FCPS Early Release Mondays

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one of the reasons people go private. This plan sounds ludicrous and would never happen there.

There’s so much irony in this because you’re right: this would never happen in private because in private school, nobody has to be formally educated in how to do things like teach kids to read. There’s no such thing as licensure requirements to ensure that teachers meet a minimum competency to educate. You just need a bachelor’s degree and a job application. There’d never be any such thing as 32 *additional hours* of literacy training all teachers at a private would ever be required to do. But yeah, private is definitely better

I work for a Catholic high school. State certification and continuing education are requirements for employment. We have more PD days than my former public system, and the PDs are considerably more useful.

The only difference is we do a lot of our PD over the summer so it doesn’t impact the school year. Yes, we are paid for those trainings.

There is a ton of misinformation on this thread about private schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one of the reasons people go private. This plan sounds ludicrous and would never happen there.

There’s so much irony in this because you’re right: this would never happen in private because in private school, nobody has to be formally educated in how to do things like teach kids to read. There’s no such thing as licensure requirements to ensure that teachers meet a minimum competency to educate. You just need a bachelor’s degree and a job application. There’d never be any such thing as 32 *additional hours* of literacy training all teachers at a private would ever be required to do. But yeah, private is definitely better

OK but you know what? This totally depends on the private.

DP, that can also be true. I hear that ones that cost $30-40K a year can be quite good.

It is also true that many privates have been teaching phonics for decades and never stopped. I went to an incredibly cheap-o church school in early elementary in the '90s that used phonics and it was all the teachers had ever taught. They didn't have to be taught how to teach it mid-career because it's what they'd always done. Science of reading isn't new, just (justifiably) trendy.

Ok, we (teachers) also know this, so your effort to insult us is wasted. We also know that the science of reading is compiled research (not phonics or a program). In this case, we are being taught a reading program/curriculum - so that it is all consistently used across the county. We've known all along this method is better, we were forced to use Lucy Calkins, just like thousands of other school districts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t most of you ‘work from home’ anyways? I don’t see how it’s so hard for you to pickup your kid early for 7 days in the entire school year!

Clearly a SAHMummy who has never held a job in her life. No, sweetheart, most people don't work from home. Remember the last time you went to the doctor, hair salon, massage therapist, facialist, botox medspa, pharmacy, restaurant, bar, coffee shop, dentist, dry cleaner, grocery store, flower shop, jewelry store, Lululemon, athleta, nail salon, bank, furniture store, or you know, your kids' school? What about that time the interior designer came over for a consult or measurements, the contractor who refinished your floors, the landscapers who trimmed your bushes, or your house cleaner? How about the people who keep you safe? The police officers, the fire fighters, EMTs, intelligence officers/analysts, park police? Do you think they work from home or have the flexibility to take off time when they can't find childcare? Not everyone is a dumb, ignorant, housewife like you*


*There are plenty of SAHMs who are not dumb, ignorant, or housewives.

OMG!! You know what happens When you assume something, right? They never said they worked or not, nor did they say they were male of female.
Appears you’re the one who’s dumb and ignorant.. Cee U Next Tuesday!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one of the reasons people go private. This plan sounds ludicrous and would never happen there.

There’s so much irony in this because you’re right: this would never happen in private because in private school, nobody has to be formally educated in how to do things like teach kids to read. There’s no such thing as licensure requirements to ensure that teachers meet a minimum competency to educate. You just need a bachelor’s degree and a job application. There’d never be any such thing as 32 *additional hours* of literacy training all teachers at a private would ever be required to do. But yeah, private is definitely better

OK but you know what? This totally depends on the private.

DP, that can also be true. I hear that ones that cost $30-40K a year can be quite good.

It is also true that many privates have been teaching phonics for decades and never stopped. I went to an incredibly cheap-o church school in early elementary in the '90s that used phonics and it was all the teachers had ever taught. They didn't have to be taught how to teach it mid-career because it's what they'd always done. Science of reading isn't new, just (justifiably) trendy.

