Calendar survey

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These "planning days" remain a mystery to me.

Right now ES teachers work seven hours - 830 to 330.

So that's 5 hours a week - that could be used for "planning". Why can't they do their planning then?

How much does "planning" really change, year to year?

If there are 180 days of instruction then that's 36 five-day weeks which leaves 16 more weeks in the year. Why can't "planning" occur in those other weeks?

My God, you have absolutely no clue what teachers do.

Of course lesson plans change from year-to-year as needs change. Additionally, teachers must plan differentiated lessons for a minimum of four different groups.

Planning time is also grading time and data analysis time.

Planning time is also time for IEP meetings, 504 meetings, child studies, local screenings, and parent conferences.

Teachers get paid for 195 days. Do you want them to spend those 16 weeks you propose they plan, UNPAID?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most people are unhappy with all of the TWD on top of the new days off. The following holidays fall on a weekend next year: Rosh Hashanah, Diwali, Lunar NY. My proposed calendar was as follows:

Start Date Aug 21
Friday and Monday of Labor Day off
Yom Kippur(Mon- Sept 25)off or TWD
Teacher Workdays on Mon Nov 6 and 7 (Election Day)
Thanksgiving W/Th/Fri
Winter Break Dec 23- Jan 7
Martin Luther King Day off
2 TWD at End of Q2
Spring Break-First Week of April
Eid- TWD or off
Memorial Day off
Last Day June 14

TWD for all the additional religious days. It's so many days off already.
How many snow days are built in? I haven't even factored in all the days in Jan/Feb that the kids will be out of school bc FCPS closed for flurries.

There are extra hours built in, but no actual extra days. There aren't any extra days that can be removed from the 180 that are scheduled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought starting in August would help us get our earlier in June and it doesn't. Now we also have all these random days off and religious holidays built in, in addition to 14 snow days that we don't get back if we dont use them. Why do we have spring break at the end of april when we get out in June. How is it this impossible for adults to work out a calendar?

Why do you want to be out earlier in June?

I too am curious. It seems to me like parents have an odd longing for summer and then like to come back and complain about summer slide and teachers like to complain about how it takes weeks to ramp up to the previous level.

I think that there is a percentage of families that want 9-10 weeks of summer, or longer, and are miffed at the idea of a shorter break. The ones complaining that summer is too short tend to be the summer swim team families, the travel to Europe or Asia and spend 8 weeks families, and the wed to 8 weeks of sleep away summer camp families.

The 2 working parents families would be fine with a shorter summer because it is less expensive to travel at other times of the years and they find camps for their kids any ways.

There is a subset of the SAHP crowd that want a shorter summer because they can't afford camps and travel or swim clubs and 9-10 weeks home with their kids 24/7 is hard.

I suspect that there are more people in the shorten summer and have longer breaks during the school year camp but we don't have as much money to lobby the SB with and don't scream nearly as loudly as the swim team parents.

Ha! Maybe you are right. I am a swim parent and on the side of not wanting to go past two weeks in June.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most people are unhappy with all of the TWD on top of the new days off. The following holidays fall on a weekend next year: Rosh Hashanah, Diwali, Lunar NY. My proposed calendar was as follows:

Start Date Aug 21
Friday and Monday of Labor Day off
Yom Kippur(Mon- Sept 25)off or TWD
Teacher Workdays on Mon Nov 6 and 7 (Election Day)
Thanksgiving W/Th/Fri
Winter Break Dec 23- Jan 7
Martin Luther King Day off
2 TWD at End of Q2
Spring Break-First Week of April
Eid- TWD or off
Memorial Day off
Last Day June 14

TWD for all the additional religious days. It's so many days off already.
How many snow days are built in? I haven't even factored in all the days in Jan/Feb that the kids will be out of school bc FCPS closed for flurries.

There are extra hours built in, but no actual extra days. There aren't any extra days that can be removed from the 180 that are scheduled.

