What's wrong with the calendar? It's good to have more days off to give both families and teachers a breather from the miserable daily grind. As a parent, I don't understand why parents of older kids who do not need babysitting (I get it when parents need daycare) want more school days.
My other concern is teachers unavailability to timely grade tests/assignments and post for parental review as is. Even with all the days dedicated to having teachers catch up on this work, they don't have ability to do this already, grades can be lagging weeks, which makes it difficult for the parents to assess when their child needs help. There is already little to no communications between schools/teachers and parents when kids aren't doing well or fail before things get worse (due to delayed posting of progress) that it's impossible to catch up or do anything. So, no, I don't want more schools days, more assignments, more prolonged busy work for my kids and myself as a working parent. I want to also have more days for kids to catch up on assignments, on sleep, or to simply decompress, hang out with friends beyond organized activities, etc.
I get it that a lot of parents want longer or around-the-year school situation where kids are out of their hair daily, but this also heavily penalizes families who do not need this and don't want their kids to be punished for absences.
And for this whole thing with more days of school to work, we seriously need to have more teachers, fewer kids per class, to allow teacher to spend time to grade, assess who needs help, provide help to the kids who fail or underperform, provide extra challenges for kids who overachieve and are bored, etc. have ability to contact parents when needed, etc.
You misunderstand. Many parents want kids in schools 5 days a week because all of these 3 or 4 day weeks extend the school year and make summer break shorter.
Exactly. A longer summer provides opportunities for high achieving high school students to do the summer enrichment programs and still start practice for fall sports and have some downtime. A Tuesday at home in Chantilly is a waste compared to a week in New Haven.
Ok, for the 1% the longer summer break is better. For everyone else, there is significant learning loss over the summer.
It’s way more than “the 1%”. Its every student with any value or interest outside the limits of FCPS offering. For example:
1. International students for whom the summer is the only opportunity to see family/immerse in language
2. Serious athletes especially in non-school programs like ballet and ice skating
3. Serious musicians doing summer conservatory programs
4. Families who send their kids to religiously affiliated camps — this is a big deal for a lot of Jewish families in the NE
And I don’t dispute that there may be learning loss. Parents can make a choice to send their kids to summer school if learning loss is their #1 concern. But for many, many Fairfax families, learning loss is an acceptable tradeoff to meet the needs that aren’t met in school .
Those are wants vs needs
There’s no “need” to be off on a random March Tuesday in order to limit families summer activities. Kids who need more school in the summer can sign up for summer school, but most kids don’t need it.
Gosh, it must be hard to be you. All that free summer time and money to spend on your kids lessons, camps and vacations, yet you are still miserable because the world isn’t meeting your perceived “needs.”
Look, if your kid is so significantly behind that they need a shorter summer to stay on track, I’m sympathetic. That must be hard. But most families have things they prioritize outside school— language, arts, sports, culture, even just family time. Public school cannot, and isn’t intended to, replace those things.
DP. I like having our outside priorities year-round, not crammed into summer months.
I’d much rather have a shorter summer and have more extended breaks spread throughout the school year.
My kid can still have her summer job, maybe lasting 7 weeks instead of 9. And then we can have a family vacation in October or February, when we don’t have to take her out of her job just to travel during the crowded summer months.
You, PP, don’t speak for all of us.[b] Bring on the shorter summer!
You don’t speak for all of us either. Some us want a longer summer and fewer disrupted weeks during the school year.
Great! So we agree.
So let’s stop with the “most people feel…” this and the “all high schoolers need…” that.
No solution is going to make everybody happy because we are all invested in our own interests, like the poster who keeps bringing up prestigious summer internships that impact like .003% of high schoolers.
Most people do want long summers. Thats why there was such outcry this year, including from teachers. Absolutely no one got up and said 25-26 was a good calendar for students or families.
Look… the loudest voices don’t always represent the bigger group.
And my point remains. No solution is going to please everybody because most people are fixated on their own interests.
I posted above about summer brain drain and how much time is wasted every school year reviewing the prior year’s material. I was met with comments about vacations and swim team, etc.
