FCPS Early Release Mondays

[Anonymous]

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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”.

It’s frustrating that society isn’t fair to women and that real change takes time.

My husband is deployed, so I suspect if they’re a single mom or dad, they already have childcare in place prior to this announcement. It may be an additional expense, which single parents are more than familiar with. It sucks, but life is full of additional expenses that we can’t control (for all households) … but again, they can opt into the stay at school option which will either be free or low-cost.

Can you point to the communication from FCPS that says that it will be free or low cost? Because I’ve seen that here but absolutely nowhere else.

And you’re right. Real change takes time. But it also requires people to call out sexism when it’s happening and not be dismissed as “noise” as above.

Sent to staff last Friday - read sentence 2:

“We understand that for some families, early release days may present a significant challenge. With that in mind — where necessary — FCPS will provide no-cost opportunities for students to remain at school until their regular dismissal time. Options may include opening SACC sites earlier to supervise currently enrolled SACC students and partnering with community groups to offer supervised enrichment activities. Licensed educators from central office will also be available to support this work. High-impact tutoring will be provided to identified students. The steering committee will provide direction to this work.”

Ok, interesting. Families received this:
While these are designated as early release days — where necessary — we will ensure that every student has supervised enrichment activities at the school and returns home at the regular time if that is what works best for your family. Licensed educators from FCPS’ central office will also be available to support schools. High-impact tutoring will be available for identified students.

I wonder why the wording wasn’t the same.

Written in muddled edu-speak. Key words include; “enrichment activities,” “licensed educators,” “central office,”
“support” and what the heck is “high-impact tutoring” ?

Can you imagine trying to interpret this word salad if your native language isn’t English?

High impact tutors is another governor initiative to help get students on grade level. I know many and will tell you the people I know will leave if they are asked to babysit....it's one thing for them to see their regularly scheduled groups....it's another to babysit. I hope FCPS doesn't mess that up-we need these people to keep working with kids in small groups. They are certified educators...and they make a difference.

Interesting. Maybe it’s different in elementary? The ones at my high school were not. They had college degrees in the subject they were tutoring (or an adjacent one) but they did not have any teaching experience or licensure.

It was a mixed bag. The requirement that tutoring had to happen during that subject made it rough, as students missed instruction to receive remediation from a semi qualified person. I wish it had happened in lieu of advisory or PE or something instead.

We are lucky then-we had 4 certified teachers who wanted part time (ES). I think you are right though with high schools....they do little for students who don't have an IEP.

[Anonymous]

So now they want to have community conversations on the early release Mondays???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So now they want to have community conversations on the early release Mondays???

I hope they give more clarity on what type of after school options may be available. My DS’s school’s PTA is pretty on top of things and organizes a lot of enrichment, but it’s not free. Or even cheap/low cost. It’s ok for us but our school is about 35% FARMS last I checked so anything with an additional cost is too much for a significant minority of the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So now they want to have community conversations on the early release Mondays???

The airing of the grievances.
They want us all to get out all of our anxiety and anger and help them problem solve and end up with the answer they already have because they have probably thought of 99% of it. And they will help you arrive at the same conclusion they have: that a short day is better than no day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So now they want to have community conversations on the early release Mondays???

I hope they give more clarity on what type of after school options may be available. My DS’s school’s PTA is pretty on top of things and organizes a lot of enrichment, but it’s not free. Or even cheap/low cost. It’s ok for us but our school is about 35% FARMS last I checked so anything with an additional cost is too much for a significant minority of the school.

If most kids gets lumped into a gym for three hours and the kids with money get tutoring, I'd expect calls to the principal and regional superintendent. If they can't make it low cost, then they don't need to use school grounds during those hours

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So now they want to have community conversations on the early release Mondays???

I hope they give more clarity on what type of after school options may be available. My DS’s school’s PTA is pretty on top of things and organizes a lot of enrichment, but it’s not free. Or even cheap/low cost. It’s ok for us but our school is about 35% FARMS last I checked so anything with an additional cost is too much for a significant minority of the school.

If most kids gets lumped into a gym for three hours and the kids with money get tutoring, I'd expect calls to the principal and regional superintendent. If they can't make it low cost, then they don't need to use school grounds during those hours

A few schools, but not very many do not even have SACC on site.

[Anonymous]

From an ES website:

Reasons for Early Release Mondays:

Demands on teacher time have increased dramatically since the pandemic. With the adoption of new textbooks, differentiated support plans for students, required professional development for the new Virginia Literacy Act, new reading and math SOLs from the state, and other initiatives—teachers have a lot to do in addition to actually teaching! These demands require blocks of uninterrupted, in person, and collaborative time to plan.

A well-supported and continuously improving teaching staff will lead to better educational outcomes for students.

Early release Mondays will also reduce our need for substitute teachers, which are very difficult to find.


Community Conversations

Superintendent Reid will host two Community Conversations about early release Mondays at Gatehouse Administration Center on:

Tuesday, June 25, 5:30-6:30 p.m.
Wednesday, June 26, 5:30-6:30 p.m.
Click on one of the dates above to register. Language interpretation and childcare will be available as needed

[Anonymous]

Somehow the rest of the state manages to teach kids 5 days a week

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So now they want to have community conversations on the early release Mondays???

The airing of the grievances.
They want us all to get out all of our anxiety and anger and help them problem solve and end up with the answer they already have because they have probably thought of 99% of it. And they will help you arrive at the same conclusion they have: that a short day is better than no day.

They train their principals and AP's to be like this too-even with the kids. Waste of time dealing with anyone in FCPS. FCPS is failing across the board

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So now they want to have community conversations on the early release Mondays???

