Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, looking at plane tickets for summer now and trying to guess when school will start. I'm thinking August 20th? The 13th seems early for DC. Are the proposed calendars floating out around there? Anyone have the inside scoop?

Most summers we have a 9-week break.

If this year is the same, school would start Aug 20. DPR summer camps end 8/17, which also makes the 13th unlikely.

Appreciate the good info-based input. Thanks!

Anonymous wrote:Yes, looking at plane tickets for summer now and trying to guess when school will start. I'm thinking August 20th? The 13th seems early for DC. Are the proposed calendars floating out around there? Anyone have the inside scoop?

Most summers we have a 9-week break.

If this year is the same, school would start Aug 20. DPR summer camps end 8/17, which also makes the 13th unlikely.

Yes, looking at plane tickets for summer now and trying to guess when school will start. I'm thinking August 20th? The 13th seems early for DC. Are the proposed calendars floating out around there? Anyone have the inside scoop?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apparently, DCPS students have a slight absenteeism problem. One small step DCPS could take to fix the problem is to put the calendar out much earlier. Believe it or not, many families plan travel more than 6 months in advance. As it stands now, we have to rely on prior years as a predictor of future days off. Which is imperfect and often leads to us having to pull kids out of school. If DCPS is serious that #everydaycounts, then they will correct this.

I agree that the calendar should come out earlier. However, I really don’t think the DCPS absenteeism problem is related in any way to the vacations of families who plan heir vacations 6+ months in advance...

Seriously. That is the most ridiculous thing I've heard on this site in a while. The absenteeism problem has NOTHING to do with when they release the calendar.

+1000

Most summer camp discounts end Jan 31st. It would be nice if DCPS could publish at least a start date by December.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apparently, DCPS students have a slight absenteeism problem. One small step DCPS could take to fix the problem is to put the calendar out much earlier. Believe it or not, many families plan travel more than 6 months in advance. As it stands now, we have to rely on prior years as a predictor of future days off. Which is imperfect and often leads to us having to pull kids out of school. If DCPS is serious that #everydaycounts, then they will correct this.

I agree that the calendar should come out earlier. However, I really don’t think the DCPS absenteeism problem is related in any way to the vacations of families who plan heir vacations 6+ months in advance...

Seriously. That is the most ridiculous thing I've heard on this site in a while. The absenteeism problem has NOTHING to do with when they release the calendar.

Anonymous wrote:Apparently, DCPS students have a slight absenteeism problem. One small step DCPS could take to fix the problem is to put the calendar out much earlier. Believe it or not, many families plan travel more than 6 months in advance. As it stands now, we have to rely on prior years as a predictor of future days off. Which is imperfect and often leads to us having to pull kids out of school. If DCPS is serious that #everydaycounts, then they will correct this.

I agree that the calendar should come out earlier. However, I really don’t think the DCPS absenteeism problem is related in any way to the vacations of families who plan heir vacations 6+ months in advance...

Anonymous wrote:Apparently, DCPS students have a slight absenteeism problem. One small step DCPS could take to fix the problem is to put the calendar out much earlier. Believe it or not, many families plan travel more than 6 months in advance. As it stands now, we have to rely on prior years as a predictor of future days off. Which is imperfect and often leads to us having to pull kids out of school. If DCPS is serious that #everydaycounts, then they will correct this.

Since every day counts, cancel your vacation.

Apparently, DCPS students have a slight absenteeism problem. One small step DCPS could take to fix the problem is to put the calendar out much earlier. Believe it or not, many families plan travel more than 6 months in advance. As it stands now, we have to rely on prior years as a predictor of future days off. Which is imperfect and often leads to us having to pull kids out of school. If DCPS is serious that #everydaycounts, then they will correct this.

There is a calendar committee that has proposed two versions to the Chancellor. Assuming his approval, the drafts will soon be available for public comment. The start date will be announced soon and the calendar for 18-19 should be finalized by March. There has been some hesitation in the past to plan the calendar too far out because district priorities that shape the calendar can change. That said, the calendar committee intends to keep meeting this spring after the 18-19 calendar is done to work on 19-20 so it can be available much earlier.

I just don't see how an organization of any size can operate with a five month planning horizon.

Anonymous wrote:DCPS always publishes the calendar in March.

There's no crisis here.

This is probably priority number 28 for DCPS this month, when a student died as a result of a fight at school, and the ongoing attendance/graduation scandal.

Not entirely true that it’s always published in March: http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/525970.page

DCPS always publishes the calendar in March.

There's no crisis here.

This is probably priority number 28 for DCPS this month, when a student died as a result of a fight at school, and the ongoing attendance/graduation scandal.

3-5 years is not a good idea. The calendar is built to take into account a lot of requirements such as those about instructional days, and teacher contract stuff. It just isn't feasible to predict that far in advance what the federal government or the City Council will come up with. Publishing an early draft would just cause confusion as it would have to be revised multiple times. I wish they wouldn't be so late on the 18-19 version, but I think it's silly to publish more than that.

Who else thinks it’s absurd that DCPS, with fewer than 8 months until school year 18-19 begins, still hasn’t announced a start date, much less a draft calendar? How hard would it be to publish calendars 3-5 years at a time? This is not a way to run a major city school system.