Let’s not pretend that people’s interests represent what’s best for the majority of students. It’s what’s best for them: their kids, their schedules, their preferences.
Summer swim quite literally changed my life. It’s how I fell in love with the sport and got a full ride to a very good university. The year round swim teams cannot replicate the magic of summer league. It’s hard to explain if you aren’t familiar with it. I am sure that other experiences that kids have over a 8 or 9 week summer are equally formative… 6 week sleep away camps being just one example. It would be a real shame to dramatically modify or get rid of these things just so kids can sit in public school buildings most of the year. And no, you can’t recreate a lot of these opportunities during a 5 week summer or shorter breaks throughout the year.
It feels like people who don’t have the means to create a good summer for their children want to get rid of it for everyone else, so they don’t have to feel bad.
This is silly. You think I’m trying to selfishly take away your summer because I’m without means and jealous of the opportunities you can provide?
No. I simply value school more than swim team. My children participate in both summer and club swim, and I STILL value school more.
We all have different priorities, I guess. I just think more study time and AP prep time during the school year is more important than decreasing a summer swim time by .001 seconds.
The kids aren't spending all those 3 and 4 day weeks studying.
They are spending them sleeping and playing on their phones.
Not all kids. Mine take multiple APs and have used the time off effectively.
+1 Yes! The random days off have been a blessing to my high schooler.
Same here!
I’m embarrassed for all of us if Fairfax kids somehow need four-day weeks in order to study so they can achieve what northeast kids can do with a normal schedule.
I can’t speak for all Northeast schools, but the ones I’m familiar with have a similar start and end time as FCPS (not counting this year) and if they start after Labor Day they go until the last week of June. Where their calendar differs is a they get a full week off for President’s day whereas FCPS scatters their closures. Northeast schools also only have a handful of snow days, so there is less uncertainty with weather disruptions.
Baloney.
Name the states that give a full week off for... presidents day
New York. Also, a lot of districts in Massachusetts.
A lot of New England gets a "February break."
I don't understand why you wouldn't Google it before posting.
And even with the weeklong winter break, they still have a longer summer than Fairfax. Growing up, this was the “skiing” vacation and it was long enough for kids to get significant outdoor time not frittering away a day on their phones on a Tuesday.
You sound privileged. Not every family can afford a skiing vacation for that week. There are probably some kids that would “fritter” the whole week away on their phones if their family can’t go anywhere. It doesn’t matter if it’s a day or a week. It’s up the parents to set the tone of how the kids spends their time off. My child gets school work done on the random days off. We would be one of the families that wouldn’t go anywhere anyway if it’s a week long break so we prefer the single one off days here and there. A concentrated week off would be torture for us.
“Skiing”!is in quotes because not everyone skis— but sleds and ice skates are very affordable, and I’m from a place where local ponds freeze solid by February and there’s a culture of being outdoors in the winter— much healthier for children.
“One offs” don’t provide the opportunity to visit out of state family, which is very common in this area. They don’t make it worth it for out-of-town grandparents or family members who might be unpaid caregivers to travel to help out. And, weeklong breaks allow municipalities like Fairfax to provide winter camps, which means kids aren’t free during time on their phone, but rather are supervised properly. No camps exist for these one off days.
One parent should take off work then if you can’t find a day camp. Your kids are your responsibility. If you think going to a camp is the only way to keep kids off of phones then you need help. A lot of people can’t afford camps. It’s called parenting and setting rules and expectations around phone use on days off. We aren’t going to advocate for a whole week off becuase you can’t find a day camp are are worried about your child’s phone use without a camp.
Are you the person who described a week with your kid as “torture”?
I said a random week off in February with no vacation plans and nothing to do would be torture, yes. We prefer the random one day per week where kids can catch up on sleep and work.
I tried that as an adult with my annual leave. I took every Friday off in the summer. It was okay. The next summer I took an entire week straight and actually felt refreshed and relaxed when I went back to work.
