Will DCPS ignore snow days again in June?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone looked at how all the Virginia districts that close 10+ days a year sometimes do it without making up a single day?

No but I would be curious to know the answer to this. Do they extend the school day?

That's what we used to do where I grew up. I lived in an area that always got lots of snow and would periodically get a huge storm that would shut things down for a week or more. Once I missed two weeks of school because we got like 10 ft of snow over two days and they deemed the schools unsafe until snow could be cleared from the roofs. They would just add time to the school day every day for the rest of the year. We also had some built in snow days but they usually weren't all bundled at the end of the year. There would be professional development days scheduled near breaks so they could make up a snow day in January or March if necessary.

I'm guessing extending the school day would be a no go in DC for some reason. People freak out about everything here. But when we did it, it was no big deal. I think it was fairly easy for teachers to plan for -- usually it would just get scheduled in as solo work with tutoring time. So kids would do assigned reading, homework, etc. on their own while teachers circulated to provide 1:1 help to kids who needed it. This reduced homework time at home and resulted in extra 1:1 instruction for kids who were most in need of it. Win-win. I'm sure if this was proposed in DC people would have some kind of epic meltdown for some reason though. I don't understand the weird combativeness around education in this city. It is abnormal.

In most of the country, teachers unions are weak or nonexistent so schools can do what they want without a lot of fuss. In DC, the union is powerful and it is reflexively opposed to anything that could possibly be construed as more work for teachers so every little thing becomes a giant fight.

[Anonymous]

At the moment, we will not be going to school for the two Snow Days in June because we have enough instructional minutes to cover school being closed these past two days. However, if there are more days when school is closed, we will need to use the Snow Days or adjust the calendar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At the moment, we will not be going to school for the two Snow Days in June because we have enough instructional minutes to cover school being closed these past two days. However, if there are more days when school is closed, we will need to use the Snow Days or adjust the calendar.

Can you explain how that works? The law says 180 days of school.

How does the math work?

[Anonymous]

Can you explain how that works? The law says 180 days of school.

How does the math work?

Here’s the OSSE guidance…

https://osse.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/osse/page_content/attachments/Instructional%20Day%20Guidance_May2022_0.pdf

See #1 under “Managing Unforeseen Circumstances”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the moment, we will not be going to school for the two Snow Days in June because we have enough instructional minutes to cover school being closed these past two days. However, if there are more days when school is closed, we will need to use the Snow Days or adjust the calendar.

Can you explain how that works? The law says 180 days of school.

How does the math work?

The waiver process is extremely loose and basically allows OSSE to waive the requirement any time a school says it has "exigent circumstances." You would think exigent circumstances would be defined to described totally unforeseen issues, but it doesn't. So I guess exigent circumstances could include "we built two snow days into the calendar in the case of snow, and then we had snow, but we just don't feel like extending the school year by two days, so we won't." If that meets the test than virtually anything would. "The kids seem restive, we don't want to deal with them anymore." "We are tired." "I don't know, how important is school really? Seems superfluous."

It's even worse than that, believe it or not. OSSE says schools can have a four day school week so long as the kids are in the building doing anything at all for at least six hours on those four days.

[Anonymous]

With 2 snow days and Juneteenth, is the last day of school really going to be Friday 6/20 (with 6/19 off?)

[Anonymous]

Years ago, I want to say during the blizzard of 2010 (it may have been earlier) DCPS did add time to the school day to make up for snow days. So the school day ended at my school at 3:45 or 4 instead of 3:15. However, they calculated days/time wrong and it ended up being a huge issue with the union and DCPS.

Year-round school did exist in DCPS. I worked at one. The pilot ended in 2019 I believe. DCPS stated that the outcomes didn't justify the costs (higher teacher salaries, etc.).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is a really serious issue that no one pays attention to. our charter school doesnt come anywhere close to 180 days and no one cares. parents aren't paying attention and osse lets schools ignore the law.

They are just waiting until someone sues. I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet by a family with a special needs child.

I dont think parents realize their schools are doing it. They just assume the school is following the rules.

This but there is also a contingent of parents who don't care and actually are happy when there is less school.

This group is larger when there is a debate over something like adding days to the school year for snow days. I remember tons of parents last year lobbying against the snow days because they had vacation plans right after school got out or "whatever it's not like kids learn anything the last week" or just not wanting to deal with school commutes for a couple more days. It's remarkable how many people just don't value education at all and view school as little more than a babysitting service or an annoying obligation. Depressing.

They could easily add days to the school year *before* June. Teachers could postpone their PD days in June or god forbid schools don't take two weeks off at Xmas.

Agree. The last week already is a joke with classroom areas covered by paper so kids can’t read or play. In high school the exams are over. Adding days in June is silly. Find them earlier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:this is a really serious issue that no one pays attention to. our charter school doesnt come anywhere close to 180 days and no one cares. parents aren't paying attention and osse lets schools ignore the law.

I was wondering about that. seems like some charters shut down for almost 3 weeks over Christmas … then they do 1/2 days weekly too.

[Anonymous]

Are PD days something mandated by the union? They may be unable to bunch them all together at the end of the year.

[Anonymous]

PD days are in the contract so yes they must happen. Most teachers think they are useless and would much rather get out earlier in June or give them up for snow days.

[Anonymous]

2 days , whats the big deal, kids need fun, sensory experiences , playing in the snow with friends and family . I think in many instances it is far better than being in school for the 2 days. Same goes for last 2 days of school year ...do u think they really learn anything during the last week....they dont. Everything is packed up , and its down time and meals. relax parents , kids will be fine .

[Anonymous]

I'm confused why everyone is yelling about WTU when it appears the mostly non-unionized charter schools are the biggest skirters on this front?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused why everyone is yelling about WTU when it appears the mostly non-unionized charter schools are the biggest skirters on this front?

Charters are generally much worse than DCPS but I bet there aren't very many schools in DC where kids actually get 180 days of instruction per the law. Schools are ignoring the law and no one seems to care. Some charters are nowhere close to 180 days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused why everyone is yelling about WTU when it appears the mostly non-unionized charter schools are the biggest skirters on this front?

Charters are generally much worse than DCPS but I bet there aren't very many schools in DC where kids actually get 180 days of instruction per the law. Schools are ignoring the law and no one seems to care. Some charters are nowhere close to 180 days.

This may be true, though as posted earlier in the thread this is a DC law not a federal law, and school attendance days vary widely across the country.

The question is why everyone keeps blaming WTU for something that they don't have much control over and which unionized schools aren't the biggest offenders. It feels like a way to just blame teachers even though they aren't at fault at all here