But they could shorten the day by a few min each. OR do as (Loudon?) did and switch to another method (days v. minutes). This is not insurmountable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those who don’t get the survey, here is the gist:

1) Are you happy with the current calendar?
2) Preferred start/end date pairing (Aug 21 or 28)
3) Length of Winter and Spring Breaks (both long, both short, mix)
4) Fix Spring Break or match with Easter
5) Importance of pairing Spring Break with close districts
6) How to give teachers planning time (early dismissal, late arrival, or full days)
7) Impact on child care of #6 (which has least impact)
8) How to give elementary school teachers additional planning time (shorten day, early dismissals, full days at quarter end)
9) How to deal with added days (extend year or reduce other usual holidays)
Following trace from 9:
9a) Reduce Spring Break by 1
9b) Reduce Spring Break by 2
9c) Reduce Winter Break by 1
9d) Reduce Winter Break by 2
9e) Eliminate Wednesday before T-day
[b]9f) One asynchronous day
9g) Two asynchronous days

Omg, NO!!!! Absolutely no asynchronous days. Eliminate the Wednesday before Thanksgiving?? How the f do we travel? What the f?

[Anonymous]

I can't even believe they had the audacity to ask about asynchronous days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't even believe they had the audacity to ask about asynchronous days.

+1. WTH??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those who don’t get the survey, here is the gist:

1) Are you happy with the current calendar?
2) Preferred start/end date pairing (Aug 21 or 28)
3) Length of Winter and Spring Breaks (both long, both short, mix)
4) Fix Spring Break or match with Easter
5) Importance of pairing Spring Break with close districts
6) How to give teachers planning time (early dismissal, late arrival, or full days)
7) Impact on child care of #6 (which has least impact)
8) How to give elementary school teachers additional planning time (shorten day, early dismissals, full days at quarter end)
9) How to deal with added days (extend year or reduce other usual holidays)
Following trace from 9:
9a) Reduce Spring Break by 1
9b) Reduce Spring Break by 2
9c) Reduce Winter Break by 1
9d) Reduce Winter Break by 2
9e) Eliminate Wednesday before T-day
[b]9f) One asynchronous day
9g) Two asynchronous days

Omg, NO!!!! Absolutely no asynchronous days. Eliminate the Wednesday before Thanksgiving?? How the f do we travel? What the f?

You travel like the rest of us commoners that have to work that Wednesday or take PTO. WTF?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't even believe they had the audacity to ask about asynchronous days.

+1. WTH??

+1
This should be illegal. It is a terrible idea to pretend that is a school day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those who don’t get the survey, here is the gist:

1) Are you happy with the current calendar?
2) Preferred start/end date pairing (Aug 21 or 28)
3) Length of Winter and Spring Breaks (both long, both short, mix)
4) Fix Spring Break or match with Easter
5) Importance of pairing Spring Break with close districts
6) How to give teachers planning time (early dismissal, late arrival, or full days)
7) Impact on child care of #6 (which has least impact)
8) How to give elementary school teachers additional planning time (shorten day, early dismissals, full days at quarter end)
9) How to deal with added days (extend year or reduce other usual holidays)
Following trace from 9:
9a) Reduce Spring Break by 1
9b) Reduce Spring Break by 2
9c) Reduce Winter Break by 1
9d) Reduce Winter Break by 2
9e) Eliminate Wednesday before T-day
[b]9f) One asynchronous day
9g) Two asynchronous days

Omg, NO!!!! Absolutely no asynchronous days. Eliminate the Wednesday before Thanksgiving?? How the f do we travel? What the f?

You travel like the rest of us commoners that have to work that Wednesday or take PTO. WTF?

Not PP but I would just pull my kids again like I did before the day was off. It is stupid to add all these extra days and then consider making them go to school that day.