What's wrong with the calendar? It's good to have more days off to give both families and teachers a breather from the miserable daily grind. As a parent, I don't understand why parents of older kids who do not need babysitting (I get it when parents need daycare) want more school days.
My other concern is teachers unavailability to timely grade tests/assignments and post for parental review as is. Even with all the days dedicated to having teachers catch up on this work, they don't have ability to do this already, grades can be lagging weeks, which makes it difficult for the parents to assess when their child needs help. There is already little to no communications between schools/teachers and parents when kids aren't doing well or fail before things get worse (due to delayed posting of progress) that it's impossible to catch up or do anything. So, no, I don't want more schools days, more assignments, more prolonged busy work for my kids and myself as a working parent. I want to also have more days for kids to catch up on assignments, on sleep, or to simply decompress, hang out with friends beyond organized activities, etc.
I get it that a lot of parents want longer or around-the-year school situation where kids are out of their hair daily, but this also heavily penalizes families who do not need this and don't want their kids to be punished for absences.
And for this whole thing with more days of school to work, we seriously need to have more teachers, fewer kids per class, to allow teacher to spend time to grade, assess who needs help, provide help to the kids who fail or underperform, provide extra challenges for kids who overachieve and are bored, etc. have ability to contact parents when needed, etc.
You misunderstand. Many parents want kids in schools 5 days a week because all of these 3 or 4 day weeks extend the school year and make summer break shorter.
Exactly. A longer summer provides opportunities for high achieving high school students to do the summer enrichment programs and still start practice for fall sports and have some downtime. A Tuesday at home in Chantilly is a waste compared to a week in New Haven.
Ok, for the 1% the longer summer break is better. For everyone else, there is significant learning loss over the summer.
It’s way more than “the 1%”. Its every student with any value or interest outside the limits of FCPS offering. For example:
1. International students for whom the summer is the only opportunity to see family/immerse in language
2. Serious athletes especially in non-school programs like ballet and ice skating
3. Serious musicians doing summer conservatory programs
4. Families who send their kids to religiously affiliated camps — this is a big deal for a lot of Jewish families in the NE
And I don’t dispute that there may be learning loss. Parents can make a choice to send their kids to summer school if learning loss is their #1 concern. But for many, many Fairfax families, learning loss is an acceptable tradeoff to meet the needs that aren’t met in school .
Those are wants vs needs
There’s no “need” to be off on a random March Tuesday in order to limit families summer activities. Kids who need more school in the summer can sign up for summer school, but most kids don’t need it.
Gosh, it must be hard to be you. All that free summer time and money to spend on your kids lessons, camps and vacations, yet you are still miserable because the world isn’t meeting your perceived “needs.”
Look, if your kid is so significantly behind that they need a shorter summer to stay on track, I’m sympathetic. That must be hard. But most families have things they prioritize outside school— language, arts, sports, culture, even just family time. Public school cannot, and isn’t intended to, replace those things.
DP. I like having our outside priorities year-round, not crammed into summer months.
I’d much rather have a shorter summer and have more extended breaks spread throughout the school year.
My kid can still have her summer job, maybe lasting 7 weeks instead of 9. And then we can have a family vacation in October or February, when we don’t have to take her out of her job just to travel during the crowded summer months.
You, PP, don’t speak for all of us.[b] Bring on the shorter summer!
You don’t speak for all of us either. Some us want a longer summer and fewer disrupted weeks during the school year.
Great! So we agree.
So let’s stop with the “most people feel…” this and the “all high schoolers need…” that.
No solution is going to make everybody happy because we are all invested in our own interests, like the poster who keeps bringing up prestigious summer internships that impact like .003% of high schoolers.
Most people do want long summers. Thats why there was such outcry this year, including from teachers. Absolutely no one got up and said 25-26 was a good calendar for students or families.
Look… the loudest voices don’t always represent the bigger group.
And my point remains. No solution is going to please everybody because most people are fixated on their own interests.
I posted above about summer brain drain and how much time is wasted every school year reviewing the prior year’s material. I was met with comments about vacations and swim team, etc.
