My kindergartener is having a really hard time getting into a solid routine. Her teacher said this is something she is seeing across the whole class and that she doesn't like all the breaks. It's hard because I am generally supportive of what they are trying to do!

FCPS Ives spring break away from Easter last year and there was a huge outcry! The entitlement is real.

As a PP said, this thread is a perfect demonstration that no calendar pleases everyone or even most.

“ I'm so tired of the argument that Christian holidays shouldn't count as days off because the majority celebrates them. ”

It is not “Christian holidays”. It is literally Christmas. Easter is a Sunday and very few people are insisting spring break simply has to be the week before Easter. Plenty of school districts all around the country have their spring break week during a week not connected to Easter and that is fine.

The entire point on Christmas is that it is celebrated in some way (even by people who are not religious) by an overwhelming majority of the country and celebrated as a general slow down and prime vacation time from 12/24-1/1 for most adults in the US. It would be absolutely impossible to try to hold school then. Teachers would not take those jobs and kids would just not show up.

There is NO other holiday - including all the federal ones during the school year - that looks as large.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kids can learn plenty today.

-- Have them research Diwali.

-- Have them research empathy.

-- Have them research kindness.

-- Have them research equality.

-- Have them research the difference between a religious observance and a cultural observance.

-- Have them bake you a humble pie.

You forgot the big one - schedule orthodontist appointments where they don’t need to miss school.

Yes! I love these holidays, it gives my middle school and high school kids time to catch up and they’re great days for scheduling appointments!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've had 3 (4?) religious holidays so far this year... and endless more to come.

Liberals fought hard to remove any entanglement between public school and Christian religion, now these hypocrites can't add enough religious holidays to the schedule.

Wish my kids were in school and learning. Wish the School Board even cared about that.

+1. I don't know a single family in my neighborhood that is happy about the calendar. In fact, I know zero parents who appreciate this - my fellow liberals included.
We rightfully expect our kids to be in school. Employers don't give us 9 4 day work weeks in the fall so it is unreasonable to expect that families with young kids can sustain this.

I cannot wait to oust this school board. They have zero interest in bettering the education of our children and spend 100% of their time in performance liberalism.

+2 - Perfectly said! I can't wait to oust this school board either, and give them the finger while they exit the door.

So dumb. This thread is a perfect encapsulation of the crap that the SB has to deal with. There is absolutely no agreement and everyone thinks that they are the smartest in the room.

So here’s my two cents - the current calendar is pretty much as good as it gets and they should lock it in long-term. It is an elegant way to both provide necessary teacher workdays while giving a nod to the diversity of the families that attend FCPS. It provides a traditional winter and spring break while no making the summer break excessively long.

I don’t for a second believe that my kid is being “harmed” by several 4 day weeks. That’s nutty.

Teacher here. This is why parents shouldn’t be surveyed. Too many differing opinions. With that being said, while I 100 percent support the new holidays off, the SB should gave moved TWD/End of the Quarter around to make more full weeks of school.

End of Quarter 1 should have bern moved to Nov 4 and then that Mon/Tues should have been TWD. Columbus Day and Veteran’s Day should be school days. That would have added two full weeks to Q1.

The holidays are not the issue. The TWD/Planning Days are.

How can they fix this? Once they get the holidays on the calendar, then they place TWD to make sure the calendar is balanced.

No day off for Chinese new year? Not fair!!!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish some schools were year round around here and we could pick which we'd prefer. I'd like 6 weeks of school followed by 1/2 weeks off. All these random days are killing me.

Btw, I saw all the stands of fireworks for Diwali and that people were buying them like crazy. I was seriously hoping for some firework shows. I do wish that some of these holidays that we get off could be enjoyed by others the way Christmas is.

What do you think non-Christians are enjoying about Christmas? Everything being closed? Mall Santa? Overcrowded movie theaters and shops? "Happy Birthday Jesus" songs (or worse: Wham! every 10 minutes) on the radio for 2 months?
But, sure, the lights are pretty.

My husband is an atheist and my child has never been to Church but we celebrate Christmas in the secular way. We decorate a tree and buy presents and bake cookies.

