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]It’s just amazing to me that people truly look at the Fairfax County Public School system, and think to themselves “this, this is the pinnacle of what the world has to offer my child (or any other)” and so conclude the best place for them for as much of the year as possible is a FCPS facility. Maybe it’s a lack of imagination? Parental fatigue? It’s just very sad.[/quote]

People who think FCPS is the pinnacle of education often come from elsewhere in the country with public school systems that are a lot worse. FCPS is objectively better than what they had but it is not objectively good. A lot of this is "I've made it!" ego.  Add in the political piece that the board is all Dems and therefore it must be great and there is no convincing these people that their kid getting a 3.6 on watered down material and with infinite retakes isn't actually learning that much.[/quote]

It’s not even about being the pinnacle of education. It’s about the whole of childhood/adolescence. Yes, school is both legally required and extremely important, but many, many students find their true passion outside of school, and those summer opportunities make up for huge gaps in the arts and sciences, in athletics, in culture. Wanting to take those away from students for something as generic as FCPS seems abusive.[/quote]

PP - comment was more about the current calendar than year-round schooling. I am in agreement that a longer summer (and less random breaks) would be better. I was being supportive of the commenter who said that it's nuts people think the schools are so good we should keep kids in them all the time.[/quote]

Agree. And the people who want this year round/swiss cheese calendar are the first to scream if anyone suggests teachers do more to make FCPS a better-than-meh program. Teachers won’t grade on time or return emails so what we need is…more time with them in charge of our students?[/quote]

I'm a teacher and I don't really understand your statement. Are you claiming there's no need for students to go to school because teachers are irresponsible?

Personally, I've taken great advantage of this "swiss cheese" calendar. I've been more up-to-date on my grades than ever. I've had time to leave more thorough comments and I've had time to rework/revise lessons so they're better for my students. It's amazing what a gift work day can do! It's 8-10 hours of uninterrupted time to catch up without having to feel guilty for taking a Saturday away from my family.

[/quote]

I’m saying school isn’t so amazing in FCPS that it justifies removing more opportunities from students. Even with the swiss cheese schedule look how many threads there are thus year about unresponsive teachers and late grades. For that we should keep our kids out of camps? For that, kids should miss summer programs other students get? No thanks.[/quote]

Thank you!  This is well said.  Was trying to explain how I felt and this is it.  FCPS calendar combined with lack of attention on academics makes it not so great anymore.  If we had wonderful
Academics and access to advanced material then I could forgive the weird calendar.

[b]Instead I need the summer to make up for all the things!  (No cursive for one, more advanced reading, attention math and introduction to other options my kids want to explore)[/b].[/quote]

And, in the younger years, getting children outside for more than the 30 minutes that FCPS allows daily. [/quote]

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