Is the week leading up to Memorial Day effectively the last day of school in FCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This has been going on for the entirety of FCPS from elementary through HS. In elementary and MS, after the SOLs are over, lessons dwindle off and fluff projects and movies start up across the board. Even the art teacher and music teachers showed movies. In MS the science teacher showed Avengers for three days. This is nothing new.

It depends on the teacher and the school. My th grader reports reading and analyzing short stories in LA, geometry extensions in math, he just completed a science project with two other kids, he has a language test this week, and has something going on in Civics. That doesn't sound like they are slacking. I fully expect things to drop off next week after he has taken finals but the last week of school when I was in school was always party and chill times.

[Anonymous]

I don’t mind things slowing down. I like my kids to be in school but not have to worry about too much work.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Do you all complain like this when colleges you actually pay for end in mid may?
Makes sense that ap classes are lighter after the big exam.
I’m glad my kid is getting free college level material.

When college end in May... they end.

They don't make students attend classes for 4 weeks just to watch PG movies or sit in a classroom playing on their phones, holding them at school a month after the material and classes are complete.

Your college kid doesn’t come home and sit around for a couple of weeks playing games on their phones awaiting the start of their internships? All the college kids I know have this same plan, but at home while spending money “going out” with their friends. This is AFTER you pay 30K+ for room and board for 5 months.

At least they are on their phones on the wifi at school with an adult in charge of them not spending more money.

Go see the “what about the CALENDAR” people who moan about needing free daycare.

Sorry, but this argument is crazy.

The high school kkds should not need to be babysat at school after their AP exams end.

The calendar should not have a 2 day week Memeorial Day week. It should either be a 4 day week with excused absences for students with religious observances, or school should have ended on the Friday prior to Memorial day. Putting a 2 day week 3 weeks before school ends, after testing, and after all the materials have been covered for the year, then expecting the students to return to school for 2-3 weeks of babysitting, is a performative waste of everyone's time.

Whether a student is jumping into an internship, job, the pool or their phones, it doesn't matter. School should end after testing.

What FCPS has put together is a complete joke.

You would rather have them sitting at home doing nothing like college kids spending money on lunch with friends. Got it. That doesn’t make sense to me at all, but you do you.

As far as Memorial Day this year, you clearly should have taken a relaxing vacation and didn’t. This will never happen again. Eid will not be connected to Memorial Day in this way any time in the near or far future.

Relax, things are tough out there, do you best to enjoy it.

Yes, most high school parents would rather their young adults are at home mamaging their own time vs sitting in a classroom for a full month after the AP exams when all work is completed, playing on their phones and watching PG movies.

Why do you mamaging them? Aren’t they old enough to manage without mama? Or is that the point? You need them to be “productive” all the time and mamage their time when they are home. I have a freshman who is taking APs.

Looking busy and doing easy projects as well as harder ones are part of work life as well. Sometimes you get handed an easy case and are given busy work, sometimes you get a challenging project and really have to put in the hours to get something down.

The piece you are quoting piints out that parents would rather have their high school students managing their own time than having their young adults babysat at school for 3 weeks after AP exams.

Other than the glaringly obvious typo, did you even read the post you are quoting?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:6th grader is still being exposed to new things. School continues.

Same here. My 6th grader is still learning. Civil War in SS, U8 in Benchmark, health lessons, etc. the only thing they are done with is science cause they finished the unit for the quarter and grade level standards in math since they took the SOL and finished the content. Teacher is keeping them busy learning. I know by the last five days it will be mostly cleaning up, EOY events, etc.

There is no Science SOL in 6th grade. They take a science test in 8th grade with that content.

Reread the post. I believe PP was talking about the math SOL. They said they finished the science unit for the quarter and grade level standards in math since they took the SOL…

But the thread is about high school, likely about upper class students since the Oap is talking about the waste of time after AP exams.

Not elementary school which is a completely different ballgame

The question then becomes, why are high school teachers allowed to show movies and let their students just hang out after AP tests? Seems like an opportunity for extensions/enrichment. Work with kids on college essays if they are juniors. Do some career exploration with sophs/juniors. It seems there are different standards held for secondary teachers vs elementary school. That is the larger problem. I do think next year moving SOL testing and requiring kids to take the exam will help with this stupidity.

My high school is NY did testing the last two weeks of school. We didn’t have wasted instructional time in May. Even with IB courses, you gad to take the regents test.

It's pretty obvious that high school and elementary/middle school are very different, developmentally, expectations, maturity, capabilities, freedom...

But of course, you know this.

The only question is why did FCPS create such a wasteful schedule that keeps students in school through late June,, and why did they make this week at the end of the year a 2 day week when they should have just offered excused absences for those who observed this holiday, kept everyone else in school and ended school 2 days earlier.