Ok, we (teachers) also know this, so your effort to insult us is wasted. We also know that the science of reading is compiled research (not phonics or a program). In this case, we are being taught a reading program/curriculum - so that it is all consistently used across the county. We've known all along this method is better, we were forced to use Lucy Calkins, just like thousands of other school districts.

Not intending to insult, easily-offended teacher. The people I blame for Lucy Caulkins are administrators and people who run teaching colleges, not individual teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why did FCPS decide to do all these disruptive early releases (with double bus runs?!?) rather than just close for full day training? What was the rationale?

Some of us heard it would extend the school year (last day of school), it would still occur sporadically throughout the year (like Loudoun, and a constant area of complaint by FCPS parents) and the additional cost.

FCPS has its issues but honestly nothing makes parents in FCPS happy. The complaints are endless~ at this point it's just noise. Carry on.

It sounds like what you want from parents is to donate time and money, support teacher pay raises and bond funds at election time, tell our children that their teachers are always right in order to avoid undermining the classroom…and…that’s about it?

What value do you see parents having to the system outside the above?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why did FCPS decide to do all these disruptive early releases (with double bus runs?!?) rather than just close for full day training? What was the rationale?

Some of us heard it would extend the school year (last day of school), it would still occur sporadically throughout the year (like Loudoun, and a constant area of complaint by FCPS parents) and the additional cost.

FCPS has its issues but honestly nothing makes parents in FCPS happy. The complaints are endless~ at this point it's just noise. Carry on.

It sounds like what you want from parents is to donate time and money, support teacher pay raises and bond funds at election time, tell our children that their teachers are always right in order to avoid undermining the classroom…and…that’s about it?

What value do you see parents having to the system outside the above?

Not the PP, but you read a lot more from that comment than I did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one of the reasons people go private. This plan sounds ludicrous and would never happen there.

There’s so much irony in this because you’re right: this would never happen in private because in private school, nobody has to be formally educated in how to do things like teach kids to read. There’s no such thing as licensure requirements to ensure that teachers meet a minimum competency to educate. You just need a bachelor’s degree and a job application. There’d never be any such thing as 32 *additional hours* of literacy training all teachers at a private would ever be required to do. But yeah, private is definitely better

OK but you know what? This totally depends on the private.

DP, that can also be true. I hear that ones that cost $30-40K a year can be quite good.

What they cost has no bearing on the quality of the teachers. Ask yourself why teachers who could teach public and make twice as much and have job protection would choose to work at a private making very little money, being at will, and doing essentially the same kind of work unless they couldn’t teach for the state because they lacked the proper qualifications.

Some teachers leave public and go private. Not many and usually not the good ones. and the majority of private school teachers teach there because they aren’t able to teach elsewhere. What the school charges you doesn’t change that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one of the reasons people go private. This plan sounds ludicrous and would never happen there.

There’s so much irony in this because you’re right: this would never happen in private because in private school, nobody has to be formally educated in how to do things like teach kids to read. There’s no such thing as licensure requirements to ensure that teachers meet a minimum competency to educate. You just need a bachelor’s degree and a job application. There’d never be any such thing as 32 *additional hours* of literacy training all teachers at a private would ever be required to do. But yeah, private is definitely better

OK but you know what? This totally depends on the private.

DP, that can also be true. I hear that ones that cost $30-40K a year can be quite good.

It is also true that many privates have been teaching phonics for decades and never stopped. I went to an incredibly cheap-o church school in early elementary in the '90s that used phonics and it was all the teachers had ever taught. They didn't have to be taught how to teach it mid-career because it's what they'd always done. Science of reading isn't new, just (justifiably) trendy.

Ok, we (teachers) also know this, so your effort to insult us is wasted. We also know that the science of reading is compiled research (not phonics or a program). In this case, we are being taught a reading program/curriculum - so that it is all consistently used across the county. We've known all along this method is better, we were forced to use Lucy Calkins, just like thousands of other school districts.

Not intending to insult, easily-offended teacher. The people I blame for Lucy Caulkins are administrators and people who run teaching colleges, not individual teachers.

You meant to be offensive: They didn't have to be taught how to teach it mid-career because it's what they'd always done.

[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:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think doing the training Monday-Wednesday of Thanksgiving week is a great solution. MKe those days k-12 teacher workdays/training days, no need to close early on Mondags.

Those 3 days still aren’t enough to complete the entire training, and they’ll run into issues with staff that already has travel plans for that Wednesday, since it’s currently a holiday.

Clearly, changing the expected instructional schedule is not an issue with FCPS so this should be no biggie. If its ok to close early unexpectedly a whole bunch of days, switching a day off to a work day months from now shouldn't be an issue.

The difference is the current plan doesn’t change the employee calendar. Employees already planned on working those days. That’s not the case for the day before Thanksgiving.

Well, parents already planned on working all of these Monday afternoons. So I guess there will need to be some shared pain. Since we’re in this “together” right?

FCPS is the employer. They need to make time to provide their employees with this training. They made a decision. FCPS is not your employer.

Correct— FCPS is a service provider. And they are changing the terms of those services on the backs of one group (parents) to the benefit of another group (teachers/staff) while shortchanging a third group (students).

The only way in which they are held responsible for this decision is if voters hold their school board representatives accountable in November. Which should be easy since it will be after two disastrous early-releases are already behind us. I am writing my board members to say I will be eagerly seeking his proposals to keep children in the classroom.

Service providers change their terms and conditions ALL time without asking their customers.

And when their customers object, they are held responsible. Loudoun’s entire board got voted out. Why do you think they were so careful about parent engagement when they were confronted with the exact same mandate Fairfax is flailing with.

Then we’ll see if this school board gets voted out because of it. And who said FCPS is flailing…the parents maybe, but not the school district.

I thought the same thing. I'm a teacher and I think they could fit the training in some of the already scheduled SP or SD days, but they made a decision and sent out the notice.

Another teacher. I think most ES would be fine with using SD and SP days for this. But only if this was it. Get rid of everything else not required snd focus on this for ES. Also make sure CLTS are limited to 1 so teachers get required planning time. Simple solution. I don’t like ER plan. Too disruptive to kids.

Elementary teachers would love to go down to one CLT a week, but that has been a request that FCPS has not been willing to compromise. We would all love it….but it is highly unlikely.

At the beginning of the SY Dr Reid told principals they needed to adhere to the policy as written, which means ES are supposed to have a minimum of 240 minutes of unencumbered teacher directed planning time a week. Of course many principals ignored that or tried to work around it unless people at the school pushed them to change it. Perhaps this is something that can be contractual through collective bargaining.

The problem is that the 2 CLT’s are supposed to also leave time for those 240 hours because we are supposed to count the 20 minutes at the beginning of the day and the 10 minutes at the end as planning time. One of the big issues, of course, is that we don’t get the 10 minutes at the end of the day because children are still being dismissed (and often beyond). We also get that time taken away for the other ad-hoc meetings that arise.

You don’t have to have 2 CLTs. It’s a minimum of 60 minutes. Yes, you can have 2 if you still have the 240. They are not supposed to count the time before and after school. Who told you that? The planning time has to be during the instructional day. Read the policy:

ELEMENTARY TEACHING ASSIGNMENTS (Grades K-6)
Elementary teachers engaged in the responsibilities associated with their position on a full- time basis shall be allowed 300 minutes of planning time per week or 600 minutes over a 2-week period. Within that time, a minimum of 60 minutes of collaborative planning time and 240 minutes of teacher-directed planning times per week or 120 minutes of collaborative planning time and 480 minutes of teacher-directed planning times over a 2- week period will be provided.
Classroom planning time is provided during art, physical education, music, and/or other instructional programming. Other certified personnel without direct classroom responsibilities may also be assigned in a manner that provides planning time. Such assignments may only exceed 10 hours per week per position with the approval of the region assistant superintendent.

