Presenting a mock 23-24 calendar based on DCUM's preference for 5-day weeks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a lot of whining on DCUM about the number of "random" days off during the year, and the argument goes that this throws off regular routines and is difficult for working parents. I do not prescribe to this viewpoint as I think that scattered days off are better than a longer Summer Break, but I thought that I would conduct a "what-if" exercise.

This is what the school year could look like if 5-day weeks were prioritized, while staying within VA and traditional holiday guidelines. The big changes are dropping the newer holidays and aligning a Fall Break and the traditional Spring Break with the end of the quarter teacher activities. Teacher Workdays and Staff Development days would be consolidated to the end of the quarters.


Quarter 1: 47 days. Schools starts Monday, August 28th. Days off include: Sept. 1st/4th (state-mandated Labor Day weekend), Oct. 9th (Indigenous).

Fall Break: Monday, Nov. 6th - Friday, Nov. 10th. Overlaps with Election and Veteran's Day.

Quarter 2: 45 days, starting Monday, Nov. 13th. Days off include: 3-day Thanksgiving break, Winter Break Thursday 12/21 to Tuesday 1/2, MLK day Monday, Jan. 15th.

Q2 Break: Thurs, Feb 2nd and Fri., Feb 3rd.

Quarter 3: 44 days, starting Mon., Feb 5th. Days off include: Mon., Feb 19th (President's)

End of Q3 and Spring Break: Mon. Apr 8th to Fri. Apr 12th (overlaps with Eid, but divorced from Easter)

Quarter 4: 44 days, starting Mon. Apr 15th. Days off include: Mon May 27th (Memorial)

End of School Year on Friday, June 14th.


The end result is 29 weeks with a full 5-day school week. That is versus 23 weeks in the current 22-23 school calendar. It doesn't really provide any advantage to eliminate Indigenous/Presidents since the quarter ends would be more difficult to maneuver around and create additional shorter weeks.

NOPE. TWO FULL WEEKS FOR WINTER BREAK OR NOTHING.
Drop the November break. People would rather have the full two weeks at Christmas rather than some random week at the beginning of November.

Also, none of this matters unless you name the 194-days that teachers have to work. Which days do teachers also have off and which days do they have to work?

I would rather have a random week off in November than two weeks at the end of December. We'd probably be ablt to fly somewhere on the cheap, which is impossible at the end of December.

You and privileged friend from page 1 can get together to plan your flights to Bora Bora. The rest of us don’t have the luxury of jet setting and would have to either pay someone to watch our kids or take time off and hang out at home. I’d rather save my days off for the holidays.

This. DCUM is not normal world. It skews uber wealthy and privileged. The rest of the world works, and we’re tied to business world hours. Having a calendar that matches normal operations would be welcome.

It should be normal. Aren’t teachers and admins professionals too? There’s a reason business hours are business hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have not found it difficult to find camps for DS on the random days off or week long breaks. I strongly suspect that all those places offering day camps for President's Day would put together week long camps. The gyms and TKD places and community centers and the like will run their camps and it will be just fine.

+1 It would not be an issue to provide coverage for a week. My kids have always gone to spring break and winter break camps without any issue. They seem to be staffed by adults, high school students, teachers on leave, etc. Personally, I would vastly prefer a schedule with long breaks between each quarter instead of all of these random days off here and there. I am a fan of the proposed 31 July to end of May school calendar proposed upthread! But I know that change is hard and a number of people in this area prefer to have their summer in July and August rather than in June and July for whatever reason.

[Anonymous]

Just received DC's report card, the comment that really stuck out. "DC has difficulty transitioning back to the classroom routine after long weekends"

Well... can't say I didn't see that one coming.

[Anonymous]

By contrast, my DCs seem to do much better after breaks... recharges their batteries it seems by breaking up the monotony of routine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:By contrast, my DCs seem to do much better after breaks... recharges their batteries it seems by breaking up the monotony of routine.

Your DC is a snowflake. We do not need this many breaks. No one does. It’s not educationally prudent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:By contrast, my DCs seem to do much better after breaks... recharges their batteries it seems by breaking up the monotony of routine.

+1 yep! We love them!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:By contrast, my DCs seem to do much better after breaks... recharges their batteries it seems by breaking up the monotony of routine.

Your DC is a snowflake. We do not need this many breaks. No one does. It’s not educationally prudent.

Sure it is, it just doesn't align with your work schedule and so you seek some other justification for your stance. *shrug*

[Anonymous]

survey is out--start a new thread!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:survey is out--start a new thread!