Let’s not pretend that people’s interests represent what’s best for the majority of students. It’s what’s best for them: their kids, their schedules, their preferences.
Summer swim quite literally changed my life. It’s how I fell in love with the sport and got a full ride to a very good university. The year round swim teams cannot replicate the magic of summer league. It’s hard to explain if you aren’t familiar with it. I am sure that other experiences that kids have over a 8 or 9 week summer are equally formative… 6 week sleep away camps being just one example. It would be a real shame to dramatically modify or get rid of these things just so kids can sit in public school buildings most of the year. And no, you can’t recreate a lot of these opportunities during a 5 week summer or shorter breaks throughout the year.
It feels like people who don’t have the means to create a good summer for their children want to get rid of it for everyone else, so they don’t have to feel bad.
This is silly. You think I’m trying to selfishly take away your summer because I’m without means and jealous of the opportunities you can provide?
No. I simply value school more than swim team. My children participate in both summer and club swim, and I STILL value school more.
We all have different priorities, I guess. I just think more study time and AP prep time during the school year is more important than decreasing a summer swim time by .001 seconds.
The kids aren't spending all those 3 and 4 day weeks studying.
They are spending them sleeping and playing on their phones.
Not all kids. Mine take multiple APs and have used the time off effectively.
+1 Yes! The random days off have been a blessing to my high schooler.
Same here!
I’m embarrassed for all of us if Fairfax kids somehow need four-day weeks in order to study so they can achieve what northeast kids can do with a normal schedule.
I can’t speak for all Northeast schools, but the ones I’m familiar with have a similar start and end time as FCPS (not counting this year) and if they start after Labor Day they go until the last week of June. Where their calendar differs is a they get a full week off for President’s day whereas FCPS scatters their closures. Northeast schools also only have a handful of snow days, so there is less uncertainty with weather disruptions.
Baloney.
Name the states that give a full week off for... presidents day
New York. Also, a lot of districts in Massachusetts.
A lot of New England gets a "February break."
I don't understand why you wouldn't Google it before posting.
And even with the weeklong winter break, they still have a longer summer than Fairfax. Growing up, this was the “skiing” vacation and it was long enough for kids to get significant outdoor time not frittering away a day on their phones on a Tuesday.
You sound privileged. Not every family can afford a skiing vacation for that week. There are probably some kids that would “fritter” the whole week away on their phones if their family can’t go anywhere. It doesn’t matter if it’s a day or a week. It’s up the parents to set the tone of how the kids spends their time off. My child gets school work done on the random days off. We would be one of the families that wouldn’t go anywhere anyway if it’s a week long break so we prefer the single one off days here and there. A concentrated week off would be torture for us.
“Skiing”!is in quotes because not everyone skis— but sleds and ice skates are very affordable, and I’m from a place where local ponds freeze solid by February and there’s a culture of being outdoors in the winter— much healthier for children.
“One offs” don’t provide the opportunity to visit out of state family, which is very common in this area. They don’t make it worth it for out-of-town grandparents or family members who might be unpaid caregivers to travel to help out. And, weeklong breaks allow municipalities like Fairfax to provide winter camps, which means kids aren’t free during time on their phone, but rather are supervised properly. No camps exist for these one off days.
One parent should take off work then if you can’t find a day camp. Your kids are your responsibility. If you think going to a camp is the only way to keep kids off of phones then you need help. A lot of people can’t afford camps. It’s called parenting and setting rules and expectations around phone use on days off. We aren’t going to advocate for a whole week off becuase you can’t find a day camp are are worried about your child’s phone use without a camp.
Are you the person who described a week with your kid as “torture”?
I said a random week off in February with no vacation plans and nothing to do would be torture, yes. We prefer the random one day per week where kids can catch up on sleep and work.
Don't move to the west coast. In California, there is a winter break in February. It's ski week for wealthy families.
