Reply to Melanie Meren's FB post about the calendar

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Reply to "Melanie Meren's FB post about the calendar"

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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][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Melanie Meren just posted this on Facebook:

The School Board has heard from many families regarding the lack of full, five-day school weeks this year and the significant burden this places on families who must navigate complex and often costly childcare arrangements. In the 2025-26 school year alone, partial weeks occurred more than half the time, functioning as an informal “childcare tax” that falls hardest on our hourly-wage and most vulnerable households.
To address these challenges, I am collaborating on a new draft policy to be circulated among my School Board colleagues that aims to consolidate overlapping directives into a single, unified framework. A primary goal is to prioritize five-day school weeks as the default standard to restore instructional continuity and provide families with stability they need. 
Another goal is to clarify the Superintendent’s responsibilities in developing the student calendar while ensuring the School Board reviews and approves it as part of our annual work cycle. 
My goal is to have the calendar beginning in SY 26-27 adjusted to increase the number of five-day school weeks. 
I’ll keep the community updated as work proceeds.
Sincerely, 
Melanie

So, reach out to your Board and have your opinions heard! Don't wait for some dumb and poorly designed survey to land in your spam folder.[/quote]

It is clear from Meren’s post that she is concerned about the childcare costs to families.  She does not cite academics as one of her concerns.

FCPS staff and leadership are all aware that the content in ES does not require a full five days.  Parents should also be aware of this in order to be fully informed during any policy change discussions. [/quote]

Then— crazy idea here— use the time to teach children more than the bare minimum required.

Or, end elementary school two weeks earlier than middle and high school so the kids can start summer (and summer plans which prioritize kids) sooner.[/quote]

+1.  Why is everyone afraid of their kids learning more than the bare minimum required for a test?[/quote]

We aren’t. We just don’t need the childcare and can handle the 4 day weeks and random days off here and there. If that helps teachers, I’m all for it. [/quote]

[b]Teachers signed up for this job.[/b] Why do they need to only work 4 days a week? We don't need religious holidays.  We don't need weeks off in the winter. We don't need 5 days off for Memorial Day.  
Kids shouldn't be getting the bare minimum!  You won't convince me otherwise.[/quote]

And the turnover is higher than it's ever been because many are leaving what they "signed up for."  The workload is crushing.  If we don't find more time for them to get their work done during their contracted hours, turnover isn't going to get any better.  Maybe a rotation of random subs in your child's class will convince you otherwise.[/quote]

Not in FCPS.

And there’s plenty of time in contracted hours— snow days, federal holidays, etc. [/quote]

🤣🤣 Tell us you are living in fantasy land without telling us.  This is the most out-of-touch-with-reality statement I've seen in a while.[/quote]

I disagree. I think the idea that a professional occupation in 2026 can operate without remote work in bad weather is what is out of touch— especially a profession which insisted for three years that they could deliver results online.

The way the labor market is right now does not favor entitlement from teachers and other stakeholders have had about enough.[/quote]

No teacher insisted anything of the sort.

Neither did "a profession."

And anyway, how did you like that? You simultaneously imply that Covid instruction didn't deliver results and that online instruction on snow days will. [/quote]

Well, I'm glad we can finally all agree that the education profession wasn't behind virtual schooling and that it was all the politicians.[/quote]m

Well no. Teachers did not want to come back in person after being some of the first to be vaccinated (they got to cut the line). The teacher’s organizations, one being FEA, argued this point. [/quote]

+1 and I did not hear teachers in Fairfax, refuting their collective bargaining group. So I’m afraid yes, it was “the profession.”[/quote]

I remember when one of those group’s positions was no in person school until zero Covid cases. Can you imagine? The kids would still be at home now! [/quote]

And yet five years later the people who insisted they can work from home…can’t work from home even on administrative tasks? Make it make sense.[/quote]

If schools are officially closed they don’t have to. They may have children at home to care for.[/quote]

Perhaps they do, but then they can’t complain about insufficient contract hours for planning— they will just need to find childcare.[/quote]

This whole thread is packed with parents complaining about how when school is closed they need to find childcare, yet you’re now trying to make teachers pay for more childcare.

The irony…

People truly only care about the cost of childcare when it affect themselves.

You need to pay for more childcare? Absolutely not. Let’s revolt! How do we protest? Email our school board members Complain about the calendar!

But if your solution causes teachers to need to pay for more childcare? That’s totally fine.

[/quote]

Teachers are getting paid to work those days. So they should work— or if they have a childcare conflict use their paid leave. Their students parents aren’t being paid to have a day off, and many of those students parents will be expected to telework.[/quote]

Unless the parents are an hourly wage employee, they too are being paid on their day off… let’s not act like a lot of parents around here don’t have salaries. [/quote]

Many parents are hourly wage employees. Certainly many more parents than teachers.

[b]And most parents aren’t given a day off for snow days— they are expected to work and find childcare OR use PTO. Exactly the rules which could apply to teachers going forward. [/b]
[/quote]

I disagree with the bolded part.

One of the perks of my job at my company is paid days off when the weather is bad, including when my kids have a snow day. I also have flexibility when my kids are ill.  I probably make a little less at my company than I could if I worked for another company, doing a similar job, but I wouldn't have the same perks I do currently.

Teachers are the same. They know one of the perks of their job is possible snow days.

Not every job or company is the same. I have certain perks that others don't, just as teachers have certain perks that most do not. There isn't equality among professions or companies, and that's okay.[/quote]

Snow days weren’t a perk between 2020 and 2023, bringing them back was a mistake. I agree we shouldn’t go back to remote learning, but we should make use of remote technology for the planning, meetings,  and other easily done from home tasks that are otherwise days off.[/quote]

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