Proposed APS Calendar Policy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here are facts.

APS does not care what any of us think. It's all about what the teachers want and the teachers want to match FCPS. I had a School Board Member tell me this to my face when they moved to pre-Labor Day start.

The added religious holidays will only go away if FCPS gets rid of them.

We are basically an FCPS outpost in many ways. Same reason we have to close or delay when there is not a real weather issue in Arlington. Gotta follow FCPS.

I think this is right and I wish they would just be more transparent about it. It’s obnoxious to ask for feedback when they aren’t going to listen to any of it.

I agree. But what I find interesting is that this issue largely relates to aligning childcare for APS teachers who live in FC. But when parents express concerns about childcare, the answer is "school isn't daycare". Teachers find it difficult to find childcare for a week in August and maybe a few days during the school year. The rest of us do it for 2 weeks of winter, 1 week of spring, 16 holidays, teacher workdays, 10 weeks of summer... Can't we all just agree that school IS childcare and that making schedules work for as many people as possible should be the goal? I don't understand why we insist in this country to continue to act as though people live under agrarian schedules, with Ma and Pa on the farm having kids helping with the harvest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here are facts.

APS does not care what any of us think. It's all about what the teachers want and the teachers want to match FCPS. I had a School Board Member tell me this to my face when they moved to pre-Labor Day start.

The added religious holidays will only go away if FCPS gets rid of them.

We are basically an FCPS outpost in many ways. Same reason we have to close or delay when there is not a real weather issue in Arlington. Gotta follow FCPS.

I think this is right and I wish they would just be more transparent about it. It’s obnoxious to ask for feedback when they aren’t going to listen to any of it.

I agree. But what I find interesting is that this issue largely relates to aligning childcare for APS teachers who live in FC. But when parents express concerns about childcare, the answer is "school isn't daycare". Teachers find it difficult to find childcare for a week in August and maybe a few days during the school year. The rest of us do it for 2 weeks of winter, 1 week of spring, 16 holidays, teacher workdays, 10 weeks of summer... Can't we all just agree that school IS childcare and that making schedules work for as many people as possible should be the goal? I don't understand why we insist in this country to continue to act as though people live under agrarian schedules, with Ma and Pa on the farm having kids helping with the harvest.

But all parents are going to have to find childcare no matter what the calendar is, so why not make it easier for teachers at least and align the calendars for them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t mind the calendar since the breaks seem good for my kids. What I wish existed was an optional Extended Day camp for full days off. I would gladly pay 1 fee for coverage of all single day holidays. There could be a hybrid option for holidays and early release days.

I bet parents would pay for that even if it was at a central location for each section of Arlington. Like using ATS for ATS, Ashlawn, Tuckahoe, and Cardinal.

That would be amazing if there was an option for extended day over the breaks. I know lots of folks that would pay for that setup.

Fairfax does this! But their extended day program, SACC, is a separate entity, I believe. In APS, extended day is part of APS.

That's right. It's an extended day program run by the county so on school days off, kids in that program can just go to programming at their schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here are facts.

APS does not care what any of us think. It's all about what the teachers want and the teachers want to match FCPS. I had a School Board Member tell me this to my face when they moved to pre-Labor Day start.

The added religious holidays will only go away if FCPS gets rid of them.

We are basically an FCPS outpost in many ways. Same reason we have to close or delay when there is not a real weather issue in Arlington. Gotta follow FCPS.

I think this is right and I wish they would just be more transparent about it. It’s obnoxious to ask for feedback when they aren’t going to listen to any of it.

I agree. But what I find interesting is that this issue largely relates to aligning childcare for APS teachers who live in FC. But when parents express concerns about childcare, the answer is "school isn't daycare". Teachers find it difficult to find childcare for a week in August and maybe a few days during the school year. The rest of us do it for 2 weeks of winter, 1 week of spring, 16 holidays, teacher workdays, 10 weeks of summer... Can't we all just agree that school IS childcare and that making schedules work for as many people as possible should be the goal? I don't understand why we insist in this country to continue to act as though people live under agrarian schedules, with Ma and Pa on the farm having kids helping with the harvest.

