It has to wind down at some point. But, the teachers could teach ahead or teach something not offered. It shouldn’t be movies in 3 classes +.

Mine has been working on a million projects for every single class - elementary school. I wish she was doing less!

Anonymous wrote:

how little attention span kids have those final days.

It use to be -- The Last Day
Not weeks. Not weeks of no teaching
The last day, yes

When? I was in elementary school in the 90’s, and the last week was pretty much a wash back then, too. Our school let out the last week of June.

My ES kid had two tests and two quizzes this week. They're still doing Benchmark and math extensions daily. They've had a few treats, but it's been mostly business as usual.

I don't expect much to get done next week other than fun and cleaning up.

It's just such a farce when teachers say, "I can't teach what I want because all my time is taken-up with prep for all the standardized tests."

how little attention span kids have those final days.

It use to be -- The Last Day
Not weeks. Not weeks of no teaching
The last day, yes

Does anyone think that changing the ending dates would mean the last two weeks (or two days or whatever) would be more meaningful or educational? I believe that the movie/cleanup/etc status is a function of it being the end, not its place on the calendar.

Elementary wait until middle school and HS.

My HS kids has had nothing to do for weeks. Already took AP exams and most finals were completed in class outside of the scheduled final exam times. On top of that they have half days. Then the school tells us it is still important to show up and attendance mattes when all they do is stare at their phones all day. I've let my kid skip the last 2 days. Over it at this point

Just pack popcorn 🍿 for the movies.

Anonymous wrote:LCPS offered a schedule that ended the week of Memorial Day but it wasn't picked. I think for some households, they rather have them in school longer than pay for summer camps/child care.

I mean - I also don't want to pay for summer care. What I want is for school days to be used for school.

Anonymous wrote:LCPS offered a schedule that ended the week of Memorial Day but it wasn't picked. I think for some households, they rather have them in school longer than pay for summer camps/child care.

i AM ONE OF THEM

LCPS offered a schedule that ended the week of Memorial Day but it wasn't picked. I think for some households, they rather have them in school longer than pay for summer camps/child care.

Anonymous wrote:I think you have to realize how little attention span kids have by those final days. They're literally bouncing off the walls. I do think gym should still have kids up and moving, not watching a movie, but I'd cut everyone some slack.

I mean, my kids' attention spans are limited already - but they are used to school. There isn't some magical/scientific number that says on Day XYZ kids all the sudden lose their ability to learn anything. So really, the question is, if they aren't actually getting any academic enrichment, why not just end school earlier? It's the pretending that infuriates me. Especially as the rigor has declined in recent years, along with actual school days. I mean, don't get me started on the new early release again!

I think you have to realize how little attention span kids have by those final days. They're literally bouncing off the walls. I do think gym should still have kids up and moving, not watching a movie, but I'd cut everyone some slack.

It has come to my attention that basically kids do NOTHING the last two weeks of school. My 2nd grader came home a few days ago and said "no more phonics and math!" My kinder was furious that they WATCHED A MOVIE in gym class!?

At these early ages, there is literally nothing to lose by continuing to reinforce actual academics every.single.day. This does not have to be mutually exclusive with an end of year party for two hours.

This combined with the laughable 2025-2026 schedule with like two additional days off after Memorial Day, two days off the week after Spring Break - WTAF is going on with FCPS?!