Reply to Yay! Another religious holiday!

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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]We've had 3 (4?) religious holidays so far this year... and endless more to come.

Liberals fought hard to remove any entanglement between public school and Christian religion, now these hypocrites can't add enough religious holidays to the schedule.

Wish my kids were in school and learning.  Wish the School Board even cared about that.
[/quote]

+1. I don't know a single family in my neighborhood that is happy about the calendar. In fact, I know zero parents who appreciate this - my fellow liberals included. 
We rightfully expect our kids to be in school. Employers don't give us 9 4 day work weeks in the fall so it is unreasonable to expect that families with young kids can sustain this.

I cannot wait to oust this school board. They have zero interest in bettering the education of our children and spend 100% of their time in performance liberalism. [/quote]

+2 - Perfectly said! I can't wait to oust this school board either, and give them the finger while they exit the door.  [/quote]

So dumb.  This thread is a perfect encapsulation of the crap that the SB has to deal with.  There is absolutely no agreement and everyone thinks that they are the smartest in the room.

So here’s my two cents - the current calendar is pretty much as good as it gets and they should lock it in long-term.  It is an elegant way to both provide necessary teacher workdays while giving a nod to the diversity of the families that attend FCPS.  It provides a traditional winter and spring break while no making the summer break excessively long.

I don’t for a second believe that my kid is being “harmed” by several 4 day weeks.  That’s nutty.[/quote]

The multitude of 4 day school weeks leans wealthy, upper class, which this district caters to. It assumes that parents will be home with kids,  take off work and/or pay for back up childcare ([b]not everyone has a HS Sr.[/b]). If parents have to take off those days, that's 8 days of PTO and/or vacation. Not all of us are feds. DH and I are not and we don't get fed days off. 8 days is significant. And to boot, my kid also had to take a sick day today so that was another day off for one of us. We know that sick days happen and are prepared for them. But the litany of religious observances backed by teacher workdays is just not in tune with the working world.

The Board assumes that parents don't (need to) work. In an area which is overwhelmingly dual income households, that assumption is incredibly misplaced, and it is a slap in the face to the vast majority of us who do work when the board closes school for each and every minority holiday. It is just not sustainable, no matter how many performance points you think you get. [/quote]

Kids can stay home alone from 6th grade up. They don't need to be a senior in HS. DH and I work full time and are not feds and we have older kids and appreciate the days off for them. You can't please everyone. 6th-12th graders are just as important as K - 5th. The older kids need the reprieve. You will be there one day and see, if your kid is college bound. [/quote]

+1 My junior needs every break she can get.

There are also more 6-12th grade students than there are K-5th grade students. If you're going to lean one way, majority should rule. I don't think parents realize how stressful HS is for these kids and their mental health, especially AP or IB classes. They need the breaks and they can't just lighten their schedule or it hurts their college chances. Not just for admittance but merit money. Despite what people think, everyone in FCPS is not rich. Many students are chasing merit because their parents make too much for financial aid but not enough to afford so many of these schools. So the students have to take a lot of tough classes. [/quote]

If your kids are incapable of going to school 5 days a week and need eight 4-day school weeks in a period of 2.5 months, I would take a look at whether or not they can actually handle college. [/quote]

Not PP but this makes no sense. College schedules are chosen by students (sometimes you do get stuck with a crap class time). They take 15 credit hours a semester. They don't even have classes every day, on most days. And they certainly do not have class for 6 hours and 45 mins a day. Have YOU even been to college?[/quote]

Yes, I went to HS, college and law school when academics used to be difficult. Per the moms on DCUM, we cannot even expect our children to go to school 5 days a week because it is too stressful for them. Can't wait to see how prepared these kids are for the working world. I'm sure they'll accomplish loads. Will they need a mid-work day nap, too? No wonder 60% of STEM grad students in this country are foreign born. US kids cannot handle anything remotely challenging - going to school FT for one. [/quote]

It doesn't sound like you have been to college or law school if you cannot understand how much more free time it offers than HS. Academics are difficult. Even more so than when you went. No one said we can't expect kids to go 5 days a week. Some of us are saying the breaks are welcome. Kids will do what needs to be done. If you asked for 7 days, they'd do it, but the point was as a parent of HS kids, the breaks are appreciated for my already stressed-out teen. I have young adults in the workforce who had breaks in FCPS and somehow have graduated college just fine and are accomplishing "loads."  One is in STEM, the other in business school and both are doing just fine. I agree with whoever wrote the above about needed breaks for students and those who agree. If you don't like it, leave. Many of us think it's a welcome reprieve. [/quote]

+1,000[/quote]

I had far less free time in engineering school than high school. There were courses where i literally lived in a lab for weeks on end.[/quote]

Engineer here. I too, recall countless hours living in a lab. However, instead of being forced to sit still, be alert, and use active listening skills for 6.5 hours I listened to music, moved around, took naps in the lab, snuck in snacks, talked to people. It was more time but less exhausting than high school. I graduated summa cum laude with an EE degree and found it challenging but not exhausting. I didn't go to a top school but University of Texas at Austin wasn't known as an easy school either. [/quote]

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