I hope they give more clarity on what type of after school options may be available. My DS’s school’s PTA is pretty on top of things and organizes a lot of enrichment, but it’s not free. Or even cheap/low cost. It’s ok for us but our school is about 35% FARMS last I checked so anything with an additional cost is too much for a significant minority of the school.

If most kids gets lumped into a gym for three hours and the kids with money get tutoring, I'd expect calls to the principal and regional superintendent. If they can't make it low cost, then they don't need to use school grounds during those hours

You have no idea what you are going on about do you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Somehow the rest of the state manages to teach kids 5 days a week

APS still has early release Wednesdays.

FCPS will still be 5 days a week, it's just that the hours will not be evenly distributed through the days. This isn't a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So now they want to have community conversations on the early release Mondays???

I hope they give more clarity on what type of after school options may be available. My DS’s school’s PTA is pretty on top of things and organizes a lot of enrichment, but it’s not free. Or even cheap/low cost. It’s ok for us but our school is about 35% FARMS last I checked so anything with an additional cost is too much for a significant minority of the school.

If most kids gets lumped into a gym for three hours and the kids with money get tutoring, I'd expect calls to the principal and regional superintendent. If they can't make it low cost, then they don't need to use school grounds during those hours

You have no idea what you are going on about do you?

We have PTA programming, it's always when the school is closed. Do you really think a principal will let a PTA have expensive enrichment activities at a time when there are hordes of kids being monitored by subs doing nothing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So now they want to have community conversations on the early release Mondays???

I hope they give more clarity on what type of after school options may be available. My DS’s school’s PTA is pretty on top of things and organizes a lot of enrichment, but it’s not free. Or even cheap/low cost. It’s ok for us but our school is about 35% FARMS last I checked so anything with an additional cost is too much for a significant minority of the school.

If most kids gets lumped into a gym for three hours and the kids with money get tutoring, I'd expect calls to the principal and regional superintendent. If they can't make it low cost, then they don't need to use school grounds during those hours

You have no idea what you are going on about do you?

We have PTA programming, it's always when the school is closed. Do you really think a principal will let a PTA have expensive enrichment activities at a time when there are hordes of kids being monitored by subs doing nothing?

high impact tutoring is not PTA programming

[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: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”.

It’s frustrating that society isn’t fair to women and that real change takes time.

My husband is deployed, so I suspect if they’re a single mom or dad, they already have childcare in place prior to this announcement. It may be an additional expense, which single parents are more than familiar with. It sucks, but life is full of additional expenses that we can’t control (for all households) … but again, they can opt into the stay at school option which will either be free or low-cost.

Can you point to the communication from FCPS that says that it will be free or low cost? Because I’ve seen that here but absolutely nowhere else.

And you’re right. Real change takes time. But it also requires people to call out sexism when it’s happening and not be dismissed as “noise” as above.

Sent to staff last Friday - read sentence 2:

“We understand that for some families, early release days may present a significant challenge. With that in mind — where necessary — FCPS will provide no-cost opportunities for students to remain at school until their regular dismissal time. Options may include opening SACC sites earlier to supervise currently enrolled SACC students and partnering with community groups to offer supervised enrichment activities. Licensed educators from central office will also be available to support this work. High-impact tutoring will be provided to identified students. The steering committee will provide direction to this work.”

Ok, interesting. Families received this:
While these are designated as early release days — where necessary — we will ensure that every student has supervised enrichment activities at the school and returns home at the regular time if that is what works best for your family. Licensed educators from FCPS’ central office will also be available to support schools. High-impact tutoring will be available for identified students.

I wonder why the wording wasn’t the same.

Written in muddled edu-speak. Key words include; “enrichment activities,” “licensed educators,” “central office,”
“support” and what the heck is “high-impact tutoring” ?

Can you imagine trying to interpret this word salad if your native language isn’t English?

High impact tutors is another governor initiative to help get students on grade level. I know many and will tell you the people I know will leave if they are asked to babysit....it's one thing for them to see their regularly scheduled groups....it's another to babysit. I hope FCPS doesn't mess that up-we need these people to keep working with kids in small groups. They are certified educators...and they make a difference.

Interesting. Maybe it’s different in elementary? The ones at my high school were not. They had college degrees in the subject they were tutoring (or an adjacent one) but they did not have any teaching experience or licensure.

It was a mixed bag. The requirement that tutoring had to happen during that subject made it rough, as students missed instruction to receive remediation from a semi qualified person. I wish it had happened in lieu of advisory or PE or something instead.

We are lucky then-we had 4 certified teachers who wanted part time (ES). I think you are right though with high schools....they do little for students who don't have an IEP.

And what do they do for those with IEPs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So now they want to have community conversations on the early release Mondays???

I hope they give more clarity on what type of after school options may be available. My DS’s school’s PTA is pretty on top of things and organizes a lot of enrichment, but it’s not free. Or even cheap/low cost. It’s ok for us but our school is about 35% FARMS last I checked so anything with an additional cost is too much for a significant minority of the school.

If most kids gets lumped into a gym for three hours and the kids with money get tutoring, I'd expect calls to the principal and regional superintendent. If they can't make it low cost, then they don't need to use school grounds during those hours

You have no idea what you are going on about do you?

We have PTA programming, it's always when the school is closed. Do you really think a principal will let a PTA have expensive enrichment activities at a time when there are hordes of kids being monitored by subs doing nothing?

Dr. Reid suggested in the SB meeting that maybe PTAs would have the enrichment programming begin earlier on those days. I can’t imagine that in the same school they would want expensive enrichment programming AND hordes of kids being monitored by subs doing nothing…but at the same time I couldn’t have imagined Dr. Reid would suggest that strong PTAs could want to buddy up with a school across the county to support them. So who knows.