Reply to how do we get APS to rethink 13 snow days?

Forum Index » VA Public Schools other than FCPS

Reply to "how do we get APS to rethink 13 snow days?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]But wait, APS... that's CRAZY.  VA law says you need to have kids in school 5.5 hours per day x 18- days.   180 x 5.5 = 990 hours, the required number of hours.

APS has kids in school 6 hours 50 minutes.  That's way longer than 5 hours 30 minutes.

You should have way more than just 13 extra days. What am I missing here?

[/quote]
The time in school requirement instructional time and doesn't include passing time, recess, lunch, etc.  it's only instructional time.

When I was a kid we had used too many snow days so my VA district cut 1 minute from the passing time between every class to meet the requirement.  But then we were all just 1 minute late to our next class because the hallways were crowded and we couldn't change classes in 2.5 minutes.  Just stupid.[/quote]

That 5.5 hours includes everything (passing time, recess) except lunch.

[quote]VAC20-132-150. Standard school year and school day.
A. The standard school year shall be 180 instructional days or 990 instructional hours. The standard school day, including passing time for class changes and excluding breaks for meals, shall average a minimum of 5-1/2 instructional hours for students in kindergarten through grade 12. Recess may be included in the calculation of required instructional hours for elementary school, provided that recess does not exceed 15% of the required instructional hours.

B. All students in kindergarten through grade 12 shall maintain a full day schedule of classes (5-1/2 hours), unless a waiver is granted in accordance with policies defined by the local school board.[/quote]

So OK, lunch is what - 30 minutes? So the school day needs to be at least 6 hours long, but APS makes it 6 hours 50 minutes. So 50 minutes more than the law requires x180days
[/quote]

Right that's what the APEs screamed for. More time in school. I think they view school as child care, also they don't seem to be able to handle their own kids at home. Remember OPEN SCHOOLS NOOOOW?! [/quote]

Public school is public. Taxpayer funded. To educate kids.  We just had 2 weeks off. Calendar shows another half day in January and then another 4 day weekend at end of the month. Not APE and my kids don't need 8 more days off. They need to be in school. [/quote]

Why do you hate being around your kids? [/quote]

[b]Not this poster, but it isn’t about getting away from your kids[/b]. These kids would benefit from more instruction, not less.[/quote]

It really, really is. And they will “benefit from instruction” when there isn’t inclement weather. Unclench.[/quote]

Some of you must have little kids.  Older kids have activities outside of school they are missing that need to be rescheduled with prolonged closures and the instructional time ahead of immovable AP exams actually matters.  It affects my life zero if a high schooler is home in my house.  In fact I enjoy the time with them as they are usually quite busy.  But it is also not a great for them to sit home because you don’t want 8 year old Sally to brave an ice patch and it doesn’t matter at all she misses a week of 3rd grade math.

Also it is okay that some adults hold down jobs where they need their younger kids to be occupied.  [/quote]

We have both.

Snow/inclement weather days where you have to work and your kids are off are part of parenting. If you don’t have a plan, and a backup plan, that’s on you and no one else.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics