APS - what is up with the calendar in September??

[Anonymous]

OK obviously I should have paid attention to this earlier, but I'm looking at the calendar and there's a 5-day weekend around Labor Day? We now have schools closed for both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur? This is the first year this has happened, right? I'm curious about what proportion of Arlington students observe these holidays. There are also days off for Diwali and Eid al-Fitr. Do we still have the same number of school days in the year? For the record I'm agnostic but culturally Christian, I would be more than happy to swap out existing Christian-based holidays for any of these other religious observances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK obviously I should have paid attention to this earlier, but I'm looking at the calendar and there's a 5-day weekend around Labor Day? We now have schools closed for both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur? This is the first year this has happened, right? I'm curious about what proportion of Arlington students observe these holidays. There are also days off for Diwali and Eid al-Fitr. Do we still have the same number of school days in the year? For the record I'm agnostic but culturally Christian, I would be more than happy to swap out existing Christian-based holidays for any of these other religious observances.

I would rather cut short the FULL week we have off before xmas and get out earlier in June

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK obviously I should have paid attention to this earlier, but I'm looking at the calendar and there's a 5-day weekend around Labor Day? We now have schools closed for both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur? This is the first year this has happened, right? I'm curious about what proportion of Arlington students observe these holidays. There are also days off for Diwali and Eid al-Fitr. Do we still have the same number of school days in the year? For the record I'm agnostic but culturally Christian, I would be more than happy to swap out existing Christian-based holidays for any of these other religious observances.

So it's only ok to observe these holidays as a school system if a certain proportion (defined by you) culturally observes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK obviously I should have paid attention to this earlier, but I'm looking at the calendar and there's a 5-day weekend around Labor Day? We now have schools closed for both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur? This is the first year this has happened, right? I'm curious about what proportion of Arlington students observe these holidays. There are also days off for Diwali and Eid al-Fitr. Do we still have the same number of school days in the year? For the record I'm agnostic but culturally Christian, I would be more than happy to swap out existing Christian-based holidays for any of these other religious observances.

Why don't you Google yourself and find out.

http://www.google.com/

[Anonymous]

Yes, it's the same number of days. This calendar change and discussion happened last year. APS puts out a calendar survey every winter so people can vote. The percentage of students (and staff) who celebrates these holidays varies by school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK obviously I should have paid attention to this earlier, but I'm looking at the calendar and there's a 5-day weekend around Labor Day? We now have schools closed for both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur? This is the first year this has happened, right? I'm curious about what proportion of Arlington students observe these holidays. There are also days off for Diwali and Eid al-Fitr. Do we still have the same number of school days in the year? For the record I'm agnostic but culturally Christian, I would be more than happy to swap out existing Christian-based holidays for any of these other religious observances.

So it's only ok to observe these holidays as a school system if a certain proportion (defined by you) culturally observes?

I'm just curious if that factored into the decision. Is there a certain cutoff point above which it's considered appropriate to shut down an entire school system for a religious observance? I imagine there are quite a few Orthodox living in Arlington, for instance. They celebrate Christmas in January when schools are normally open.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it's the same number of days. This calendar change and discussion happened last year. APS puts out a calendar survey every winter so people can vote. The percentage of students (and staff) who celebrates these holidays varies by school.

Thank you! I was just curious about the # of days because the end of the school year seemed comparable to the end of 2020-2021.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK obviously I should have paid attention to this earlier, but I'm looking at the calendar and there's a 5-day weekend around Labor Day? We now have schools closed for both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur? This is the first year this has happened, right? I'm curious about what proportion of Arlington students observe these holidays. There are also days off for Diwali and Eid al-Fitr. Do we still have the same number of school days in the year? For the record I'm agnostic but culturally Christian, I would be more than happy to swap out existing Christian-based holidays for any of these other religious observances.

I would rather cut short the FULL week we have off before xmas and get out earlier in June

The mid-June dismissal is a killer as a parent and teacher. I vote for the earliest end date on every calendar survey.

[Anonymous]

Same number of school days, as mandated by the state. I’m happy APS has made these changes— it’s long overdue. I also personally love the two week winter break to allow for travel before the holiday. Not to mention, the kids and teachers often need this reset mid year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Same number of school days, as mandated by the state. I’m happy APS has made these changes— it’s long overdue. I also personally love the two week winter break to allow for travel before the holiday. Not to mention, the kids and teachers often need this reset mid year.

As a teacher I think it will be harder to get into the flow with the first few weeks chopped up but I think it will be nice in years where the high holidays fall later in September!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK obviously I should have paid attention to this earlier, but I'm looking at the calendar and there's a 5-day weekend around Labor Day? We now have schools closed for both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur? This is the first year this has happened, right? I'm curious about what proportion of Arlington students observe these holidays. There are also days off for Diwali and Eid al-Fitr. Do we still have the same number of school days in the year? For the record I'm agnostic but culturally Christian, I would be more than happy to swap out existing Christian-based holidays for any of these other religious observances.

Christmas is the only Christian-based holiday in the APS calendar, unless you count scheduling spring break around holy week but that is a regional thing. Christmas is a federal holiday so giving that up wouldn't make much difference.

[Anonymous]

Well, my family celebrated two of the holidays you mentioned. And we are grateful not to have to choose between school and religious observance for the first time!

[Anonymous]

I’m fine with the extra holidays, but what’s up with the grade prep day on a Tuesday with Diwali on Thursday. Why couldn’t grade prep happen on Friday for a less disruptive week? Wouldn’t kids get more done Mon-Wed instead of M/W/F?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK obviously I should have paid attention to this earlier, but I'm looking at the calendar and there's a 5-day weekend around Labor Day? We now have schools closed for both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur? This is the first year this has happened, right? I'm curious about what proportion of Arlington students observe these holidays. There are also days off for Diwali and Eid al-Fitr. Do we still have the same number of school days in the year? For the record I'm agnostic but culturally Christian, I would be more than happy to swap out existing Christian-based holidays for any of these other religious observances.

The Friday before Labor Day is mandated by Virginia law when they started to allow school districts to start before Labor Day. Monday is Labor Day, a federal holiday. Tuesday is Rosh Hashanah and it's long overdue for us to recognize and celebrate non-Christian holidays (signed, a recovering Catholic).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m fine with the extra holidays, but what’s up with the grade prep day on a Tuesday with Diwali on Thursday. Why couldn’t grade prep happen on Friday for a less disruptive week? Wouldn’t kids get more done Mon-Wed instead of M/W/F?

OP here, this is my issue. As a working parent (not among the lucky teleworkers) it's incredibly hard to have to constantly take random days off in the middle of the week. I absolutely want to supports others' right to celebrate, but it's just a lot. Not to mention all the teacher work days and conference days, etc. In this example, why couldn't the 99.9% of APS teachers who do NOT observe Diwali do their grade prep on that day, rather than taking a whole other day for it?