You can still go down to one CLT and not have 240 hours, if you know you know.

We went down to 1 this year and it was amazing! Our team met when needed but often it was a quick 15-30 min meeting. If your principal is not giving you the right planning time, you should find a school with strong admin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one of the reasons people go private. This plan sounds ludicrous and would never happen there.

There’s so much irony in this because you’re right: this would never happen in private because in private school, nobody has to be formally educated in how to do things like teach kids to read. There’s no such thing as licensure requirements to ensure that teachers meet a minimum competency to educate. You just need a bachelor’s degree and a job application. There’d never be any such thing as 32 *additional hours* of literacy training all teachers at a private would ever be required to do. But yeah, private is definitely better

OK but you know what? This totally depends on the private.

DP, that can also be true. I hear that ones that cost $30-40K a year can be quite good.

What they cost has no bearing on the quality of the teachers. Ask yourself why teachers who could teach public and make twice as much and have job protection would choose to work at a private making very little money, being at will, and doing essentially the same kind of work unless they couldn’t teach for the state because they lacked the proper qualifications.

Some teachers leave public and go private. Not many and usually not the good ones. and the majority of private school teachers teach there because they aren’t able to teach elsewhere. What the school charges you doesn’t change that.

This is NOT true. 2/3rds of the teachers at my private school are former public school teachers. Most of us left for greater respect and autonomy. We grew tired of county micromanagement, and we didn’t want to support the counties’ poor decisions. And many of us are National Board Certified and many of us are very good at what we do. (It is true that it helps to have a high-earning spouse.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why did FCPS decide to do all these disruptive early releases (with double bus runs?!?) rather than just close for full day training? What was the rationale?

Some of us heard it would extend the school year (last day of school), it would still occur sporadically throughout the year (like Loudoun, and a constant area of complaint by FCPS parents) and the additional cost.

FCPS has its issues but honestly nothing makes parents in FCPS happy. The complaints are endless~ at this point it's just noise. Carry on.

It sounds like what you want from parents is to donate time and money, support teacher pay raises and bond funds at election time, tell our children that their teachers are always right in order to avoid undermining the classroom…and…that’s about it?

What value do you see parents having to the system outside the above?

Not the PP, but you read a lot more from that comment than I did.

Maybe, but if the lack of respect and consideration shown for parents by people claiming to be teachers is indicative of the FCPS attitude (which is seems to be) it’s a strong reason to go private. My parents were never treated like their views were “noise” when they raised concerns.

And let’s face it. By parents we mostly mean women. If this was dads who were expected to depart work early for seven additional days, the board would be up in arms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why did FCPS decide to do all these disruptive early releases (with double bus runs?!?) rather than just close for full day training? What was the rationale?

Some of us heard it would extend the school year (last day of school), it would still occur sporadically throughout the year (like Loudoun, and a constant area of complaint by FCPS parents) and the additional cost.

FCPS has its issues but honestly nothing makes parents in FCPS happy. The complaints are endless~ at this point it's just noise. Carry on.

It sounds like what you want from parents is to donate time and money, support teacher pay raises and bond funds at election time, tell our children that their teachers are always right in order to avoid undermining the classroom…and…that’s about it?

What value do you see parents having to the system outside the above?

Not the PP, but you read a lot more from that comment than I did.

Maybe, but if the lack of respect and consideration shown for parents by people claiming to be teachers is indicative of the FCPS attitude (which is seems to be) it’s a strong reason to go private. My parents were never treated like their views were “noise” when they raised concerns.

And let’s face it. By parents we mostly mean women. If this was dads who were expected to depart work early for seven additional days, the board would be up in arms.

The main problem with this board is the generalizations. It generalizes parents, teachers, schools, and FCPS itself. Can we not ask our husbands to take PTO a couple times?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why did FCPS decide to do all these disruptive early releases (with double bus runs?!?) rather than just close for full day training? What was the rationale?

Some of us heard it would extend the school year (last day of school), it would still occur sporadically throughout the year (like Loudoun, and a constant area of complaint by FCPS parents) and the additional cost.