Anonymous wrote:It’s just amazing to me that people truly look at the Fairfax County Public School system, and think to themselves “this, this is the pinnacle of what the world has to offer my child (or any other)” and so conclude the best place for them for as much of the year as possible is a FCPS facility. Maybe it’s a lack of imagination? Parental fatigue? It’s just very sad.
People who think FCPS is the pinnacle of education often come from elsewhere in the country with public school systems that are a lot worse. FCPS is objectively better than what they had but it is not objectively good. A lot of this is "I've made it!" ego. Add in the political piece that the board is all Dems and therefore it must be great and there is no convincing these people that their kid getting a 3.6 on watered down material and with infinite retakes isn't actually learning that much.
It’s not even about being the pinnacle of education. It’s about the whole of childhood/adolescence. Yes, school is both legally required and extremely important, but many, many students find their true passion outside of school, and those summer opportunities make up for huge gaps in the arts and sciences, in athletics, in culture. Wanting to take those away from students for something as generic as FCPS seems abusive.
PP - comment was more about the current calendar than year-round schooling. I am in agreement that a longer summer (and less random breaks) would be better. I was being supportive of the commenter who said that it's nuts people think the schools are so good we should keep kids in them all the time.
Agree. And the people who want this year round/swiss cheese calendar are the first to scream if anyone suggests teachers do more to make FCPS a better-than-meh program. Teachers won’t grade on time or return emails so what we need is…more time with them in charge of our students?
I'm a teacher and I don't really understand your statement. Are you claiming there's no need for students to go to school because teachers are irresponsible?
Personally, I've taken great advantage of this "swiss cheese" calendar. I've been more up-to-date on my grades than ever. I've had time to leave more thorough comments and I've had time to rework/revise lessons so they're better for my students. It's amazing what a gift work day can do! It's 8-10 hours of uninterrupted time to catch up without having to feel guilty for taking a Saturday away from my family.
I’m saying school isn’t so amazing in FCPS that it justifies removing more opportunities from students. Even with the swiss cheese schedule look how many threads there are thus year about unresponsive teachers and late grades. For that we should keep our kids out of camps? For that, kids should miss summer programs other students get? No thanks.
Thank you! This is well said. Was trying to explain how I felt and this is it. FCPS calendar combined with lack of attention on academics makes it not so great anymore. If we had wonderful
Academics and access to advanced material then I could forgive the weird calendar.
Instead I need the summer to make up for all the things! (No cursive for one, more advanced reading, attention math and introduction to other options my kids want to explore).
What's wrong with the calendar? It's good to have more days off to give both families and teachers a breather from the miserable daily grind. As a parent, I don't understand why parents of older kids who do not need babysitting (I get it when parents need daycare) want more school days.
My other concern is teachers unavailability to timely grade tests/assignments and post for parental review as is. Even with all the days dedicated to having teachers catch up on this work, they don't have ability to do this already, grades can be lagging weeks, which makes it difficult for the parents to assess when their child needs help. There is already little to no communications between schools/teachers and parents when kids aren't doing well or fail before things get worse (due to delayed posting of progress) that it's impossible to catch up or do anything. So, no, I don't want more schools days, more assignments, more prolonged busy work for my kids and myself as a working parent. I want to also have more days for kids to catch up on assignments, on sleep, or to simply decompress, hang out with friends beyond organized activities, etc.
I get it that a lot of parents want longer or around-the-year school situation where kids are out of their hair daily, but this also heavily penalizes families who do not need this and don't want their kids to be punished for absences.
And for this whole thing with more days of school to work, we seriously need to have more teachers, fewer kids per class, to allow teacher to spend time to grade, assess who needs help, provide help to the kids who fail or underperform, provide extra challenges for kids who overachieve and are bored, etc. have ability to contact parents when needed, etc.
You misunderstand. Many parents want kids in schools 5 days a week because all of these 3 or 4 day weeks extend the school year and make summer break shorter.
Exactly. A longer summer provides opportunities for high achieving high school students to do the summer enrichment programs and still start practice for fall sports and have some downtime. A Tuesday at home in Chantilly is a waste compared to a week in New Haven.