This. 85%+ of the country celebrates Christmas, whether in a religious or secular way. If schools didn't shut, we would all be out anyway - teachers, staff, students, admin, etc. There would be zero point in opening bc Xmas is already the biggest work and cultural holiday in the country. OF COURSE it is going to be the longest school holiday. Ignoring a Xmas/winter break that reflects our overwhelmingly majority culture would be grossly negligent mismanagement by FCPS.

And btw, Xmas is a fed holiday for the Americas (N and S), Europe, much of Africa and the Middle East. The countries that DON'T celebrate Christmas as a national holiday are actually in the minority so I'm not sure what is being argued here.

The holiday comparisons are misplaced and unreasonable.

The argument is not that we shouldn't have Christmas off. PP stated that Winter Break "happens to coincide" with Christmas, as if the calendar isn't designed to give it off specifically. The implication being that we shouldn't give off minority religion holidays, because we don't intentionally give off Christian ones, which is just flatly untrue.

I'm so tired of the argument that Christian holidays shouldn't count as days off because the majority celebrates them. Missing 4 extra days of school for Jewish, Hindu, and Muslim holidays is not going to break our kids' educations, but by all means, let's continue to bi*ch about how minorities are inconveniencing everyone and their holidays aren't even fun for everyone.

Anonymous wrote:It’s great that the teacher above read some books to improve her teaching and constantly learn.

It’s also great that you got the summer to do it. Lots of professionals also read to keep up with the changing ways of their profession and to constantly learn how to improve. And they’re doing it after work, or on weekends, or when they’re on vacation with their PTO time.

I could sit by the pool and go through a couple books per week if I were off all summer.

But alas, you couldn't afford the pool (at home or membership) on a teacher salary. So a couple books per week at home, in air conditioning if you're lucky.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've had 3 (4?) religious holidays so far this year... and endless more to come.

Liberals fought hard to remove any entanglement between public school and Christian religion, now these hypocrites can't add enough religious holidays to the schedule.

Wish my kids were in school and learning. Wish the School Board even cared about that.

+1. I don't know a single family in my neighborhood that is happy about the calendar. In fact, I know zero parents who appreciate this - my fellow liberals included.
We rightfully expect our kids to be in school. Employers don't give us 9 4 day work weeks in the fall so it is unreasonable to expect that families with young kids can sustain this.

I cannot wait to oust this school board. They have zero interest in bettering the education of our children and spend 100% of their time in performance liberalism.

+2 - Perfectly said! I can't wait to oust this school board either, and give them the finger while they exit the door.

So dumb. This thread is a perfect encapsulation of the crap that the SB has to deal with. There is absolutely no agreement and everyone thinks that they are the smartest in the room.

So here’s my two cents - the current calendar is pretty much as good as it gets and they should lock it in long-term. It is an elegant way to both provide necessary teacher workdays while giving a nod to the diversity of the families that attend FCPS. It provides a traditional winter and spring break while no making the summer break excessively long.

I don’t for a second believe that my kid is being “harmed” by several 4 day weeks. That’s nutty.

The multitude of 4 day school weeks leans wealthy, upper class, which this district caters to. It assumes that parents will be home with kids, take off work and/or pay for back up childcare (not everyone has a HS Sr.). If parents have to take off those days, that's 8 days of PTO and/or vacation. Not all of us are feds. DH and I are not and we don't get fed days off. 8 days is significant. And to boot, my kid also had to take a sick day today so that was another day off for one of us. We know that sick days happen and are prepared for them. But the litany of religious observances backed by teacher workdays is just not in tune with the working world.

The Board assumes that parents don't (need to) work. In an area which is overwhelmingly dual income households, that assumption is incredibly misplaced, and it is a slap in the face to the vast majority of us who do work when the board closes school for each and every minority holiday. It is just not sustainable, no matter how many performance points you think you get.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've had 3 (4?) religious holidays so far this year... and endless more to come.

Liberals fought hard to remove any entanglement between public school and Christian religion, now these hypocrites can't add enough religious holidays to the schedule.

