Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why the f are Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur and Diwali holidays now?

...Why are Christmas and Easter 2 weeks and 1 week long, respectively?

Because that is the majority in the country.

You don't need a week to celebrate Easter (maybe a long weekend if you want to include Good Friday) and the entire week before Christmas.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Summer vacation is down to 9 weeks now?

That is what it seems like - I wonder how the teachers feel about that.

I’m PISSED if that is what they are doing, and I will move to a different district. It’s even shorter for us than it is for students. If I wanted to teach summer school I’d sign up to do it. I don’t.

Anonymous wrote:Curious if there was an actual/significant decrease in attendance on O days? I mean, do kids actually stay home and miss school for their respective religious observance?

We had our kid stay at home for one of the O days. This is the first time in ES that we had him take a day off for our religious observance.

Anonymous wrote:Curious if there was an actual/significant decrease in attendance on O days? I mean, do kids actually stay home and miss school for their respective religious observance?

In the past? No.

Currently (this year)? Hard to say. After awhile, with the "no new content taught" rule, older kids just started taking off b/c they could stay home alone and knew they wouldn't be learning much at school that day. The data they collected doesn't really tell us much.

I work at a fairly diverse school and the most frequently missed holidays were the Jewish ones. Pretty much every other O day I had no absent kids.

Teacher here. While I am happy to have some of these new holidays off, I do think they could have moved some Teacher WD around to get more full weeks. I wrote my school board member with several suggestions and clearly it wasn’t taken into account. They should have ended quarter 1 a week later and made Monday/ Tues(election days) TWD. That would give you one full week the week before. I think they should have also made Columbus Day/Indigenous Day a school day. That would be another full week. They should also just get rid of the March TWD cause it is random.

Curious if there was an actual/significant decrease in attendance on O days? I mean, do kids actually stay home and miss school for their respective religious observance?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Year after year we put up with this nonsense by the school board. After such a decisive election year, they still did not get the memo. Parents wants kids in school, not with more days off and at home.

On the bright side, I think many of these members have limited days left on the board. Hopefully, we only have to deal with this for one more year and then we can get a school board with some sense to put kids in school instead of creating a Swiss cheese calendar that ensures a lack of continuous schooling.

Isn’t it still a 180 day calendar?

I'd like for you to tell me how a working parent can try to get through a work week with all the days off that FCPS has packed into each month. Why is it impossible for the kids to get more than 2 months where they go to school continuously? They have more weeks with days off from school in what should be the regular school and work week. How is that even doable for average families?

Do they have any idea how difficult that is for parents who are not sitting at home all day? I work with many low-income households and I can tell you that this virtue signaling calendar is unmanageable for these families. For families that cannot afford the back up care or to miss work, kids are left at home on their own, with no oversight, no management, and in the case of older kids end up in dangerous, destructive behaviors. One PP posted about how easy it was for her because her teens slept all day but I can tell you that is not what happens in many families. Teens walk out the door, get into trouble and drugs and violence become a real threat for them.

FCPS has clearly forgot its mission to educate and take care of kids and instead is catering to the wealthy, affluent donors who both have the resources to provide care for kids when not in school and don't have the financial strain of having to attend jobs out of the house. This is just infuriating to me because in its push to appear "inclusive" it really hurts low-income immigrant families. The irony, of course, is missed entirely on this Board.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a working parent and don’t see it as an f u … it’s not like I have the summer off {{shrug}}.

Same. I'm a working parent and I actually think summers are TOO long. Specially for teenagers and working parents.

What are you talking about?

You don't have teens if you think summer is too long for teens. It is way to short.

Put in one summer program in June-July, and sports practices starting in August, teens often only end up with one or two weeks of unscheduled summer break.

I have teens and I think it is too long. I prefer more time off during the school year. I would love it if summer was 6-8 weeks.

I also have teens and am fine with it. One plays a spring sport that goes until mid-end of June. Both okay fall sports that start the beginning of August. They love the summer sports when school isn’t in session. Stop making your kids go academic programs in the summer and it will seem plenty long.

Anonymous wrote:WTAF is an “O” day?? Kids can just F it and stay home?

That’s what they are doing this year, but next year they can teach new content so no more staying home.

Anonymous wrote:Year after year we put up with this nonsense by the school board. After such a decisive election year, they still did not get the memo. Parents wants kids in school, not with more days off and at home.

On the bright side, I think many of these members have limited days left on the board. Hopefully, we only have to deal with this for one more year and then we can get a school board with some sense to put kids in school instead of creating a Swiss cheese calendar that ensures a lack of continuous schooling.

Isn’t it still a 180 day calendar?

Year after year we put up with this nonsense by the school board. After such a decisive election year, they still did not get the memo. Parents wants kids in school, not with more days off and at home.

On the bright side, I think many of these members have limited days left on the board. Hopefully, we only have to deal with this for one more year and then we can get a school board with some sense to put kids in school instead of creating a Swiss cheese calendar that ensures a lack of continuous schooling.

Anonymous wrote:Terrible calendar that makes a joke of their equity agenda. Email the SB and complain!!!!!!!

And they will roll their eyes and click “delete.”

Anonymous wrote:I goggled the calendar and it is kind of awful.

https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/2022-2023-standard-school-year-calendar.pdf

So Election week is going to turn into an impromptu holiday week because school is closed on Election Day and Veterans Day.

Can we just get rid of these O days? Allow kids who miss school for a religious holiday to make up any missed assignments or tests. I don't get why this is so hard.

There isn't one month that doesn't have a day off. Feb and May come close but there is one student holiday for Federal holidays.

And I have seen other people post this so I am going to chime in: I would love year round school. Give 2 weeks off after each quarter and make the summer 6 weeks. Plenty of time for people to travel, less learning loss, and better chances for kids to chill and recuperate during the school year.

Sure, as long as we get rid of Christmas break too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here - also - October sucks. They couldn't have figured out a way to align Diwali with the end of the quarter instead of having 3 Mondays off PLUS Yom Kippur? Or sticking with their normal end of the quarter TWD the Monday before election day would have been fine too.

Ugh.

Pssst.

FCPS does not decide which day Diwali occurs on.

I mean, get real.

I am as anti the current school board as they come, but getting mad at them for not moving Diwali and Yom Kippur is a tad over the top.

I’m aware that Diwali doesn’t move, but teacher workdays do.

But they ARE tied to the end of the quarter 90% of the time, so less moveable than you think.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why the f are Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur and Diwali holidays now?

...Why are Christmas and Easter 2 weeks and 1 week long, respectively?

Because that is the majority in the country.