Ok, for the 1% the longer summer break is better. For everyone else, there is significant learning loss over the summer.
It’s way more than “the 1%”. Its every student with any value or interest outside the limits of FCPS offering. For example:
1. International students for whom the summer is the only opportunity to see family/immerse in language
2. Serious athletes especially in non-school programs like ballet and ice skating
3. Serious musicians doing summer conservatory programs
4. Families who send their kids to religiously affiliated camps — this is a big deal for a lot of Jewish families in the NE
And I don’t dispute that there may be learning loss. Parents can make a choice to send their kids to summer school if learning loss is their #1 concern. But for many, many Fairfax families, learning loss is an acceptable tradeoff to meet the needs that aren’t met in school .
Those are wants vs needs
There’s no “need” to be off on a random March Tuesday in order to limit families summer activities. Kids who need more school in the summer can sign up for summer school, but most kids don’t need it.
Gosh, it must be hard to be you. All that free summer time and money to spend on your kids lessons, camps and vacations, yet you are still miserable because the world isn’t meeting your perceived “needs.”
Look, if your kid is so significantly behind that they need a shorter summer to stay on track, I’m sympathetic. That must be hard. But most families have things they prioritize outside school— language, arts, sports, culture, even just family time. Public school cannot, and isn’t intended to, replace those things.
DP. I like having our outside priorities year-round, not crammed into summer months.
I’d much rather have a shorter summer and have more extended breaks spread throughout the school year.
My kid can still have her summer job, maybe lasting 7 weeks instead of 9. And then we can have a family vacation in October or February, when we don’t have to take her out of her job just to travel during the crowded summer months.
You, PP, don’t speak for all of us.[b] Bring on the shorter summer!
You don’t speak for all of us either. Some us want a longer summer and fewer disrupted weeks during the school year.
Great! So we agree.
So let’s stop with the “most people feel…” this and the “all high schoolers need…” that.
No solution is going to make everybody happy because we are all invested in our own interests, like the poster who keeps bringing up prestigious summer internships that impact like .003% of high schoolers.
Most people do want long summers. Thats why there was such outcry this year, including from teachers. Absolutely no one got up and said 25-26 was a good calendar for students or families.
Look… the loudest voices don’t always represent the bigger group.
And my point remains. No solution is going to please everybody because most people are fixated on their own interests.
I posted above about summer brain drain and how much time is wasted every school year reviewing the prior year’s material. I was met with comments about vacations and swim team, etc.
Let’s not pretend that people’s interests represent what’s best for the majority of students. It’s what’s best for them: their kids, their schedules, their preferences.
Summer swim quite literally changed my life. It’s how I fell in love with the sport and got a full ride to a very good university. The year round swim teams cannot replicate the magic of summer league. It’s hard to explain if you aren’t familiar with it. I am sure that other experiences that kids have over a 8 or 9 week summer are equally formative… 6 week sleep away camps being just one example. It would be a real shame to dramatically modify or get rid of these things just so kids can sit in public school buildings most of the year. And no, you can’t recreate a lot of these opportunities during a 5 week summer or shorter breaks throughout the year.
It feels like people who don’t have the means to create a good summer for their children want to get rid of it for everyone else, so they don’t have to feel bad.
This is silly. You think I’m trying to selfishly take away your summer because I’m without means and jealous of the opportunities you can provide?
No. I simply value school more than swim team. My children participate in both summer and club swim, and I STILL value school more.
We all have different priorities, I guess. I just think more study time and AP prep time during the school year is more important than decreasing a summer swim time by .001 seconds.
The kids aren't spending all those 3 and 4 day weeks studying.
They are spending them sleeping and playing on their phones.
Not all kids. Mine take multiple APs and have used the time off effectively.
+1 Yes! The random days off have been a blessing to my high schooler.
Same here!
I’m embarrassed for all of us if Fairfax kids somehow need four-day weeks in order to study so they can achieve what northeast kids can do with a normal schedule.