Wish my kids were in school and learning. Wish the School Board even cared about that.

+1. I don't know a single family in my neighborhood that is happy about the calendar. In fact, I know zero parents who appreciate this - my fellow liberals included.
We rightfully expect our kids to be in school. Employers don't give us 9 4 day work weeks in the fall so it is unreasonable to expect that families with young kids can sustain this.

I cannot wait to oust this school board. They have zero interest in bettering the education of our children and spend 100% of their time in performance liberalism.

+2 - Perfectly said! I can't wait to oust this school board either, and give them the finger while they exit the door.

So dumb. This thread is a perfect encapsulation of the crap that the SB has to deal with. There is absolutely no agreement and everyone thinks that they are the smartest in the room.

So here’s my two cents - the current calendar is pretty much as good as it gets and they should lock it in long-term. It is an elegant way to both provide necessary teacher workdays while giving a nod to the diversity of the families that attend FCPS. It provides a traditional winter and spring break while no making the summer break excessively long.

I don’t for a second believe that my kid is being “harmed” by several 4 day weeks. That’s nutty.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a longer year, though. As a teacher, I would prefer less days off during the year and a longer summer. These days off here and there help to catch up on sleep, but I can’t clear my head. I am always thinking about teaching.

I am also a teacher, but I have the opposite opinion. I support what research shows, that shorter and more frequent breaks are better for learning, and for preventing learning loss, than long summer breaks are.

I'm not sure how you can ever clear your head. Even with long summers, I am always thinking about teaching. In fact, I spend most of the summer each year catching up on professional reading and planning that I did not have time for during the school year.

You spend nearly 10 weeks on “professional reading”? Doubt that. What exactly are you reading - FCPS doesn’t assign anything or have one standardized book. I’m sure you have vacations. Sick of the exaggerations of how teachers spend all summer reading and planning. They don’t.

-former FCPS teacher

Perhaps some additional instruction in reading comprehension would be helpful to you, for I stated that I spend MOST of the summer on professional reading and planning.

This past summer, I read three books about learner-centered instruction, one about elevating student voice, and one about digital citizenship.

I also read over 12 young adult novels and memoirs to expand my repertoire of diverse authors.

Additionally, I completely redesigned one of our major units and part of a second unit to reflect what I learned about learner-centered instruction and elevating student voice.

Yes, I took a short vacation, but I spent, as I do most summers, MOST of the summer working.

I'm sorry that it comes as such a shock to you that any teacher would choose to read professional texts that are not assigned by FCPS. I am far from alone in choosing to better myself as a teacher and person by researching, reading, and implementing things that are not assigned to me. In fact, among my colleagues at my school, I am fairly average. Many of us do exactly what I do-- choose to better ourselves as educators by constantly learning.

So in other words, a bunch of new age fluff. Not the least of which will be helpful to students or actually improve learner outcomes. I suggest reading actual historical content, focusing on solid content objectives, or brushing up on grammar. So many educators focus on pedagogy and teach incorrect information to students!

Perhaps you should follow your own advice to brush up on grammar. You began one sentence with a coordinating conjunction, composed the following sentence as a fragment, and seem to have some struggles with punctuation.

Reading comprehension fail. I meant brush up on grammar in the context of properly teaching it so you can effectively teach it to your students. I wasn’t commenting on your actual grammar in your posting. I see too many teachers don’t have a really deep content knowledge of any subject.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish some schools were year round around here and we could pick which we'd prefer. I'd like 6 weeks of school followed by 1/2 weeks off. All these random days are killing me.

Btw, I saw all the stands of fireworks for Diwali and that people were buying them like crazy. I was seriously hoping for some firework shows. I do wish that some of these holidays that we get off could be enjoyed by others the way Christmas is.

What do you think non-Christians are enjoying about Christmas? Everything being closed? Mall Santa? Overcrowded movie theaters and shops? "Happy Birthday Jesus" songs (or worse: Wham! every 10 minutes) on the radio for 2 months?
But, sure, the lights are pretty.

