Reply to How DO we get the calendar changed?

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Reply to "How DO we get the calendar changed? "

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We don't get off for "every possible holiday." They added only FOUR holidays (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Diwali, and Eid) as days off, in addition to already having a 2-week winter break for Christmas and tying Spring Break to Easter. Stop using holidays as a scapegoat.

I'd love to have fewer weather closures, but the weather and road clearing is not really in the school's control.[/quote]
Lunar new year.
Eid is like 3 different days. [/quote]

At the same time they added in all the religious holidays, they also threw in Veteran day and the Wednesday before thanksgiving for good measure because, why not have another sort week in November? One a one off the holidays don't seem bad but collectively they add an extra 1.5 weeks to the school year. No to mention, all the religious observance.

We never used to have these days off. I would love to see the data on how may kids actually missed school on these holidays and if it was really enough to rationalize adding them to the calendar.

The fall is especially disruptive with so many short weeks.  [/quote]
Lunar New Year doesn’t count as a holiday. Sometimes (like this year) it was treated as a TW. In 2028 they will have school on Lunar New Year (https://www.fcps.edu/system/files/forms/2025-02/2027-2028-standard-school-year-calendar.pdf)[/quote]

They will have early release on LNY in ‘28 to be precise. [/quote]
Well, yes. It aligns with the end of the quarter. [/quote]

It does— and it is another non-full week of school. This is why we need to make some trade-offs instead of simply adding days off/early release and moving further and further into summer.[/quote]
See, you want a longer summer, but I like having a 4 day weekend in January during a non-peak travel time. The early dismissal allows us to fly out or drive to our destination on Wednesday. I would prefer the 2027-28 calendar as is over hoarding days off for the summer.

That’s why there will never be a calendar that makes everyone happy. Even a compromise will leave people disappointed. [/quote]

Exactly this. None of these complaints are academically data driven. They’re all about personal preference. FCPS cares about academics, plain and simple.

Find the group you align with, band together, and complain to whoever you please. However, there’s hundreds of thousands of parents and most simply do not care enough to complain. The vocal minority is just, loud. [/quote]

Academically there's no reason to have so many disjointed days off.

I have not met a single parent who is happy with the calendar. You're right that most people aren't extremely vocal, but none are happy. Nearly everyone is very unhappy with it. Just Americans are a passive bunch and we aren't going to protest and riot.[/quote]

“None are happy”

“Nearly everyone is very unhappy”

These statements are literally the definition of an anecdotal fallacy. You can’t speak for hundreds of thousands of people. There are literally posters on this thread who have no problem with it. Yes, you and your circle and the people you have talked to dislike it, but you truly have no idea what percentage or amount of people hate it vs love it. [/quote]

The board said in September they had an unprecedented number of complaints about the calendar, and that was before the snow days. Thats pretty reliable data.[/quote]
I dislike the 2025-26 calendar, specifically. The 2024-25 calendar was fine. The 2026-27 calendar is fine. The 2027-28 calendar is fine.  [/quote]

With all due respect, this is the problem.  The issue is not whether specific calendar is lucky enough to have religious holidays fall on weekends, or spring break/Easter alignment to be reasonable or whatever.  That's pure luck - other years will be as dismal as this year.

Issue is more the ridiculous "Guiding Principles" FCPS uses in setting the calendar to begin with - need to recognize every religious holiday regardless of how many folks observe, endless training/planning days etc.  Other poster in their SB letter said it well:  calendar is already borderline unreasonable under perfect weather/contingency conditions.  But throw in inevitable snow days, mythical tornado days, early release Wed etc. - and it's brutal if your goal is actually to educate.
[/quote]

FCPS needs to get clear on their priorities and set calendars that reflect those priorities.[/quote]

They are clear about respecting the religious diversity in the county which is reflected in the calendar. You and others simply don’t have that as your priority. Don’t say that FCPS doesn’t have priorities. [/quote]

+100.

Does it get to be a lot, especially combined with the early release Wednesdays?  Absolutely.   But the objective is clear.[/quote]

If thats the priority you make trade offs. Veterans Day isn’t a religious holiday and wasn’t a day off from school in 2023. Weds before thanksgiving, five days at memorial day etc. You go to school those days and you can say religious diversity is your priority.

This? Says not being in school is the priority.[/quote]

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