But all parents are going to have to find childcare no matter what the calendar is, so why not make it easier for teachers at least and align the calendars for them?

Because I am an Arlington resident who cannot control the decisions FCPS makes. If a teacher who lives in FCPS finds their school calendar burdensome, they can vote, comment at SB meetings, and get involved. I don't get to tell my employer to change their schedule just because it's inconvenient to the school calendar. Teachers who don't live in Arlington shouldn't be able to make the same claim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We would jump for joy if APS did more of a spring, fall, winter and then summer break with just federal holidays off. The amount of other holidays they are off is so disruptive. And, we are a family that technically celebrates one of the "other" religious holidays. We use to just pull our kiddos out if we wanted to, otherwise, they stayed in school.

I hope you send in a comment. Have heard from other parents that all of these days off are equally disruptive for their children and they really just want to have excused absences and no tests/due date and make sure those expectations are enforced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With school starting earlier and earlier does the "need to be 5 years old by the end of September" still stand? Or do kids now need to be 5 years old by September 1?

Isn't the age thing dictated by the state, not district level?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With a kid taking AP tests next week competing for 5s with kids who had 2-3 more weeks on instruction, I understand the benefit of starting earlier. HOWEVER, we need to get out earlier, too. It’s infuriating that they keep shrinking summer.

AP students represent a fraction of the student population, so I don’t think it makes sense to dictate the schedule according to their needs.

Plus, our start date moves up, but then they throw in an extra week of Christmas break and a bunch of teacher workdays, so by the time May rolls around they haven’t actually gotten any more instruction.

There’s not a fixed number of 5s to be awarded, so your kid isn’t competing.

And there’s nothing stopping your kid from picking up a prep book two (or even three!) weeks before school starts.

Tell me how starting 2 weeks earlier hurts your kid? or any kid?

I am just hearing a lot of whining about I don't waaaaant to start 2 weeks earlier!

But no real reasons not to.

Because kids should have a proper summer break. Going back in mid-August is insane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here are facts.

APS does not care what any of us think. It's all about what the teachers want and the teachers want to match FCPS. I had a School Board Member tell me this to my face when they moved to pre-Labor Day start.

The added religious holidays will only go away if FCPS gets rid of them.

We are basically an FCPS outpost in many ways. Same reason we have to close or delay when there is not a real weather issue in Arlington. Gotta follow FCPS.

I think this is right and I wish they would just be more transparent about it. It’s obnoxious to ask for feedback when they aren’t going to listen to any of it.

I agree. But what I find interesting is that this issue largely relates to aligning childcare for APS teachers who live in FC. But when parents express concerns about childcare, the answer is "school isn't daycare". Teachers find it difficult to find childcare for a week in August and maybe a few days during the school year. The rest of us do it for 2 weeks of winter, 1 week of spring, 16 holidays, teacher workdays, 10 weeks of summer... Can't we all just agree that school IS childcare and that making schedules work for as many people as possible should be the goal? I don't understand why we insist in this country to continue to act as though people live under agrarian schedules, with Ma and Pa on the farm having kids helping with the harvest.

I also see this as an area where extended day could fill the gaps. Why can't extended day be open on teacher work days? Or run a camp that they charge for during the random day offs? That's how it's run in MCPS, though it's a private company and I think more expensive. Charge more for it for the off days, but make it available!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here are facts.

APS does not care what any of us think. It's all about what the teachers want and the teachers want to match FCPS. I had a School Board Member tell me this to my face when they moved to pre-Labor Day start.

The added religious holidays will only go away if FCPS gets rid of them.

We are basically an FCPS outpost in many ways. Same reason we have to close or delay when there is not a real weather issue in Arlington. Gotta follow FCPS.

I think this is right and I wish they would just be more transparent about it. It’s obnoxious to ask for feedback when they aren’t going to listen to any of it.

I agree. But what I find interesting is that this issue largely relates to aligning childcare for APS teachers who live in FC. But when parents express concerns about childcare, the answer is "school isn't daycare". Teachers find it difficult to find childcare for a week in August and maybe a few days during the school year. The rest of us do it for 2 weeks of winter, 1 week of spring, 16 holidays, teacher workdays, 10 weeks of summer... Can't we all just agree that school IS childcare and that making schedules work for as many people as possible should be the goal? I don't understand why we insist in this country to continue to act as though people live under agrarian schedules, with Ma and Pa on the farm having kids helping with the harvest.