Sadly, they didn't seem to like my proposed calendar. Oh well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:By contrast, my DCs seem to do much better after breaks... recharges their batteries it seems by breaking up the monotony of routine.

Your DC is a snowflake. We do not need this many breaks. No one does. It’s not educationally prudent.

Sure it is, it just doesn't align with your work schedule and so you seek some other justification for your stance. *shrug*

I’m not the PP, but my snowflake is in middle school so my work schedule is irrelevant at this point — however, he struggled during the many 4-day school weeks, as it took him off his routine. That’s just how he rolls. (He actually enjoys school.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I say we keep the current calendar AND take every Monday off for a teacher work day. Working parents will just have to figure something out. The teachers really need more time for in-service meetings and to grade papers. Everyone else is moving to a 4-day work week, why not FCPS?

Besides being a crazy suggestion, there is not the infrastructure to support childcare needs for thousands of student to have every monday.

[Anonymous]

My kid loves school too, but on the one hand he's very social and popular and on the other hand he needs quite time alone to recharge his batteries sometimes. For him, extra days off during the school year are a much needed blessing. We also cut back on extracurriculars because as much as he loves sports and FIRST and other activities, it can get to be too much... and that's why a single weekday off provides more relief than a full weekend does, because there's no other activities he has to think about. It's actually the break from the "routine" that he seems to cherish and thrive on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's another idea...

Quarter 1 -- 46 days
- Begin on 31 July and end on 4 October
- 4 day Labor Day weekend
- 2 teacher work days plus a week break 9-13 October

Quarter 2 -- 44 days
- Begin on 16 October and end on 19 December
- Off on Election Day
- 2 teacher work days plus a two week semester break 25 Dec to 5 Jan

Quarter 3 -- 46 days
- Begin on 8 January and end on 13 March
- Off on MLK Day and Presidents Day
-2 teacher work days plus a week break 18-22 March

Quarter 4 -- 44 days
- Begin on 25 March and end on 23 May
- Early release for the last 2 days of school (1/2 teacher work days)
- 1 teacher work day on 24 May

9 week summer in June and July.

How about that schedule?

All you pro starting as early as possible in the July/August are forgetting that a lot of businesses rely on teenagers and college aged kids to work during their busy time of the year. It already caused hardship to move to a late August start date instead of September. And nobody wants to start back to school in July.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's another idea...

Quarter 1 -- 46 days
- Begin on 31 July and end on 4 October
- 4 day Labor Day weekend
- 2 teacher work days plus a week break 9-13 October

Quarter 2 -- 44 days
- Begin on 16 October and end on 19 December
- Off on Election Day
- 2 teacher work days plus a two week semester break 25 Dec to 5 Jan

Quarter 3 -- 46 days
- Begin on 8 January and end on 13 March
- Off on MLK Day and Presidents Day
-2 teacher work days plus a week break 18-22 March

Quarter 4 -- 44 days
- Begin on 25 March and end on 23 May
- Early release for the last 2 days of school (1/2 teacher work days)
- 1 teacher work day on 24 May

9 week summer in June and July.

How about that schedule?

All you pro starting as early as possible in the July/August are forgetting that a lot of businesses rely on teenagers and college aged kids to work during their busy time of the year. It already caused hardship to move to a late August start date instead of September. And nobody wants to start back to school in July.

Well, the county didn't crater when they pushed the school start time back two weeks. I'll bet it won't crater if they push the start date back another two weeks. Life adjusts and moves on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SOLs are complete in May (including retakes). We are in school till mid June.

Sure. I would be happy with an early August start and a beginning of June stop.
But also, consider some of the seniors who need to pass an SOL to graduate; they graduate at the beginning of June about 2 weeks before the end of school for everyone else.

How about we stop taking so many random days off during the school year. The reason we go so late and because of VA law for having 180 days. You all need to care that a good 14 of those days don't teach your kids anything. They're just there to satisfy this law.

But I (and many others) do not want a 3 month summer. Personally, I would prefer a fall break, a Thanksgiving break, a winter break, a spring break, and an 8 week summer.

I would prefer year round school with a 2 week break at the end of each quarter. I don't think the fall needs a fall break leading into a Thanksgiving break (I am assuming you mean more then the 2 days off right now) leading into winter break 5 weeks after Thanksgiving.

My ideal would be to build a calendar were you have 2 weeks off after the end of quarters and the second quarter ending at winter break. But most people seem to think that the idea of a shorter summer break in favor of a series of 2 weeks breaks is somehow threatening because they have to have a long summer break. (shrugs)

I think FCPS would be fine with the calendar if they choose either Federal Holidays off or Religious/Diversity days off but not both.

Year round school isn’t happening.