Anonymous wrote:There's a completely useless week off for the winter holiday. It would have made a lot of sense to make it one week this year given the timing of Christmas and New Year's, but Christian parents pushed for the two weeks and they had to get it because, you know, equity.

There was zero push from Christian parents for the two week winter break. No media hype. No organizations involved. It was decided by the school board to bring more consistency to the calendar at the same time they got rid of early release Mondays for elementary. I disagreed with it at the time and I disagree with it now but it was definitely NOT based on any sort of religious reason.

Anonymous wrote:Yes. A bunch of the "religious observance days" got converted to straight up no school days.

So ridiculous.

APS did this last year— adding more & more holidays (which of course are often a single day off mid-week) & thus extending the school year/shrinking summer break. Now they also plan to make each school day longer to compensate. I think this will become more the norm until we have year round school, which many people want anyway.

The calendar is useless next year and very disruptive. So much for equity concerns because the very people they screw with this calendar are those they purport to care for.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's a completely useless week off for the winter holiday. It would have made a lot of sense to make it one week this year given the timing of Christmas and New Year's, but Christian parents pushed for the two weeks and they had to get it because, you know, equity.

Umm, no. This is a sacred time for staff of all religions and will continue to be the number one request on calendar surveys. We need a solid two weeks off. It’s rough out there. A school district in Texas just agreed to a 4-day week for students (one day planning for teachers) in order to attract and retain teachers.

LOL, you are not so aware of the concept of sarcasm, are you?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's a completely useless week off for the winter holiday. It would have made a lot of sense to make it one week this year given the timing of Christmas and New Year's, but Christian parents pushed for the two weeks and they had to get it because, you know, equity.

I thought it was wanted by many because so many people liked to travel to other countries or vacation around the holidays. It wasn’t about giving staff a break.

You thought correctly. PP is a troll.

Anonymous wrote:There's a completely useless week off for the winter holiday. It would have made a lot of sense to make it one week this year given the timing of Christmas and New Year's, but Christian parents pushed for the two weeks and they had to get it because, you know, equity.

I thought it was wanted by many because so many people liked to travel to other countries or vacation around the holidays. It wasn’t about giving staff a break.

Anonymous wrote:There's a completely useless week off for the winter holiday. It would have made a lot of sense to make it one week this year given the timing of Christmas and New Year's, but Christian parents pushed for the two weeks and they had to get it because, you know, equity.

Umm, no. This is a sacred time for staff of all religions and will continue to be the number one request on calendar surveys. We need a solid two weeks off. It’s rough out there. A school district in Texas just agreed to a 4-day week for students (one day planning for teachers) in order to attract and retain teachers.

There's a completely useless week off for the winter holiday. It would have made a lot of sense to make it one week this year given the timing of Christmas and New Year's, but Christian parents pushed for the two weeks and they had to get it because, you know, equity.

Anonymous wrote:Did they move graduation back a week? Or is it still the week of Memorial Day?

Graduation dates haven’t been published but it stands to reason they’ll push back a week the same way they moved up when school started beginning before Labor Day.

Did they move graduation back a week? Or is it still the week of Memorial Day?

I see - thank you!

Yes. A bunch of the "religious observance days" got converted to straight up no school days.

I know there were Jewish holidays, Diwali and a Muslim holiday. Maybe more.

Looks like next school year has an extra week tacked on. This year was Aug 23rd to June 10. Next year is Aug 22 - June 16.
Just making sure I have this right, as I was trying to make plans for next June and was hoping school would out around the ~10 or so again.