Reply to Why is there another early release day?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I’m not sure what’s being argued anymore. That days should be added to the calendar because teachers could have worked on snow days and now their scheduled work days are unnecessary? How is that less disruptive to families? Many have already scheduled around these days. They’ve signed up for camps. Scheduled vacations. Squeezed in routine appointments. What’s done is done with the snow days. There were even two scheduled work days within those snow days.

This year’s calendar is exceptionally bad but it’s an anomaly. The next two school years are better. I do wish they’d either get rid of 3 hour early releases or figure out a more consistent way of implementing them.

The February date for half the district is ridiculous. The Wednesday after an extra long President’s Day weekend? Attendance is going to be horrendous.

Based on communication received by teachers reminding us of the next early release Wednesday, they seem to be over them too. [/quote]

What’s being argued? Is that early release should be canceled for the remainder of 25-26, and not restored. The board doesn’t have the courage to do that, so instead, they should end them for 26–27 with the express requirement that no days be used as telework workday to make up for the “lack of planning”. Any additional required planning time should be tacked onto vacations that have been extended such as Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, or winter break. Or FCPS can continue to use federal holidays as they do for indigenous peoples for that requirement, they should work with the teachers to find out which would be less onerous.[/quote]

[b]So is your argument that teachers should receive no dedicated work time to do what can be done at home during their own time[/b]? Like planning lessons or grading papers?

Teachers are already doing most of that type of work at hime. Occasionally, we are given time AT work to do it. Is it that unreasonable to you that teachers are given work time to complete work? [/quote]

Snow Days are contracted days. So no, not on their own time. I’m saying parents shouldn’t be double taxed— two days off in February should equal the removal of four early release days in the spring. [/quote]

Perhaps I see this differently because I am a teacher and therefore am fully aware of the workload. I’m not going to resent my own kids’ teachers because they got a little extra time to work through their immense backlog of work. (I’m also not going to resent them because I know they have zero control over calendars.)

And I say this as a parent, too… and one who has to find / pay for my own childcare on teacher workdays.

But certainly continue to misdirect your anger at teachers. It’ll have zero impact, but maybe it makes you feel grander somehow.

[/quote]

It’s not anger at teachers to point out that Snow Days are contract days, nor anger at teachers to observe that in 2026 the overwhelming majority of [b]professionals who can telework[/b] are fully expected to do so during snow.

If you have any care for your students you don’t actually want their parents scrambling for childcare. What’s available for what many can afford is downright dangerous. FARM kids don’t get meals on teacher workdays. If jeopardizing your students safety is worth “a little extra time” maybe you need to consider another profession. [/quote]

Maybe this is an issue. I'm a former ES teacher and there typically would have been a lot of work that would have had to be done in the classroom/in the school. It wouldn't have been able to be completed with just a laptop at home.[/quote]

A lot of training can be moved online. Heck *all of school* was moved online. Whatever was done for ES teacher planning in 2020-2022 should still be available.

[/quote]

Sure, for training. A lot of the work that actually goes into planning and preparing has to be done in the building. For example, a teacher can't put together and organize math stations while at home. Grading work in student composition books isn't going to be done remotely. There are a lot of things that can only be done while in the building with access to materials.[/quote]

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