Anonymous
Post 06/16/2026 15:46     Subject: May/June attendance now optional?
Seems like a great time to teach important skills like cursive and typing.
Anonymous
Post 06/16/2026 15:44     Subject: May/June attendance now optional?
Anonymous wrote:My 9th grader has been spending hours and hours on his phone at school for WEEKS.

So much for "away for the day."

What are they going to do next year with no phoned allowed?


They'll allow them at the end of the year.
Anonymous
Post 06/16/2026 15:27     Subject: May/June attendance now optional?
Anonymous wrote:The lorax, mulan, green book, kung fu panda, hidden figures
add on Avengers, Lion King, Kung Fu Panda 4,…
Anonymous
Post 06/16/2026 14:35     Subject: May/June attendance now optional?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:This is so frustrating. So many families use the last 2-3 weeks to travel abroad for an early start on summer break. It translates into basically no instruction during this time. I wish teachers would still teach content since those families seem fine with the kids missing school.

Pretty sure those families are fine missing school because they know their kids are not missing anything, not the other way around. I'm from abroad where you have tests and exams till the very end of the school year. No one travels anywhere before the school is over. I'm sure if that was the case those same families wouldn't travel anywhere.


The crazy thing is that in the 1970s/80s, education was a lot more like Europe is now. I don’t understand how education went so sideways here.
Anonymous
Post 06/16/2026 14:17     Subject: May/June attendance now optional?
Anonymous wrote:This is so frustrating. So many families use the last 2-3 weeks to travel abroad for an early start on summer break. It translates into basically no instruction during this time. I wish teachers would still teach content since those families seem fine with the kids missing school.
no, no! For grades 1-8, the content is 💯 done in April. The SOLs are early May, so all the content must be taught prior to May. It’s been like this for years. This makes learning inefficient. Instruction is squished between mid-Sept to April with a lot of assessments and holidays in between. The teachers must rush through the disjointed standards that VDOE provides and the kids inefficiently learn knowledge as a result. Then come mid-May to mid-June the teachers fill the time with lousy projects, field trips, field day, concerts, movies, etc.
Anonymous
Post 06/16/2026 13:08     Subject: May/June attendance now optional?
Anonymous wrote:This is so frustrating. So many families use the last 2-3 weeks to travel abroad for an early start on summer break. It translates into basically no instruction during this time. I wish teachers would still teach content since those families seem fine with the kids missing school.

Pretty sure those families are fine missing school because they know their kids are not missing anything, not the other way around. I'm from abroad where you have tests and exams till the very end of the school year. No one travels anywhere before the school is over. I'm sure if that was the case those same families wouldn't travel anywhere.
Anonymous
Post 06/16/2026 12:57     Subject: May/June attendance now optional?
This is so frustrating. So many families use the last 2-3 weeks to travel abroad for an early start on summer break. It translates into basically no instruction during this time. I wish teachers would still teach content since those families seem fine with the kids missing school.
Anonymous
Post 06/16/2026 10:56     Subject: May/June attendance now optional?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I like the final days when they get to watch movies and relax at school. Today my son is playing Switch at school with a bunch of kids. It sounds fun!


babe, its been "final weeks".


Not for us! My son has his last final yesterday. High schools have finals up until today.
Anonymous
Post 06/16/2026 09:51     Subject: Re:May/June attendance now optional?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Parent of an 8th grader here. He came home yesterday and reported that things are pretty much done. He has one final left, in his language, and kids are finishing their presentations in one class. Other then that they are watching a movie in LA, playing board games in Science, and he doesn’t know what they are going to do in math. I did get a sigh when I suggested Geometry Dash…

I have no problem with these days being light. He talks with his friends, hangs out a bit and gets to relax. All is well. And it is no different then how I remember the end of MS/HS when I was a kid.


Even when I was in school, I never got the point of this; why can't we play with our friends outside of school? Why make the school calendar so needlessly long?


Because a lot of people need public school for daycare, this should not be surprising to people.

You're the same type of person who in a week will be complaining that there are teenagers *everywhere* misbehaving.
Anonymous
Post 06/16/2026 09:21     Subject: May/June attendance now optional?
Anonymous wrote:If the teacher is going to show a vid, why don’t they show a documentary on their subject? Why are we showing Disney films? Why not Blue Planet educational stuff?


This. It’s not difficult to find something educational. And I thought that’s why we pay for all of the subscriptions to Ed Tech and education versions of online resources.
Anonymous
Post 06/16/2026 09:03     Subject: May/June attendance now optional?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My 9th grader has been spending hours and hours on his phone at school for WEEKS.

So much for "away for the day."

What are they going to do next year with no phoned allowed?


They are really picking and choosing on the rules. Will definitely come back to bite them.


It’s not going to be any different next year. It’s not going to be enforceable either.
Anonymous
Post 06/16/2026 08:29     Subject: May/June attendance now optional?
Anonymous wrote:Yep, the day after the 4th SOL was done, the first movie was put in for science class. That was May 14th. Then other classes followed suit. TIL today it was Wall-E, Sound of Music, Boss Baby, A Bug’s Life, Judge Judy, and when one movie ends, they put in another…is school optional for the last 4.5 weeks in 8th grade? The teacher’s could prepare them for next year. They could teach an exemplary lesson in their field of study. They could visit the outside or courtyard. This is really dumbing down FCPS. They could teach cursive. They could talk about their high school advice, their career path, current trends of research in their fields, anything! It’s so mind-numbing to watch a movie one period after another.
+1 For grades 1-8, the SOLs and the SEL stuff have created a lot of the problems. The teachers cram all the lessons and topics in before April 30. The teachers do social and team building fluff for the first 2 weeks of back to school and ramrod standardized tests like IReady, MAP, etc in that first Q. This effectively makes the school year closer to having only 3 Qs upon which to convey grade level content. It’s crammed in before the end of April so that there are 2 weeks of SOL review and discussion. By the time the kids take the SOL, in the first 2 weeks of May, everyone feels exhausted and done, yet there is still a full month of school left!
Anonymous
Post 06/16/2026 08:20     Subject: May/June attendance now optional?
If the teacher is going to show a vid, why don’t they show a documentary on their subject? Why are we showing Disney films? Why not Blue Planet educational stuff?
Anonymous
Post 06/16/2026 08:18     Subject: May/June attendance now optional?
Anonymous wrote:3rd grade. No movies. Admin won’t allow it even for class parties.
Chesterbrook principal tried to feign that years ago. The teachers couldn’t show a full length movie. SO—-they would just show consecutive 30 minute shorts all strung together like Shawn-the-Sheep or WildKratts. They got around this admin policy—easy.
Anonymous
Post 06/16/2026 07:47     Subject: May/June attendance now optional?
Email the SB and complain.
Also remember this when you enjoy your 4 day weeks all year long but think FCPS is doing what is legally necessary. They're not. Opening school doors should NOT count towards the legal minimum.