I can’t speak for all Northeast schools, but the ones I’m familiar with have a similar start and end time as FCPS (not counting this year) and if they start after Labor Day they go until the last week of June. Where their calendar differs is a they get a full week off for President’s day whereas FCPS scatters their closures. Northeast schools also only have a handful of snow days, so there is less uncertainty with weather disruptions.
Baloney.
Name the states that give a full week off for... presidents day
New York. Also, a lot of districts in Massachusetts.
A lot of New England gets a "February break."
I don't understand why you wouldn't Google it before posting.
And even with the weeklong winter break, they still have a longer summer than Fairfax. Growing up, this was the “skiing” vacation and it was long enough for kids to get significant outdoor time not frittering away a day on their phones on a Tuesday.
You sound privileged. Not every family can afford a skiing vacation for that week. There are probably some kids that would “fritter” the whole week away on their phones if their family can’t go anywhere. It doesn’t matter if it’s a day or a week. It’s up the parents to set the tone of how the kids spends their time off. My child gets school work done on the random days off. We would be one of the families that wouldn’t go anywhere anyway if it’s a week long break so we prefer the single one off days here and there. A concentrated week off would be torture for us.
“Skiing”!is in quotes because not everyone skis— but sleds and ice skates are very affordable, and I’m from a place where local ponds freeze solid by February and there’s a culture of being outdoors in the winter— much healthier for children.
“One offs” don’t provide the opportunity to visit out of state family, which is very common in this area. They don’t make it worth it for out-of-town grandparents or family members who might be unpaid caregivers to travel to help out. And, weeklong breaks allow municipalities like Fairfax to provide winter camps, which means kids aren’t free during time on their phone, but rather are supervised properly. No camps exist for these one off days.
One parent should take off work then if you can’t find a day camp. Your kids are your responsibility. If you think going to a camp is the only way to keep kids off of phones then you need help. A lot of people can’t afford camps. It’s called parenting and setting rules and expectations around phone use on days off. We aren’t going to advocate for a whole week off becuase you can’t find a day camp are are worried about your child’s phone use without a camp.
Are you the person who described a week with your kid as “torture”?
I said a random week off in February with no vacation plans and nothing to do would be torture, yes. We prefer the random one day per week where kids can catch up on sleep and work.
I tried that as an adult with my annual leave. I took every Friday off in the summer. It was okay. The next summer I took an entire week straight and actually felt refreshed and relaxed when I went back to work.
That’s nice. No clue what this has to do with high school students. You’re in a totally different stage of life.
Anonymous wrote:It’s just amazing to me that people truly look at the Fairfax County Public School system, and think to themselves “this, this is the pinnacle of what the world has to offer my child (or any other)” and so conclude the best place for them for as much of the year as possible is a FCPS facility. Maybe it’s a lack of imagination? Parental fatigue? It’s just very sad.
People who think FCPS is the pinnacle of education often come from elsewhere in the country with public school systems that are a lot worse. FCPS is objectively better than what they had but it is not objectively good. A lot of this is "I've made it!" ego. Add in the political piece that the board is all Dems and therefore it must be great and there is no convincing these people that their kid getting a 3.6 on watered down material and with infinite retakes isn't actually learning that much.
It’s not even about being the pinnacle of education. It’s about the whole of childhood/adolescence. Yes, school is both legally required and extremely important, but many, many students find their true passion outside of school, and those summer opportunities make up for huge gaps in the arts and sciences, in athletics, in culture. Wanting to take those away from students for something as generic as FCPS seems abusive.
PP - comment was more about the current calendar than year-round schooling. I am in agreement that a longer summer (and less random breaks) would be better. I was being supportive of the commenter who said that it's nuts people think the schools are so good we should keep kids in them all the time.
Agree. And the people who want this year round/swiss cheese calendar are the first to scream if anyone suggests teachers do more to make FCPS a better-than-meh program. Teachers won’t grade on time or return emails so what we need is…more time with them in charge of our students?
I'm a teacher and I don't really understand your statement. Are you claiming there's no need for students to go to school because teachers are irresponsible?
