Proposal: "Let's give overworked teachers a work day at the end of quarter to get caught up on grading, get set up for next Q's curriculum focus, etc. Oh, and on non-mandatory religious holidays that FCPS observes for students, we'll have the teachers still come in and use that time instead of giving them additional holidays."

Reasonable person #1: "I disagree with the school system observing religious holidays in the first place, even for just the students... but given that is the case, having the teachers work on those days to catch up / prepare is probably the best way to go."

Reasonable person #2: "Isn't there a way we could ease the teachers' ongoing workloads such that they can make the quarterly transitions without needing a day to reset? Then we could end the school year 3 whole days sooner, which I know isn't a lot, but is important to me because <reasons>."

DCUM Poster: "This whole conversation is 'stupid' or 'insane' and 'kills' the calendar... only my way of doing things make sense and that should be immediately obvious to everyone because I use hyperbolic language!"

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And then school will end June 21st because of people insistence on an insanely long winter break.

Winter break is not the issue.

Most districts around the cohntry have 2 weeks winter break and 1 week spring break.

The issue in fcps is all of the stupid teacher work days.

+1

Yup. The teacher work days and overly inclusive holidays kill the FCPS calendar.

Arlington and FCC started a week later and get out the same day because they don't have all the insane teacher work days.

No! The teachers need those workdays. They need to get rid of holidays we never had before such as Jewish holidays, Diwali, Eid, etc. no need for them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And then school will end June 21st because of people insistence on an insanely long winter break.

Winter break is not the issue.

Most districts around the cohntry have 2 weeks winter break and 1 week spring break.

The issue in fcps is all of the stupid teacher work days.

+1

Yup. The teacher work days and overly inclusive holidays kill the FCPS calendar.

Arlington and FCC started a week later and get out the same day because they don't have all the insane teacher work days.

Whoops, brainfarted on Q3 there, should be around day 135 not 145. So expect on Fri 29 Mar expect either early release or TW (with early release on 28th) to end Q3 leading into Spring Break.

I don't think they would put the TW on Mon 8 Apr coming out of Spring Break due to the Eid holiday on Wed and basically forcing an additional non-instructional day on Tue as a result.

A few other notes:

- I don't think a 1-week Winter Break is likely, though I could see them perhaps doing a partial week with early release on Wed 20 Dec?
- I could see them putting a non-instructional day on Mon 13 Nov to convert that into a 5-day weekend.
- The only way I see school ending a full week earlier in June is by starting a full week earlier in August... most stakeholders recognize the value of shortening the summer break (some vocal opponents, to be sure)... and we've essentially already moved to a 9-week summer break with the current 2022-23 calendar. I don't anticipate that reverting to a 10-week break... if anything I'd think we'd be more likely to move to an 8-week summer break at some point in the future and add a bit of a fall break after Q1 and/or some additional time off in the Feb/Mar period.

Thanks OP for starting this discussion. Taking the factors into account and looking at where they added School Planning / Staff Development days this year as a guide, I end up with the following projected calendar:

Mon 21 Aug - First Day of School
Fri 1 Sep - Labor Day (extra day, doesn't appear requireed, but I'm assuming they'll do this again?)
Mon 4 Sep - Labor Day
Mon 25 Sep - Yom Kippur
Mon 9 Oct - Indigenous Peoples Day
Thu 26 Oct - 45th School Day (End of Q1) - Early Release
Fri 27 Oct - Quarter Transition Teacher Workday
Fri 10 Nov - Veterans Day
Tue 14 Nov - Election Day
Wed 22 Nov through Fri 24 Nov - Thanksgiving Break
Mon 18 Dec through Mon 1 Jan - Winter Break
Mon 15 Jan - MLK Day
Wed 24 Jan - 91st School Day (End of Q2) - Early Release
Thu 25 Jan - Staff Development Day (mirrors current calendar)
Fri 26 Jan - Quarter Transition Teacher Workday
Mon 19 Feb - Presidents Day
Thu 7 Mar - Early Release
Fri 8 Mar - School Planning Day (again, not sure if required, but I'm guessing they put this here since there's only 1 other day off in all of Feb/Mar)
Mon 1 Apr through Fri 5 Apr - Spring Break
Wed 10 Apr - Eid
Thu 25 Apr - 147th School Day (End of Q3) - Early Release
Fri 26 Apr - Quarter Transition Teacher Workday
Fri 3 May - Orthodox Good Friday
Mon 27 May - Memorial Day
Fri 14 Jun - 180th School Day (End of School Year) - Early Release

They do seem to flex a bit on the quarters... e.g. this year they were 45, 44, 47 and 43 days long. So in example above I used similar flexibility and ended up with 45, 46, 46, 43 day quarters.

Question... if VA requires 180 days, why does our 2022-23 calendar only have 179? Are our school days long enough that we achieve the 990 hours requirement instead (using one less day)? If that's the case, then I guess the mock calendar I'm providing here also has 1 non-virtual snow day built into it.

Anonymous wrote:A fall break !!!

yes please

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And then school will end June 21st because of people insistence on an insanely long winter break.

This.

Too insanely long.
Too insanely expensive to go anywhere.

So i guess I’ll join the ranks of those who complain about all the days off on the school calendar and then pull my kids out (on regular school days) when I can afford to take them on a mini-vacation!

So get on board with our proposed 9 weeks on, 3 weeks off calendar. It would be wonderful to travel during the week after New Years or mid-October, right?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And then school will end June 21st because of people insistence on an insanely long winter break.

Winter break is not the issue.

Most districts around the cohntry have 2 weeks winter break and 1 week spring break.

The issue in fcps is all of the stupid teacher work days.

And the recently added religious holidays for "equity".

A sample calendar from my former district
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FhbAQyT4v8txIXFrT_B2ACuHx950WTKP/view?usp=drivesdk
They start August 22, get out June 2 with a full week for Thanksgiving, 2 weeks for winter break.

Anonymous wrote:And then school will end June 21st because of people insistence on an insanely long winter break.

This.

Too insanely long.
Too insanely expensive to go anywhere.

So i guess I’ll join the ranks of those who complain about all the days off on the school calendar and then pull my kids out (on regular school days) when I can afford to take them on a mini-vacation!

The extra week for winter break is stupid.

Anonymous wrote:YOu're wrong about winter Break. They'll make it two weeks and start the week before Christmas - Dec 18 - Jan 2. It'll be AWFUL.

+1, families should plan on this being 2 weeks - no matter their preference

Anonymous wrote:9 weeks on, 3 weeks off, all year long. Bonus 4 weeks in the summer (7 week long summer break). Make breaks align with traditional spring/winter break time frame. Everything else can go. The quarterly TWDs can fall in those 3 week breaks. School ends June 1 as soon as AP/IB testing is over to maximize time in class before testing.

Okay, back to my fantasyland...

This would be such a wonderful school calendar! I wish...

Anonymous wrote:And then school will end June 21st because of people insistence on an insanely long winter break.

Winter break is not the issue.

Most districts around the cohntry have 2 weeks winter break and 1 week spring break.

The issue in fcps is all of the stupid teacher work days.

Anonymous wrote:A fall break !!!

Fcps only has 2 full weeks of school in October and November. The rest are 3 or 4 dahly weeks. They don't need a fall break. They need more 5 day weeks in the fall, and an early June dismissal.