Reply to DCPS asks parents to "create your own calendar proposal" for SY 26-29

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Reply to "DCPS asks parents to "create your own calendar proposal" for SY 26-29"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Why not have spring break in March like most of the other local schools. Then you don't need a February break. Or what feels like an endless winter to get to a mid-April break. I heard they always tie spring break to Emancipation Day, but why not just offer Emancipation Day as a one-off No School Day? [/quote]

They tie spring break to Emancipation Day because it's otherwise really hard to hit 180 days of school instruction and not get out of school until late June. Having ED inside the spring break week ensures kids get out of school in June one day earlier.

DCPS has 12 forced federal or District holidays every school year. Plus 4 record keeping/PD days. Plus another 8 PD days. It's really tough to hit 180 days of classes.

DCPS would have a lot more flexibility if they didn't use the schools for elections and they pared back the Professional Development days.

Do teachers even want 10 days of Professional Development? I guess they probably don't want to give up the salary for those days.

Regardless of where you stand on the February break, the most important things DCPS could do is: (1) do two full weeks of classes before Labor Day and (2) ensure last day of school is June 15. Hard stop. With those two points of consistency, I think families would be happier.[/quote]

[b]I'm not sure why two weeks before Labor day is so important,[/b] maybe starting two weeks before Labor Day in 2026-27/2027-28 when it is a week closer to Election Day (Juneteenth but starting on August 18th/19th (which would be August 11th/12th for teachers) is too early especially in Washington D.C.[/quote]

Because most summer camps end the first few days in August due to college kids going back to school. It's a camp staffing issue.

Parents need to scramble for three weeks of care in August most years. Starting earlier in August and ending earlier in June will ensure that working parents have more camp coverage over the summer. [/quote]

THIS. It's also a problem DCPS is aware of because many schools host summer camps and they all end the first week of August because they have to give up the facility so teachers can come in and set up classrooms and do any PD before school starts.

It drives me crazy that my kid can attend a summer camp through our after care provider until the first week of August, but then we just have to come up with something else for the rest of August and don't actually start until right before Labor Day. I also don't understand the point in having at the second week of school always be a short week (due to Labor Day). The kids need to get into a proper rhythm with school and then the second week of school is weird. It is not useful.[/quote]

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