[Anonymous]

Just give us federal holidays off and get out earlier

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those who don’t get the survey, here is the gist:

1) Are you happy with the current calendar?
2) Preferred start/end date pairing (Aug 21 or 28)
3) Length of Winter and Spring Breaks (both long, both short, mix)
4) Fix Spring Break or match with Easter
5) Importance of pairing Spring Break with close districts
6) How to give teachers planning time (early dismissal, late arrival, or full days)
7) Impact on child care of #6 (which has least impact)
8) How to give elementary school teachers additional planning time (shorten day, early dismissals, full days at quarter end)
9) How to deal with added days (extend year or reduce other usual holidays)
Following trace from 9:
9a) Reduce Spring Break by 1
9b) Reduce Spring Break by 2
9c) Reduce Winter Break by 1
9d) Reduce Winter Break by 2
9e) Eliminate Wednesday before T-day
[b]9f) One asynchronous day
9g) Two asynchronous days

Omg, NO!!!! Absolutely no asynchronous days. Eliminate the Wednesday before Thanksgiving?? How the f do we travel? What the f?

I've had students in FCPS since 2015. We did not used to get Wednesday off. Then they made it an early release. Then a few years ago they gave it off. It's not like it's never happened that we've had school that day. Now, there were so many students and teachers gone that it made sense to give it off, but still.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These "planning days" remain a mystery to me.

Right now ES teachers work seven hours - 830 to 330.

So that's 5 hours a week - that could be used for "planning". Why can't they do their planning then?

How much does "planning" really change, year to year?

If there are 180 days of instruction then that's 36 five-day weeks which leaves 16 more weeks in the year. Why can't "planning" occur in those other weeks?

My God, you have absolutely no clue what teachers do.

Of course lesson plans change from year-to-year as needs change. Additionally, teachers must plan differentiated lessons for a minimum of four different groups.

Planning time is also grading time and data analysis time.

Planning time is also time for IEP meetings, 504 meetings, child studies, local screenings, and parent conferences.

Teachers get paid for 195 days. Do you want them to spend those 16 weeks you propose they plan, UNPAID?

I've never had an IEP meeting out of school hours?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those who don’t get the survey, here is the gist:

1) Are you happy with the current calendar?
2) Preferred start/end date pairing (Aug 21 or 28)
3) Length of Winter and Spring Breaks (both long, both short, mix)
4) Fix Spring Break or match with Easter
5) Importance of pairing Spring Break with close districts
6) How to give teachers planning time (early dismissal, late arrival, or full days)
7) Impact on child care of #6 (which has least impact)
8) How to give elementary school teachers additional planning time (shorten day, early dismissals, full days at quarter end)
9) How to deal with added days (extend year or reduce other usual holidays)
Following trace from 9:
9a) Reduce Spring Break by 1
9b) Reduce Spring Break by 2
9c) Reduce Winter Break by 1
9d) Reduce Winter Break by 2
9e) Eliminate Wednesday before T-day
9f) One asynchronous day
9g) Two asynchronous days

I love how reducing Spring Break by a day or two was thrown in there, like the length of Spring Break was suddenly an issue. It's not, nobody ever had a problem with the length of Spring Break.

Hey, School Board, the problem is all the random religious holidays you threw in ON TOP OF the ridiculously long Winter Break. Fix that, and you'll have a calendar that makes sense.

reducing Spring Break is not helpful for single working parents that cannot takeoff that week. Also, no one is practicing Easter for 8 days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These "planning days" remain a mystery to me.

Right now ES teachers work seven hours - 830 to 330.

So that's 5 hours a week - that could be used for "planning". Why can't they do their planning then?

How much does "planning" really change, year to year?

If there are 180 days of instruction then that's 36 five-day weeks which leaves 16 more weeks in the year. Why can't "planning" occur in those other weeks?

My God, you have absolutely no clue what teachers do.

Of course lesson plans change from year-to-year as needs change. Additionally, teachers must plan differentiated lessons for a minimum of four different groups.

Planning time is also grading time and data analysis time.

Planning time is also time for IEP meetings, 504 meetings, child studies, local screenings, and parent conferences.

Teachers get paid for 195 days. Do you want them to spend those 16 weeks you propose they plan, UNPAID?

I've never had an IEP meeting out of school hours?

correct. They plan IEP meetings during the day, even if subs and others must cover their classes. Teachers are pulled out quite regularly.