Personally, I've taken great advantage of this "swiss cheese" calendar. I've been more up-to-date on my grades than ever. I've had time to leave more thorough comments and I've had time to rework/revise lessons so they're better for my students. It's amazing what a gift work day can do! It's 8-10 hours of uninterrupted time to catch up without having to feel guilty for taking a Saturday away from my family.
I’m saying school isn’t so amazing in FCPS that it justifies removing more opportunities from students. Even with the swiss cheese schedule look how many threads there are thus year about unresponsive teachers and late grades. For that we should keep our kids out of camps? For that, kids should miss summer programs other students get? No thanks.
Thank you! This is well said. Was trying to explain how I felt and this is it. FCPS calendar combined with lack of attention on academics makes it not so great anymore. If we had wonderful
Academics and access to advanced material then I could forgive the weird calendar.
Instead I need the summer to make up for all the things! (No cursive for one, more advanced reading, attention math and introduction to other options my kids want to explore).
And, in the younger years, getting children outside for more than the 30 minutes that FCPS allows daily.
Anonymous wrote:Because attendance would tank if they did Monday or Friday.
Respectfully who cares? They aren’t doing anything those days. They still have to have lunch and recess which together with transition time, takes up close to an hour. Of a day that is already basically a half day anyway.
Anonymous wrote:Because attendance would tank if they did Monday or Friday.
Respectfully who cares? They aren’t doing anything those days. They still have to have lunch and recess which together with transition time, takes up close to an hour. Of a day that is already basically a half day anyway.
Beacuse attendance is now a part of the certification metrics and they want kids in the building for those half days. If you place them on a Monday or a Friday, families take long weekends. If you place them on a Wednesdays parents gripe but send their kids to school.
Anonymous wrote:Because attendance would tank if they did Monday or Friday.
Respectfully who cares? They aren’t doing anything those days. They still have to have lunch and recess which together with transition time, takes up close to an hour. Of a day that is already basically a half day anyway.
Beacuse attendance is now a part of the certification metrics and they want kids in the building for those half days. If you place them on a Monday or a Friday, families take long weekends. If you place them on a Wednesdays parents gripe but send their kids to school.
Then they need to make it worth it for those kids to be in that building. Building some programming in the three hours after “school” ends that parents see as valuable and the kids will be in the building.
Anonymous wrote:Because attendance would tank if they did Monday or Friday.
Respectfully who cares? They aren’t doing anything those days. They still have to have lunch and recess which together with transition time, takes up close to an hour. Of a day that is already basically a half day anyway.
Beacuse attendance is now a part of the certification metrics and they want kids in the building for those half days. If you place them on a Monday or a Friday, families take long weekends. If you place them on a Wednesdays parents gripe but send their kids to school.
I would need to see data on this. Anecdotally, my neighbors who take off from work for these days don’t find it worthwhile out of bed the morning routine (one of the more stressful parts of the day) for kids to be in school doing nothing for two hours. Do you have data suggesting Wednesday attendance on early release days is the same as regular days?
Anonymous wrote:Because attendance would tank if they did Monday or Friday.
So they don't want to make it helpful or useful to parents. It's all about inconvenience?? Half days on Friday would be nice. We'd still go to school in the morning and then start the weekend early.
Additionally, adult work schedules are always lightest on Monday and Fridays. It's not easy to get coverage on a random Wednesday afternoon.
Anonymous wrote:Because attendance would tank if they did Monday or Friday.
So they don't want to make it helpful or useful to parents. It's all about inconvenience?? Half days on Friday would be nice. We'd still go to school in the morning and then start the weekend early.
Additionally, adult work schedules are always lightest on Monday and Fridays. It's not easy to get coverage on a random Wednesday afternoon.
They did half days on Fridays the first year and found a drop off in attendance as a lot of people just started their weekend on Friday instead of sending their kids to school in the morning.
I agree it's an inconvenience for parents for what has become pointless (they're no longer learning a new curriculum, which was the point of implementing these half days in the first place) and I would rather have them on a Friday, but I understand the move.
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