But all parents are going to have to find childcare no matter what the calendar is, so why not make it easier for teachers at least and align the calendars for them?

This area is competitive for teachers. APS doesn't really care if parents are unhappy on this particular topic. If we go away and don't want to use APS, they don't care at all. So they're going to defer to making the teachers happy.

I don't have a particular problem with it. I think it's a labor market issue and I get it. But I also wish they would just call it for what it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With a kid taking AP tests next week competing for 5s with kids who had 2-3 more weeks on instruction, I understand the benefit of starting earlier. HOWEVER, we need to get out earlier, too. It’s infuriating that they keep shrinking summer.

AP students represent a fraction of the student population, so I don’t think it makes sense to dictate the schedule according to their needs.

Plus, our start date moves up, but then they throw in an extra week of Christmas break and a bunch of teacher workdays, so by the time May rolls around they haven’t actually gotten any more instruction.

There’s not a fixed number of 5s to be awarded, so your kid isn’t competing.

And there’s nothing stopping your kid from picking up a prep book two (or even three!) weeks before school starts.

Tell me how starting 2 weeks earlier hurts your kid? or any kid?

I am just hearing a lot of whining about I don't waaaaant to start 2 weeks earlier!

But no real reasons not to.

Because kids should have a proper summer break. Going back in mid-August is insane.

Going back mid august is ok if they end earlier in June. If I had to choose, I would rather kids start early than end late. Why? Very little learning happens in June anyways so it makes more sense to end early than to start late. Now if it were up to me, we would start late and end early or have a longer spring break. I prefer breaks that are longer than random days off here and there. Breaks are easier to plan for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hey, before you make assumptions, this is what my senior told me. Not what I told my senior! Kid also said one of her teachers is doing nothing the rest of the year but grading AP exams and the class won't even be meeting anymore. Kid also said, and I quote, "we've covered the whole curriculum, so we won't be learning anything new." However this is a pattern that has existed since elementary school, in the whole "after the SOLs" time which was largely wasted from an academic perspective. And I did not blame the teachers. My parents, grandparents, etc. are all teachers. But the current APS calendar includes a lot of wasted time, and that's fact.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With a kid taking AP tests next week competing for 5s with kids who had 2-3 more weeks on instruction, I understand the benefit of starting earlier. HOWEVER, we need to get out earlier, too. It’s infuriating that they keep shrinking summer.

AP students represent a fraction of the student population, so I don’t think it makes sense to dictate the schedule according to their needs.

Plus, our start date moves up, but then they throw in an extra week of Christmas break and a bunch of teacher workdays, so by the time May rolls around they haven’t actually gotten any more instruction.

There’s not a fixed number of 5s to be awarded, so your kid isn’t competing.

And there’s nothing stopping your kid from picking up a prep book two (or even three!) weeks before school starts.

Tell me how starting 2 weeks earlier hurts your kid? or any kid?

I am just hearing a lot of whining about I don't waaaaant to start 2 weeks earlier!

But no real reasons not to.

Because kids should have a proper summer break. Going back in mid-August is insane.

Going back mid august is ok if they end earlier in June. If I had to choose, I would rather kids start early than end late. Why? Very little learning happens in June anyways so it makes more sense to end early than to start late. Now if it were up to me, we would start late and end early or have a longer spring break. I prefer breaks that are longer than random days off here and there. Breaks are easier to plan for.

Mid-August is just nuts.

Start Labor Day, remove religious holidays and extra random days off. Only have teacher work days - do multiple half-days for those if that helps with childcare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With a kid taking AP tests next week competing for 5s with kids who had 2-3 more weeks on instruction, I understand the benefit of starting earlier. HOWEVER, we need to get out earlier, too. It’s infuriating that they keep shrinking summer.

AP students represent a fraction of the student population, so I don’t think it makes sense to dictate the schedule according to their needs.

Plus, our start date moves up, but then they throw in an extra week of Christmas break and a bunch of teacher workdays, so by the time May rolls around they haven’t actually gotten any more instruction.