FCPS has its issues but honestly nothing makes parents in FCPS happy. The complaints are endless~ at this point it's just noise. Carry on.

It sounds like what you want from parents is to donate time and money, support teacher pay raises and bond funds at election time, tell our children that their teachers are always right in order to avoid undermining the classroom…and…that’s about it?

What value do you see parents having to the system outside the above?

Not the PP, but you read a lot more from that comment than I did.

Maybe, but if the lack of respect and consideration shown for parents by people claiming to be teachers is indicative of the FCPS attitude (which is seems to be) it’s a strong reason to go private. My parents were never treated like their views were “noise” when they raised concerns.

And let’s face it. By parents we mostly mean women. If this was dads who were expected to depart work early for seven additional days, the board would be up in arms.

The main problem with this board is the generalizations. It generalizes parents, teachers, schools, and FCPS itself. Can we not ask our husbands to take PTO a couple times?

Of course we can, and many families will (my own included if we choose to participate in this). But there are a significant number of female-headed single parent households in the area, who do you suggest they “ask” to take PTO?

And the question is the underpinning assumptions. If FCPS assumed only or primarily men would be the ones asked to take time off, they would either have come to a different conclusion about when and how to take the days, they would have rolled out a specific plan for the “in school option” which doesn’t rely on unpaid female labor (explicit in the announcement) and when, for example, a single dad said this is deeply problematic his complaints wouldn’t be brushed off as “noise”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think doing the training Monday-Wednesday of Thanksgiving week is a great solution. MKe those days k-12 teacher workdays/training days, no need to close early on Mondags.

Those 3 days still aren’t enough to complete the entire training, and they’ll run into issues with staff that already has travel plans for that Wednesday, since it’s currently a holiday.

Clearly, changing the expected instructional schedule is not an issue with FCPS so this should be no biggie. If its ok to close early unexpectedly a whole bunch of days, switching a day off to a work day months from now shouldn't be an issue.

The difference is the current plan doesn’t change the employee calendar. Employees already planned on working those days. That’s not the case for the day before Thanksgiving.

Well, parents already planned on working all of these Monday afternoons. So I guess there will need to be some shared pain. Since we’re in this “together” right?

FCPS is the employer. They need to make time to provide their employees with this training. They made a decision. FCPS is not your employer.

Correct— FCPS is a service provider. And they are changing the terms of those services on the backs of one group (parents) to the benefit of another group (teachers/staff) while shortchanging a third group (students).

The only way in which they are held responsible for this decision is if voters hold their school board representatives accountable in November. Which should be easy since it will be after two disastrous early-releases are already behind us. I am writing my board members to say I will be eagerly seeking his proposals to keep children in the classroom.

Service providers change their terms and conditions ALL time without asking their customers.

And when their customers object, they are held responsible. Loudoun’s entire board got voted out. Why do you think they were so careful about parent engagement when they were confronted with the exact same mandate Fairfax is flailing with.

Then we’ll see if this school board gets voted out because of it. And who said FCPS is flailing…the parents maybe, but not the school district.

Rolling out a “plan” with no details on the alleged “enrichment” or even who might qualify for it, on the last week of school, when all the neighboring counties handled it months ago with professionalism and parent engagement is absolutely flailing.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one of the reasons people go private. This plan sounds ludicrous and would never happen there.

Again, looking through FCPS ubiquitous Equity Lens ™️ once again certain students from a certain demographic will indeed be unintentionally “left behind” - while the more savvy parents will have the flexibility to make suitable arrangements for their DC upon these sporadic early closings, other parents will not and will instead rely upon the school arrangements that will be subpar.

The school will usher the have-nots into the cafeteria or gym where they’ll stare at screens, eat donated snacks of Cheetos and chips, maybe go out to the playground where most will just sit on benches waiting for parent pick up.

This is the reality. There is very little actual learning taking place in FCPS, most especially in ES. The joke is on us.

This is really sad