Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All I can say is it sounds like the random days off are here to stay.

Good. HS kids need them.

No, they don’t! Motivate your lazy HSchooler. Kids need consistent school.

Why? My kids in college have anything but consistent schooling/schedules. My DD once had 7 hours of classes on one day, often carrying food in snacks in her bag and then had 2 full days off.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get that teachers need more time, but why does that mean a school holiday for kids. If you are salary that often means you will work extended hours on occasion as required. If I am in meetings for 8 hours (happens often) and I have to meet a deadline, that means I am working late that day. An occasional TWD quarterly is fine but we shouldn't get jerking around with lesson plans requiring a day off.

If teachers need training, that should happen during the summer.

“Extended hours on occasion” is everyday from Aug to June for teachers

This. I find parents so far removed on how many extra hours teachers work daily/weekly. Now if the county took things off teacher’s plates, that would help immensely. But we do more than just plan, teach and grade.

Then use the union to get those things off a teachers plate.

Which union?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All I can say is it sounds like the random days off are here to stay.

Good. HS kids need them.

No, they don’t! Motivate your lazy HSchooler. Kids need consistent school.

Anonymous wrote:Abolish the random days off
Shorten winter break dramatically
Don’t make school after the SOLs count because we all know nothing happens then but glorified babysitting.
Get to teaching!!! We have a lot of ground to catch up on. Stop whining about how your kids need breaks.

Clearly, you don't have a kid in HS classes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are trying to address the inequity of planning time. Secondary teachers get far more planning time than elementary. I’m a teacher too so curious if a staff survey will come out.

They’ve already said religious days are set through 24-25.

I find it hilarious that they put this much time into the questions and they don’t really care what anyone thinks.

They should go back to short days on Monday (or another day). APS still has them, don't they?

I rather my kids get a full day off than a short day. A short day is more disruptive.

Anonymous wrote:All I can say is it sounds like the random days off are here to stay.

Good. HS kids need them.

Anonymous wrote:Falls Church City has it right:

https://patch.com/virginia/fallschurch/falls-church-school-year-start-earlier-under-new-calendar-policy

Winter break must include Dec. 2 and Jan. 1

That should be Dec. 25 and Jan. 1.

In December, the School Board will adopt calendars for two school years — 2023-2024 and 2024-2025. In future years, one school year calendar would be adopted each December.

This is good.

Spring break will be one week long and be in alignment with surrounding jurisdictions.

I'm not sure how they can guarantee this if they are the first, or one of the first to set their calendar.

They'll start two weeks prior to Labor Day and can still go as late as June 18. Meh.

Falls Church City has it right:

https://patch.com/virginia/fallschurch/falls-church-school-year-start-earlier-under-new-calendar-policy

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Abolish the random days off
Shorten winter break dramatically
Don’t make school after the SOLs count because we all know nothing happens then but glorified babysitting.
Get to teaching!!! We have a lot of ground to catch up on. Stop whining about how your kids need breaks.

So you prefer a 11-12 week summer vacation? Keep in mind that many people do not. Actually, quite a few of us would prefer to move toward year-round -- 9 weeks on, 3 weeks off for each quarter and a 5 week summer.

+1 for 9 wks on, 3 wks off, 5 wk summer

Is a calendar like that ever discussed in FCPS?

Sounds like what the FCPS modified calendar elementary schools used to have.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get that teachers need more time, but why does that mean a school holiday for kids. If you are salary that often means you will work extended hours on occasion as required. If I am in meetings for 8 hours (happens often) and I have to meet a deadline, that means I am working late that day. An occasional TWD quarterly is fine but we shouldn't get jerking around with lesson plans requiring a day off.

If teachers need training, that should happen during the summer.

I would love for FCPS to pay us for summer training. The 8 hours for training we got in August was easily 12 hours in reality. Then they added another 6 hours after that - no day was given for that - all completed in our “off time”.

Yes you should absolutely get paid to do the training.

But at the same time, lots of occupations do training on their own time. I am trying to understand the complaint here.

Why do you want to perpetuate that culture? I'm all for people having work/life balance. (Not a teacher, btw)

This doesn't even make sense.

Not the PP, but what part don’t you understand?

How do you propose changing the entire business model for every single career to be more balanced? How about for doctors, trash collectors, emergency providers like fire and EMT, lawyers, students, office workers? You will be hard pressed to find a career that cares more about your work life balance than them getting their business needs met. WHy would teachers get better work life balance than the average person?

No one is saying that teachers should get a better work-life balance than the average person. Our entire system is broken. Very few countries outside the US have this ridiculous "work until you drop" mentality the way we do. Instead of bragging about honoring the importance of a work-life balance, we brag about working unhealthy amounts of time-- 60, 70, 80, or more hours per week.

This needs to end. In all industries and professions.

Here is an example of a healthier work-life balance:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get that teachers need more time, but why does that mean a school holiday for kids. If you are salary that often means you will work extended hours on occasion as required. If I am in meetings for 8 hours (happens often) and I have to meet a deadline, that means I am working late that day. An occasional TWD quarterly is fine but we shouldn't get jerking around with lesson plans requiring a day off.

If teachers need training, that should happen during the summer.

“Extended hours on occasion” is everyday from Aug to June for teachers

This. I find parents so far removed on how many extra hours teachers work daily/weekly. Now if the county took things off teacher’s plates, that would help immensely. But we do more than just plan, teach and grade.

Then use the union to get those things off a teachers plate.

That might be possible if we can gain collective bargaining.