What does maturity have to do with teachers who stop teaching after a test? FCPS teachers should all be held to the same standard. No kid should be watching movies for 2-3 weeks cause the teacher can’t come up with a lesson plan due to testing being over. Even if the school year ended June 12th, which IMO should have been the last day, kids still should be learning.

All the class material is complete once the AP exams happen.

Most school districts in the country realize this and end school by Memorial Day weekend.

FCPS pointlessly extended the year over religious holidays and cultural holidays observed by fewer than 5% of ffx county.

They could have finished by the end of May like the majority of the country if they didn't throw in all these extra holidays.

The majority of the country does not end in May. Most school districts end in June either the first or second week. Some end the third week.

The majority of states end school in May, or the first week of June at the latest.

Very few states go to school into mid to late June.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you all complain like this when colleges you actually pay for end in mid may?
Makes sense that ap classes are lighter after the big exam.
I’m glad my kid is getting free college level material.

When college end in May... they end.

They don't make students attend classes for 4 weeks just to watch PG movies or sit in a classroom playing on their phones, holding them at school a month after the material and classes are complete.

Your college kid doesn’t come home and sit around for a couple of weeks playing games on their phones awaiting the start of their internships? All the college kids I know have this same plan, but at home while spending money “going out” with their friends. This is AFTER you pay 30K+ for room and board for 5 months.

At least they are on their phones on the wifi at school with an adult in charge of them not spending more money.

Go see the “what about the CALENDAR” people who moan about needing free daycare.

Sorry, but this argument is crazy.

The high school kkds should not need to be babysat at school after their AP exams end.

The calendar should not have a 2 day week Memeorial Day week. It should either be a 4 day week with excused absences for students with religious observances, or school should have ended on the Friday prior to Memorial day. Putting a 2 day week 3 weeks before school ends, after testing, and after all the materials have been covered for the year, then expecting the students to return to school for 2-3 weeks of babysitting, is a performative waste of everyone's time.

Whether a student is jumping into an internship, job, the pool or their phones, it doesn't matter. School should end after testing.

What FCPS has put together is a complete joke.

You would rather have them sitting at home doing nothing like college kids spending money on lunch with friends. Got it. That doesn’t make sense to me at all, but you do you.

As far as Memorial Day this year, you clearly should have taken a relaxing vacation and didn’t. This will never happen again. Eid will not be connected to Memorial Day in this way any time in the near or far future.

Relax, things are tough out there, do you best to enjoy it.

Yes, most high school parents would rather their young adults are at home mamaging their own time vs sitting in a classroom for a full month after the AP exams when all work is completed, playing on their phones and watching PG movies.

Why do you mamaging them? Aren’t they old enough to manage without mama? Or is that the point? You need them to be “productive” all the time and mamage their time when they are home. I have a freshman who is taking APs.

Looking busy and doing easy projects as well as harder ones are part of work life as well. Sometimes you get handed an easy case and are given busy work, sometimes you get a challenging project and really have to put in the hours to get something down.

The piece you are quoting piints out that parents would rather have their high school students managing their own time than having their young adults babysat at school for 3 weeks after AP exams.

Other than the glaringly obvious typo, did you even read the post you are quoting?

Yup I did. Without even the little projects my high schooler is working on the manage- what are the kids learning to manage? Their you tube vs Nintendo vs PlayStation hours? Managing time with zero deadlines isn’t really that important.

My personal kids aren’t being babysat at school. They have a few movies, but are still working with projects, banquets for sports and movies, saying good by to seniors and some finals. That would be a schedule to manage.

We will just have to disagree that managing the afterschool and in school projects and festivities are less important than sitting at home. I honestly can’t understand why one would want your kid sitting around for longer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:6th grader is still being exposed to new things. School continues.

Same here. My 6th grader is still learning. Civil War in SS, U8 in Benchmark, health lessons, etc. the only thing they are done with is science cause they finished the unit for the quarter and grade level standards in math since they took the SOL and finished the content. Teacher is keeping them busy learning. I know by the last five days it will be mostly cleaning up, EOY events, etc.

There is no Science SOL in 6th grade. They take a science test in 8th grade with that content.

Reread the post. I believe PP was talking about the math SOL. They said they finished the science unit for the quarter and grade level standards in math since they took the SOL…

But the thread is about high school, likely about upper class students since the Oap is talking about the waste of time after AP exams.

Not elementary school which is a completely different ballgame

The question then becomes, why are high school teachers allowed to show movies and let their students just hang out after AP tests? Seems like an opportunity for extensions/enrichment. Work with kids on college essays if they are juniors. Do some career exploration with sophs/juniors. It seems there are different standards held for secondary teachers vs elementary school. That is the larger problem. I do think next year moving SOL testing and requiring kids to take the exam will help with this stupidity.

