of sorts this morning from the change in schedule and I had to pay nearly $500 out of pocket on camps in order to work because a holiday I don’t even celebrate.

I think I could stomach it better if it were cited as a staffing issue (for instance I know there have been bus driver shortages during orthodox Easter). Because then I’m being inconvenienced for a rational, statistical decision regarding school operations.

But being out a bunch of money and dealing with a morning kid meltdown so someone else can practice their religion (I am not religious so I do not seek any sort of inconvenience from others for this purpose) just grates.

And totally agree about separating SB and Easter. I also don’t want to pay higher airfare just so people can travel to take their family photos and post “He Is Risen” all over their FB feeds.

If people want a school year that acknowledges their religion then choose a religious based school. The end.

You're fine with accommodations due to staffing issues because of people observing their religious holidays, but not closing school for religious holidays because of staffing issues from people observing their religious holidays. Got it.

No, I’m okay with accommodations due to staffing issues (which could be related to religious leave).

I’m not okay with days off to recognize religious holidays in some misguided attempt for APS to legitimize religious beliefs. And I think most people agree with this even if they won’t admit because there are a total of 10k+ religions in the world and we are not closing down schools for all of these. Clearly there is an unstated threshold for recognizing a holiday. I would like APS to actually bother having a policy regarding this rather than just pick and choose religious holidays based on some nebulous decision about which holidays matter. It’s not the school’s place to decide this and it opens the door to other groups claiming they are being marginalized.

Bottom line, schools should look at operational metrics, not the merits of religious holidays, and try to consolidate days off to minimize disruption to families.

APE has entered the room. lol

This attitude, right here, is why APS is so messed up. Someone says decisions should be made on operational grounds, with clear policies guiding those decision, and your response is "lol Trumper MAGAT". APS can do no wrong, and anyone who thinks it can do better is somehow a bigot. Deep down, you think that APS belongs to you, and because you think yourself a good person, anyone who disagrees with you must be not just a bad person, but the worst sort of person you can imagine.

It's pretty obvious what the outcome is going to be. Things are going to continue to get crummier until it's too obvious to deny anymore and enough people will come around to actually start fixing things rather than forming a circle and singing "Kum-bah-yah" in the face of any failures. And once it does happen people are going to pretend that they agreed with the critics all along. You won't be able to find a single person willing to admit they were wrong.

But that process will take years, and have real impacts on students' lives and learning. It would be nice if we could skip the years-long decline in school system performance and talk about those issues now rather than have to wait until APS' partisan defenders are too embarrassed to keep defending it.

DP.

Maybe if APE weren’t incessantly disparaging APS we could have reasonable discussions and push APS in some areas. But APE is drowning out everyone else to foster discourse and position for their political objectives (vouchers seem likely). They are utilizing the Bannon “flood the zone” approach with complaints, requests, and whining. Infiltrating committees and the SB.

Given all of that, it’s understandable that the PP read the comment as more of the nonstop APE crap.

I’m the PP whose comment is being discussed and I’m not part of APE.

Letting the existence of a third party (which has apparently become synonymous with political ideology for many people) shut down discourse about APS policies is not a good place for us to be in.

I think a PP had a good point that we’re continuing to use partisan politics as a lens for how we discuss decisions made by our local school system and it’s chilling people’s ability to criticize or questions decisions that are being made in fear of being called MAGA Trumper.

Hopefully APE will STFU so the rest of us who actually want APS to succeed can continue to advocate without that noise.

Not disagreeing with you, but I also don’t think the adults should stop talking just because some toddlers tantrum. APE has become a red herring these days for substantive discussion about issues in APS.

I never said otherwise.

And if you look at the collective time suck of their complaining (during committees, SB mtgs, etc), they are more than just a red herring.