There’s not a fixed number of 5s to be awarded, so your kid isn’t competing.

And there’s nothing stopping your kid from picking up a prep book two (or even three!) weeks before school starts.

Tell me how starting 2 weeks earlier hurts your kid? or any kid?

I am just hearing a lot of whining about I don't waaaaant to start 2 weeks earlier!

But no real reasons not to.

Because kids should have a proper summer break. Going back in mid-August is insane.

Going back mid august is ok if they end earlier in June. If I had to choose, I would rather kids start early than end late. Why? Very little learning happens in June anyways so it makes more sense to end early than to start late. Now if it were up to me, we would start late and end early or have a longer spring break. I prefer breaks that are longer than random days off here and there. Breaks are easier to plan for.

Yes, if we start earlier we should end earlier. They keep shrinking summer break and then are shocked that no one wants to teach summer school.

Also, random days off... like why does grade prep have to happen on a Tuesday? Could you move that to Monday or Friday? It's not like you're turning report cards around THAT fast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here are facts.

APS does not care what any of us think. It's all about what the teachers want and the teachers want to match FCPS. I had a School Board Member tell me this to my face when they moved to pre-Labor Day start.

The added religious holidays will only go away if FCPS gets rid of them.

We are basically an FCPS outpost in many ways. Same reason we have to close or delay when there is not a real weather issue in Arlington. Gotta follow FCPS.

I think this is right and I wish they would just be more transparent about it. It’s obnoxious to ask for feedback when they aren’t going to listen to any of it.

I agree. But what I find interesting is that this issue largely relates to aligning childcare for APS teachers who live in FC. But when parents express concerns about childcare, the answer is "school isn't daycare". Teachers find it difficult to find childcare for a week in August and maybe a few days during the school year. The rest of us do it for 2 weeks of winter, 1 week of spring, 16 holidays, teacher workdays, 10 weeks of summer... Can't we all just agree that school IS childcare and that making schedules work for as many people as possible should be the goal? I don't understand why we insist in this country to continue to act as though people live under agrarian schedules, with Ma and Pa on the farm having kids helping with the harvest.

I also see this as an area where extended day could fill the gaps. Why can't extended day be open on teacher work days? Or run a camp that they charge for during the random day offs? That's how it's run in MCPS, though it's a private company and I think more expensive. Charge more for it for the off days, but make it available!

Because they are APS employees and if APS is closed, extended day is closed. Also looks like syphax will be getting all of these as paid holidays too so even if they asked extended day to stay open, no one at syphax will be there in case of issues at a school site.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With a kid taking AP tests next week competing for 5s with kids who had 2-3 more weeks on instruction, I understand the benefit of starting earlier. HOWEVER, we need to get out earlier, too. It’s infuriating that they keep shrinking summer.

AP students represent a fraction of the student population, so I don’t think it makes sense to dictate the schedule according to their needs.

Plus, our start date moves up, but then they throw in an extra week of Christmas break and a bunch of teacher workdays, so by the time May rolls around they haven’t actually gotten any more instruction.

There’s not a fixed number of 5s to be awarded, so your kid isn’t competing.

And there’s nothing stopping your kid from picking up a prep book two (or even three!) weeks before school starts.

Tell me how starting 2 weeks earlier hurts your kid? or any kid?

I am just hearing a lot of whining about I don't waaaaant to start 2 weeks earlier!

But no real reasons not to.

Because kids should have a proper summer break. Going back in mid-August is insane.

Going back mid august is ok if they end earlier in June. If I had to choose, I would rather kids start early than end late. Why? Very little learning happens in June anyways so it makes more sense to end early than to start late. Now if it were up to me, we would start late and end early or have a longer spring break. I prefer breaks that are longer than random days off here and there. Breaks are easier to plan for.

Yes, if we start earlier we should end earlier. They keep shrinking summer break and then are shocked that no one wants to teach summer school.

Also, random days off... like why does grade prep have to happen on a Tuesday? Could you move that to Monday or Friday? It's not like you're turning report cards around THAT fast.

That grade prep day on a Tuesday is election day and schools are polling locations. They don't just have them on random Tuesdays for kicks.