My high school is NY did testing the last two weeks of school. We didn’t have wasted instructional time in May. Even with IB courses, you gad to take the regents test.

It's pretty obvious that high school and elementary/middle school are very different, developmentally, expectations, maturity, capabilities, freedom...

But of course, you know this.

The only question is why did FCPS create such a wasteful schedule that keeps students in school through late June,, and why did they make this week at the end of the year a 2 day week when they should have just offered excused absences for those who observed this holiday, kept everyone else in school and ended school 2 days earlier.

What does maturity have to do with teachers who stop teaching after a test? FCPS teachers should all be held to the same standard. No kid should be watching movies for 2-3 weeks cause the teacher can’t come up with a lesson plan due to testing being over. Even if the school year ended June 12th, which IMO should have been the last day, kids still should be learning.

All the class material is complete once the AP exams happen.

Most school districts in the country realize this and end school by Memorial Day weekend.

FCPS pointlessly extended the year over religious holidays and cultural holidays observed by fewer than 5% of ffx county.

They could have finished by the end of May like the majority of the country if they didn't throw in all these extra holidays.

The majority of the country does not end in May. Most school districts end in June either the first or second week. Some end the third week.

The majority of states end school in May, or the first week of June at the latest.

Very few states go to school into mid to late June.

Everywhere we've ever lived has gone through mid June. This is the 4th district, all over the country. It's not that unusual.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:6th grader is still being exposed to new things. School continues.

Same here. My 6th grader is still learning. Civil War in SS, U8 in Benchmark, health lessons, etc. the only thing they are done with is science cause they finished the unit for the quarter and grade level standards in math since they took the SOL and finished the content. Teacher is keeping them busy learning. I know by the last five days it will be mostly cleaning up, EOY events, etc.

There is no Science SOL in 6th grade. They take a science test in 8th grade with that content.

Reread the post. I believe PP was talking about the math SOL. They said they finished the science unit for the quarter and grade level standards in math since they took the SOL…

But the thread is about high school, likely about upper class students since the Oap is talking about the waste of time after AP exams.

Not elementary school which is a completely different ballgame

The question then becomes, why are high school teachers allowed to show movies and let their students just hang out after AP tests? Seems like an opportunity for extensions/enrichment. Work with kids on college essays if they are juniors. Do some career exploration with sophs/juniors. It seems there are different standards held for secondary teachers vs elementary school. That is the larger problem. I do think next year moving SOL testing and requiring kids to take the exam will help with this stupidity.

My high school is NY did testing the last two weeks of school. We didn’t have wasted instructional time in May. Even with IB courses, you gad to take the regents test.

It's pretty obvious that high school and elementary/middle school are very different, developmentally, expectations, maturity, capabilities, freedom...

But of course, you know this.

The only question is why did FCPS create such a wasteful schedule that keeps students in school through late June,, and why did they make this week at the end of the year a 2 day week when they should have just offered excused absences for those who observed this holiday, kept everyone else in school and ended school 2 days earlier.

What does maturity have to do with teachers who stop teaching after a test? FCPS teachers should all be held to the same standard. No kid should be watching movies for 2-3 weeks cause the teacher can’t come up with a lesson plan due to testing being over. Even if the school year ended June 12th, which IMO should have been the last day, kids still should be learning.

All the class material is complete once the AP exams happen.

Most school districts in the country realize this and end school by Memorial Day weekend.

FCPS pointlessly extended the year over religious holidays and cultural holidays observed by fewer than 5% of ffx county.

They could have finished by the end of May like the majority of the country if they didn't throw in all these extra holidays.

The majority of the country does not end in May. Most school districts end in June either the first or second week. Some end the third week.

The majority of states end school in May, or the first week of June at the latest.

Very few states go to school into mid to late June.

Everywhere we've ever lived has gone through mid June. This is the 4th district, all over the country. It's not that unusual.

Exactly, even within a state there is variety but the majority end school 1st or second week of June.

[Anonymous]

My ES kids seem to be finished. Even their EOY party is next week. It's all so ridiculous. These are some of the FEW 5 day weeks ALL year and they are doing NOTHING. Learning nothing.

Maybe, just maybe, FCPS could start educating our kids 5 days a week and they could get a real summer.

Teachers obviously used last week's "teacher workday" as vacation - as NONE of my kids teachers were in all of last week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So many people have been overseas for the past two weeks from Germany to Honduras to Singapore. Why???? I’m talking about families with one or more high schoolers. Some do this every year. Once APs are done, vacations begin.

That's not true, there are a lot of finals still taking place in HS and also MS. It doesn't feel like school is over at all, this is the most painful part of the year seems like. IDK who checks out now.. Maybe parents of overachiever kids with amazing grades that cannot possibly be ruined by botched finals? Or the opposite, those who don't care about their grades at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 8th grader has tests coming up and is working on a science project. I suspect that he will be busy through the last week of school.

