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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am Jewish and very much appreciate having Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur off but giving time off for Passover is crazy. Kids can totally go to school and still celebrate Passover!!

In terms of "where does it end?", The same holidays have been off for several years now, seems like there is no need to add more or take some away, unless demographics change dramatically.

For those who don't celebrate, this seems like a good chance to talk to your kids about being respectful of different religions and making reasonable accommodations (ex not serving pork when a Muslim friend comes over).[/quote]

You can be respectful of different religions without contorting a school calendar to privilege the exercise of them. Excusing the absences and making them no-test days is a reasonable accommodation. [b]Not letting kids get 5 straight days in school for months on end is not reasonable.[/b] [/quote]

Kids love days off. This is about you needing childcare. That's fine, it's a valid need, but let's stop trotting out nobler-sounding needs rather than say "I have ES kids and a full-time job"[/quote]

Everyone needs days off. Everyone, especially kids, also needs a routine. It’s very hard to get into one and learn subject matter coherently when you have weeks that are broken up at random for months on end. I think the test scores are baring this out, no?

I also have significant concerns about teaching my children that the exercise of religion is to be privileged in public places.

And yes, some of us have to work. There is no nobler thing than putting a roof over your child’s head or putting food on their plates. Not everyone was lucky enough to marry a hedge fund manager so we could choose not to work and be available for childcare every third day. We are [b]debating a calendar option that was created for the sole purpose of allowing APS teachers who live in Fairfax County to not have to worry about childcare[/b]. So please, just stop it with the nasty WAHM vs SAHM argument about school being “childcare.”[/quote]

This really seems to be the tail that wags the dog, doesn't it? I live and vote in Arlington on the Arlington Public School System. The APS calendar should be developed with a goal of maximizing learning. If FFX's policy of having tons of days off in the middle of the week is a hardship for the teachers who work there, then perhaps those they should exercise their votes as residents of FFX county to encourage them to adopt a saner policy that isn't unnecessarily burdensome of working parents. After all, those teachers would only be subjected to the same difficulties that all the other working parents in FFX have to deal with, [i]right now[/i]. And my employer isn't bending over backwards to accommodate FFX's school schedule, that's for sure. [/quote]

It it also about no affordable housing in Arlington so many teachers leave in a different county, but it is more about not having subs to cover.  I really don’t care if your employer accommodates your schedule nor do I care if APS (my employer) accommodates my kids schedule, but I damn better be able to use the leave I  have to cover when I am out to take my kids days off so we can take a trip together just as your employer allows you to do. I am sure many many of you do this.  In fact, most of the children in my class traveled last year so I know their parents were able to take off. The issue is we have no subs to cover being sick much less a significant number of teachers taking part of a week off at the same time to take a long weekend when FCPS breaks.

So while you are understanding the correlation between APS and FCPS you are not addressing the actual issue: subs when the schedules don’t align. [/quote]

But we can’t take trips when the days off are scattered throughout the year. If we had actual chunks of breaks we could go somewhere. But a random Wednesdays off just suck. Let’s just have a 1.5 week fall break, 1.5 week winter break, and 1.5 week spring break (or something like that). Sprinkle in a few long weekends for teacher grade prep days and Thanksgiving b/c it is cultural to America. No religious holidays. No Veterans Day, President’s Day, etc. [/quote]

I find it very sad that people think Thanksgiving deserves a break because it's part of our country's culture; yet are competely dismissive of all the veterans who fought to preserve that national culture and the freedoms we enjoy. A PP even noted they were ambivalent about Columbus Day; but would ditch Veterans' Day.  Very sad.[/quote]
PS  Federal holidays are also part of our "country's culture." Would you also ditch July 4? probably not. But, yeah, Thanksgiving is an absolute must.[/quote]

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