Anonymous
Post 02/07/2024 18:35     Subject: APS Half Days — for all that is sacred why not on Friday
Anonymous wrote:It can all be summarized as this: the school calendar is about everything but learning.

Yup. APS made that super clear when they put an early release next year on 10/30, with Halloween on 10/31, and no school on 11/1. All three of those days are a total loss. The early release should 100% have been on Halloween when kids are so already distracted.
Anonymous
Post 02/07/2024 18:34     Subject: APS Half Days — for all that is sacred why not on Friday
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I think they are worried staff would blow off all the PD. (I am staff and Fridays are a skeleton crew as it is)


I assume it would impact kid attendance, too – concern that parents would use it as a long weekend.


+1

It's still a school day, students still learn. If parents keep their kids home for a long weekend, then that harms students (whether it benefits parents or not).


Kids are BARELY learning on regular school day. The compressed schedule means it’s just checking the box “in school” so attendance stats pass muster.


This is absolutely correct. I'd be more than happy if they would add an hour to each school day and cut a month off of the school calendar (whatever math works) so kids can instead have time outside of school to do things of interest that actually involve learning. APS seems to have jumped the shark a long time ago concerning things that actually involve promoting academic excellence as a school district. Contrary to popular belief, schools are not daycare centers. If people need babysitting, then perhaps the county should provide that as well and not call it school.


The extended breaks are actually shown to be detrimental to learning. If SAHM need a hobby, maybe they should just get one instead of denigrating working parents for wanting a schedule that kind of works for the cadence of a normal office job.
Anonymous
Post 02/07/2024 18:32     Subject: Re:APS Half Days — for all that is sacred why not on Friday
My school has an extended day waitlist with no relief in sight. These midweek half-days are a real PITA for us. We basically have no choice but to park the kid in front of the TV or take off work for the afternoon and catch up on what needs to be done after bedtime.

I feel fortunate we even have this choice, as I know a lot of people don’t. But it doesn’t make for a happy time for anyone.
Anonymous
Post 02/07/2024 18:29     Subject: APS Half Days — for all that is sacred why not on Friday
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I think they are worried staff would blow off all the PD. (I am staff and Fridays are a skeleton crew as it is)


I assume it would impact kid attendance, too – concern that parents would use it as a long weekend.


+1

It's still a school day, students still learn. If parents keep their kids home for a long weekend, then that harms students (whether it benefits parents or not).


Kids are BARELY learning on regular school day. The compressed schedule means it’s just checking the box “in school” so attendance stats pass muster.


This is absolutely correct. I'd be more than happy if they would add an hour to each school day and cut a month off of the school calendar (whatever math works) so kids can instead have time outside of school to do things of interest that actually involve learning. APS seems to have jumped the shark a long time ago concerning things that actually involve promoting academic excellence as a school district. Contrary to popular belief, schools are not daycare centers. If people need babysitting, then perhaps the county should provide that as well and not call it school.
Anonymous
Post 02/07/2024 18:11     Subject: APS Half Days — for all that is sacred why not on Friday
Anonymous wrote:It can all be summarized as this: the school calendar is about everything but learning.


This
Anonymous
Post 02/07/2024 18:07     Subject: APS Half Days — for all that is sacred why not on Friday
It can all be summarized as this: the school calendar is about everything but learning.
Anonymous
Post 02/07/2024 15:12     Subject: APS Half Days — for all that is sacred why not on Friday
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I think they are worried staff would blow off all the PD. (I am staff and Fridays are a skeleton crew as it is)


I assume it would impact kid attendance, too – concern that parents would use it as a long weekend.


+1

It's still a school day, students still learn. If parents keep their kids home for a long weekend, then that harms students (whether it benefits parents or not).


Kids are BARELY learning on regular school day. The compressed schedule means it’s just checking the box “in school” so attendance stats pass muster.