Same here, IDK what schools people are talking about where there is nothing going on.. supposedly in this same school district. Are schools in the same district really this different in terms of pace and curriculum, or this is about honors and regular classes or AP? My kids are in honors and AP and there is a lot going on in MS and HS in last 2 weeks in terms of finals, projects, tests, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My ES kids seem to be finished. Even their EOY party is next week. It's all so ridiculous. These are some of the FEW 5 day weeks ALL year and they are doing NOTHING. Learning nothing.

Maybe, just maybe, FCPS could start educating our kids 5 days a week and they could get a real summer.

Teachers obviously used last week's "teacher workday" as vacation - as NONE of my kids teachers were in all of last week.

Clearly your school lacks strong admin because not the case at our ES. But I find this hard to believe any ES is done teaching Benchmark.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So many people have been overseas for the past two weeks from Germany to Honduras to Singapore. Why???? I’m talking about families with one or more high schoolers. Some do this every year. Once APs are done, vacations begin.

Five day Memorial Day weekend invites this

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 8th grader has tests coming up and is working on a science project. I suspect that he will be busy through the last week of school.

Same here, IDK what schools people are talking about where there is nothing going on.. supposedly in this same school district. Are schools in the same district really this different in terms of pace and curriculum, or this is about honors and regular classes or AP? My kids are in honors and AP and there is a lot going on in MS and HS in last 2 weeks in terms of finals, projects, tests, etc.

There are fluff projects to eat up the time and so the teacher doesn’t have to teach for the part 4 weeks. Make a music video, draw a cartoon, write a children’s book, etc. There is no new learning. There is no exciting lab. There is no new concepts being exposed to. It might as well be art class rather than science. And, the civics teacher just gave them work on one speech and then sit through listening to 30 of them. This eats up weeks of time. The teacher doesn’t have to teach anything for these last 4 weeks. They use icivics, Kahoot, world a to z, or play some gambit. All fluff. Teacher is on easy street. The English teacher dumped them off at the library to get a book for the next 3 weeks to read. No packets. No vocab. No learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:6th grader is still being exposed to new things. School continues.

Same here. My 6th grader is still learning. Civil War in SS, U8 in Benchmark, health lessons, etc. the only thing they are done with is science cause they finished the unit for the quarter and grade level standards in math since they took the SOL and finished the content. Teacher is keeping them busy learning. I know by the last five days it will be mostly cleaning up, EOY events, etc.

There is no Science SOL in 6th grade. They take a science test in 8th grade with that content.

Reread the post. I believe PP was talking about the math SOL. They said they finished the science unit for the quarter and grade level standards in math since they took the SOL…

But the thread is about high school, likely about upper class students since the Oap is talking about the waste of time after AP exams.

Not elementary school which is a completely different ballgame

The question then becomes, why are high school teachers allowed to show movies and let their students just hang out after AP tests? Seems like an opportunity for extensions/enrichment. Work with kids on college essays if they are juniors. Do some career exploration with sophs/juniors. It seems there are different standards held for secondary teachers vs elementary school. That is the larger problem. I do think next year moving SOL testing and requiring kids to take the exam will help with this stupidity.

My high school is NY did testing the last two weeks of school. We didn’t have wasted instructional time in May. Even with IB courses, you gad to take the regents test.

It's pretty obvious that high school and elementary/middle school are very different, developmentally, expectations, maturity, capabilities, freedom...

But of course, you know this.

The only question is why did FCPS create such a wasteful schedule that keeps students in school through late June,, and why did they make this week at the end of the year a 2 day week when they should have just offered excused absences for those who observed this holiday, kept everyone else in school and ended school 2 days earlier.

What does maturity have to do with teachers who stop teaching after a test? FCPS teachers should all be held to the same standard. No kid should be watching movies for 2-3 weeks cause the teacher can’t come up with a lesson plan due to testing being over. Even if the school year ended June 12th, which IMO should have been the last day, kids still should be learning.

All the class material is complete once the AP exams happen.

Most school districts in the country realize this and end school by Memorial Day weekend.

FCPS pointlessly extended the year over religious holidays and cultural holidays observed by fewer than 5% of ffx county.

They could have finished by the end of May like the majority of the country if they didn't throw in all these extra holidays.

The majority of the country does not end in May. Most school districts end in June either the first or second week. Some end the third week.

The majority of states end school in May, or the first week of June at the latest.

Very few states go to school into mid to late June.

Everywhere we've ever lived has gone through mid June. This is the 4th district, all over the country. It's not that unusual.

Exactly, even within a state there is variety but the majority end school 1st or second week of June.

That simply isn’t true and seems like a majority based upon your experience. Based upon my experience, it would seem like the majority of schools get out before Memorial Day. It’s regional and where you have relatives or have lived.