My husband is an atheist and my child has never been to Church but we celebrate Christmas in the secular way. We decorate a tree and buy presents and bake cookies.

This. 85%+ of the country celebrates Christmas, whether in a religious or secular way. If schools didn't shut, we would all be out anyway - teachers, staff, students, admin, etc. There would be zero point in opening bc Xmas is already the biggest work and cultural holiday in the country. OF COURSE it is going to be the longest school holiday. Ignoring a Xmas/winter break that reflects our overwhelmingly majority culture would be grossly negligent mismanagement by FCPS.

And btw, Xmas is a fed holiday for the Americas (N and S), Europe, much of Africa and the Middle East. The countries that DON'T celebrate Christmas as a national holiday are actually in the minority so I'm not sure what is being argued here.

The holiday comparisons are misplaced and unreasonable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've had 3 (4?) religious holidays so far this year... and endless more to come.

Liberals fought hard to remove any entanglement between public school and Christian religion, now these hypocrites can't add enough religious holidays to the schedule.

Wish my kids were in school and learning. Wish the School Board even cared about that.

+1. I don't know a single family in my neighborhood that is happy about the calendar. In fact, I know zero parents who appreciate this - my fellow liberals included.
We rightfully expect our kids to be in school. Employers don't give us 9 4 day work weeks in the fall so it is unreasonable to expect that families with young kids can sustain this.

I cannot wait to oust this school board. They have zero interest in bettering the education of our children and spend 100% of their time in performance liberalism.

+2 - Perfectly said! I can't wait to oust this school board either, and give them the finger while they exit the door.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a longer year, though. As a teacher, I would prefer less days off during the year and a longer summer. These days off here and there help to catch up on sleep, but I can’t clear my head. I am always thinking about teaching.

I am also a teacher, but I have the opposite opinion. I support what research shows, that shorter and more frequent breaks are better for learning, and for preventing learning loss, than long summer breaks are.

I'm not sure how you can ever clear your head. Even with long summers, I am always thinking about teaching. In fact, I spend most of the summer each year catching up on professional reading and planning that I did not have time for during the school year.

You spend nearly 10 weeks on “professional reading”? Doubt that. What exactly are you reading - FCPS doesn’t assign anything or have one standardized book. I’m sure you have vacations. Sick of the exaggerations of how teachers spend all summer reading and planning. They don’t.

-former FCPS teacher

Perhaps some additional instruction in reading comprehension would be helpful to you, for I stated that I spend MOST of the summer on professional reading and planning.

This past summer, I read three books about learner-centered instruction, one about elevating student voice, and one about digital citizenship.

I also read over 12 young adult novels and memoirs to expand my repertoire of diverse authors.

Additionally, I completely redesigned one of our major units and part of a second unit to reflect what I learned about learner-centered instruction and elevating student voice.

Yes, I took a short vacation, but I spent, as I do most summers, MOST of the summer working.

I'm sorry that it comes as such a shock to you that any teacher would choose to read professional texts that are not assigned by FCPS. I am far from alone in choosing to better myself as a teacher and person by researching, reading, and implementing things that are not assigned to me. In fact, among my colleagues at my school, I am fairly average. Many of us do exactly what I do-- choose to better ourselves as educators by constantly learning.

So in other words, a bunch of new age fluff. Not the least of which will be helpful to students or actually improve learner outcomes. I suggest reading actual historical content, focusing on solid content objectives, or brushing up on grammar. So many educators focus on pedagogy and teach incorrect information to students!

Perhaps you should follow your own advice to brush up on grammar. You began one sentence with a coordinating conjunction, composed the following sentence as a fragment, and seem to have some struggles with punctuation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So only Christian holidays are ok for OP?

Your post "might" have had some credibility if you didn't throw that in there.

Name a Christian holiday that isn't part of some other break. Hint - there aren't any.

In fact, there's only one Christian holiday that is part of an existing break and that one is far longer than it needs to be and the entire country takes it off anyway.

You fail.

NP but you and I both know winter break is Christmas break. If it was a true winter break it would be in January at Quarter end.

Spring break is the same.