This. We would definitely make it a 3 day weekend as I assume many others would as well.
Anonymous
Post 02/07/2024 14:59     Subject: APS Half Days — for all that is sacred why not on Friday
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I think they are worried staff would blow off all the PD. (I am staff and Fridays are a skeleton crew as it is)


I assume it would impact kid attendance, too – concern that parents would use it as a long weekend.


Get rid of early release days. Use all the new religious holidays for professional development and give staff two days of leave for personal observances.


I can see that flying like a lead balloon. Next.
Anonymous
Post 02/07/2024 14:26     Subject: APS Half Days — for all that is sacred why not on Friday
Anonymous wrote:Why do we even have early release days?


We need certain number of days of instruction, but want to give time for teachers to grade and train. So we have half days that *magically* do both (poorly)
Anonymous
Post 02/07/2024 14:26     Subject: APS Half Days — for all that is sacred why not on Friday
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Why do we still have random half Wednesdays? Sure back when it was a regular part of schedule and broke the week up for kids who went home to moms for lunch it made sense.

But way more families have working parents and making it Wed just compounds the annoyance. Sure my kids could do extended day, but let’s be real - 1:30 - 4:30 extended day is Lord of the Flies level insanity.


Huh? My kid loves extended day and an hour or two extra is welcome.


NP. My kid does not love extended day for that amount of time so I try to schedule playdates on early release Wednesdays to give her a break (I work from home so can host).


My kids get upset if I pick them up from extended day too early. They are both boys and enjoy extra open gym time, that's probably relevant.


Sure, our DD would love more time to play basketball, but the boys basically don't let the girls play in our gym, they hog the floor and all the balls and exclude the girls. I guess maybe they could play boys vs girls, but since they are so much rougher the girls just give up.
Anonymous
Post 02/07/2024 14:24     Subject: APS Half Days — for all that is sacred why not on Friday
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Why do we still have random half Wednesdays? Sure back when it was a regular part of schedule and broke the week up for kids who went home to moms for lunch it made sense.

But way more families have working parents and making it Wed just compounds the annoyance. Sure my kids could do extended day, but let’s be real - 1:30 - 4:30 extended day is Lord of the Flies level insanity.


Huh? My kid loves extended day and an hour or two extra is welcome.


NP. My kid does not love extended day for that amount of time so I try to schedule playdates on early release Wednesdays to give her a break (I work from home so can host).


My kids get upset if I pick them up from extended day too early. They are both boys and enjoy extra open gym time, that's probably relevant.
Anonymous
Post 02/07/2024 14:19     Subject: APS Half Days — for all that is sacred why not on Friday
Why do we even have early release days?
Anonymous
Post 02/07/2024 11:28     Subject: APS Half Days — for all that is sacred why not on Friday
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I think they are worried staff would blow off all the PD. (I am staff and Fridays are a skeleton crew as it is)


I assume it would impact kid attendance, too – concern that parents would use it as a long weekend.


+1

It's still a school day, students still learn. If parents keep their kids home for a long weekend, then that harms students (whether it benefits parents or not).


Kids are BARELY learning on regular school day. The compressed schedule means it’s just checking the box “in school” so attendance stats pass muster.
Anonymous
Post 02/07/2024 11:23     Subject: APS Half Days — for all that is sacred why not on Friday
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I think they are worried staff would blow off all the PD. (I am staff and Fridays are a skeleton crew as it is)


I assume it would impact kid attendance, too – concern that parents would use it as a long weekend.


Get rid of early release days. Use all the new religious holidays for professional development and give staff two days of leave for personal observances.
Anonymous
Post 02/07/2024 10:23     Subject: APS Half Days — for all that is sacred why not on Friday
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I think they are worried staff would blow off all the PD. (I am staff and Fridays are a skeleton crew as it is)


I assume it would impact kid attendance, too – concern that parents would use it as a long weekend.


+1

It's still a school day, students still learn. If parents keep their kids home for a long weekend, then that harms students (whether it benefits parents or not).

Is it though? The schools sometimes schedule assemblies for these days....