DP

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Abolish the random days off
Shorten winter break dramatically
Don’t make school after the SOLs count because we all know nothing happens then but glorified babysitting.
Get to teaching!!! We have a lot of ground to catch up on. Stop whining about how your kids need breaks.

So you prefer a 11-12 week summer vacation? Keep in mind that many people do not. Actually, quite a few of us would prefer to move toward year-round -- 9 weeks on, 3 weeks off for each quarter and a 5 week summer.

People want a longer summer break/getting out earlier in June because they really don’t learn a lot or do a lot after Memorial Day anyway so all that time just feels wasted.

This is a big part of it for sure. And why my child is "sick" a lot in that period of time. DC can be home doing other things or sitting around in school. The "last day of school" counting toward those hours they have to be in school, is 2 hours of kids sitting around in he Aux Gym. Even the teachers were encouraging the kids to stay home. It's a joke.

Total joke. That’s why people want longer summers because anything scheduled after exams is no school at all but yet they count it towards the legal requirement. People need to wake up and vote the SB out.

So are you advocating for 165 days of school or for an early August start date? Personally, I would not mind starting on 31 July or 7 August and getting out just before or after Memorial Day weekend.

I’m advocating for no breaks other than federal holidays, winter break, thanksgiving and spring break.

Teachers need teacher workdays at the end of each quarter to get grades done.

We need one in the fourth quarter. I’ve said that for years.

ES Teacher

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get that teachers need more time, but why does that mean a school holiday for kids. If you are salary that often means you will work extended hours on occasion as required. If I am in meetings for 8 hours (happens often) and I have to meet a deadline, that means I am working late that day. An occasional TWD quarterly is fine but we shouldn't get jerking around with lesson plans requiring a day off.

If teachers need training, that should happen during the summer.

I would love for FCPS to pay us for summer training. The 8 hours for training we got in August was easily 12 hours in reality. Then they added another 6 hours after that - no day was given for that - all completed in our “off time”.

Yes you should absolutely get paid to do the training.

But at the same time, lots of occupations do training on their own time. I am trying to understand the complaint here.

Why do you want to perpetuate that culture? I'm all for people having work/life balance. (Not a teacher, btw)

This doesn't even make sense.

Not the PP, but what part don’t you understand?

How do you propose changing the entire business model for every single career to be more balanced? How about for doctors, trash collectors, emergency providers like fire and EMT, lawyers, students, office workers? You will be hard pressed to find a career that cares more about your work life balance than them getting their business needs met. WHy would teachers get better work life balance than the average person?

No one is saying that teachers should get a better work-life balance than the average person. Our entire system is broken. Very few countries outside the US have this ridiculous "work until you drop" mentality the way we do. Instead of bragging about honoring the importance of a work-life balance, we brag about working unhealthy amounts of time-- 60, 70, 80, or more hours per week.

This needs to end. In all industries and professions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get that teachers need more time, but why does that mean a school holiday for kids. If you are salary that often means you will work extended hours on occasion as required. If I am in meetings for 8 hours (happens often) and I have to meet a deadline, that means I am working late that day. An occasional TWD quarterly is fine but we shouldn't get jerking around with lesson plans requiring a day off.

If teachers need training, that should happen during the summer.

“Extended hours on occasion” is everyday from Aug to June for teachers

This. I find parents so far removed on how many extra hours teachers work daily/weekly. Now if the county took things off teacher’s plates, that would help immensely. But we do more than just plan, teach and grade.

+1

I have begun to set limits, but my previous weekday schedule usually looked something like this:

-- 5am-6:30am-- work, then feed baby until nanny arrived at 7am
-- 7:30 am-4:30pm--work at school
--5:00pm- 7:00pm-- feed baby, play with baby, eat dinner, bathe baby, put baby down
-- 7:30pm- 9:30pm or 10pm-- work from home

Each day was a minimum of 12.5 hours of work. On the weekends, I would usually put in at least 5-6 hours of work each day while my daughter was napping or playing independently.

There was little time for me to spend with my husband, and definitely no time for me to take care of myself through exercise, meditation, reading, drawing, or other leisure activities.



Now, I have cut back to 10-hour days, plus no more than 5 hours total on the weekends. If we did not have school planning days, it would not be feasible for me to only work 50-55 hours/week.

I know some people work more than 50-55 hours per week, but we need to stop doing that. It is not something about which to brag when your mental and physical health are suffering because of your martyrdom. We all need to set boundaries.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get that teachers need more time, but why does that mean a school holiday for kids. If you are salary that often means you will work extended hours on occasion as required. If I am in meetings for 8 hours (happens often) and I have to meet a deadline, that means I am working late that day. An occasional TWD quarterly is fine but we shouldn't get jerking around with lesson plans requiring a day off.

If teachers need training, that should happen during the summer.

I would love for FCPS to pay us for summer training. The 8 hours for training we got in August was easily 12 hours in reality. Then they added another 6 hours after that - no day was given for that - all completed in our “off time”.

Yes you should absolutely get paid to do the training.

But at the same time, lots of occupations do training on their own time. I am trying to understand the complaint here.

Why do you want to perpetuate that culture? I'm all for people having work/life balance. (Not a teacher, btw)

This doesn't even make sense.

Not the PP, but what part don’t you understand?

How do you propose changing the entire business model for every single career to be more balanced? How about for doctors, trash collectors, emergency providers like fire and EMT, lawyers, students, office workers? You will be hard pressed to find a career that cares more about your work life balance than them getting their business needs met. WHy would teachers get better work life balance than the average person?