Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because by mid-May, no matter if school starts in August or Sep, the kids are DONE. They are burned out. The weather is sunnier and getting warmer and they want to be outside. They want to have some freedom and relax. They have checked out and need to be out by early/mid June.

By mid/late-Aug. they are tired/bored of mostly being at home or the pool. Time to go back.

No, you are sick of your kids being home/paying for someone to watch them. If FCPS keeps shortening summer they will lose even more teachers.

You might be right.

I will absolutely leave if this happens. We lost a week and a day this summer. Having summer off is one of the benefits of teaching and it seems like that is slowly being taken away.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Since I spent my childhood going back to school in September in Europe, when the weather is already autumnal, I can never get my head around starting in August, and having a month of sweltering weather at school.

However this is how things are done here, and I suppose with climate change, it's all going to get worse weather-wise. Ugh. I need to retire in some Scandinavian country or Canada.

With the exception of recess, they’re sitting in AC all day. They’ll be fine.

If only this were true.

Which school in FCPS doesn’t have A/C?

Our AC breaks multiple times this year. I am sitting in my classroom and it is currently not working. It has been this way since I started.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Since I spent my childhood going back to school in September in Europe, when the weather is already autumnal, I can never get my head around starting in August, and having a month of sweltering weather at school.

However this is how things are done here, and I suppose with climate change, it's all going to get worse weather-wise. Ugh. I need to retire in some Scandinavian country or Canada.

With the exception of recess, they’re sitting in AC all day. They’ll be fine.

If only this were true.

Yeah both statements suspect - recess is becoming a forgotten rite of passage, sadly. Even though all studies show you can lower ADHD meds with more recess. Perhaps give it another 30 years - that seems to be the rate of change for our public schools.

Ah, it always feels like fall when the first complaints about the school schedule start coming out on DCUM in August!

Did I just feel a chill in the air? Better go get my PSL from Starbucks!

Because it's a religious school now. We need to take time off to celebrate every superstition.

Anonymous wrote:I'd prefer they didn't have all the random days off. Start later, eliminate the random days off. Children thrive on consistency. None of this 4 day school stuff.

You have it backwards.

Start the 3rd week of August.

Get out after Memorial Day weekend.

Get rid of all the random days off.

Anonymous wrote:Earlier than the other neighboring schools. I feel like fcps is always making wrong decisions.

Have you asked the people who made that decision?

Anonymous wrote:Real Americans never send their kids back to school before Labor Day.

Most Americans send their kids back to school around the 3rd week of August, plus or minus a few days.

Anonymous wrote:Way too many days off. But I like starting 2 werks before Labor Day. I just wish they would end during the first week in June. Nothing happens in June. Once people see June 1st on the calendar, they completely check out. So pushing more breaks/vacations into the school year and pushing the end date further into June is equal to taking away learning time.

A day in June is not equal to a day in August, October, January or March (or any other month). June days have very very little educational value in most fcps schools.

When fcps switched to a pre labor day start, ending in early June was the entire justification, along with more time to study for AP exams.

This school board somehow managed to screw up the calendar too.

2023 cannot come soon enough.

Anonymous wrote:
Since I spent my childhood going back to school in September in Europe, when the weather is already autumnal, I can never get my head around starting in August, and having a month of sweltering weather at school.

However this is how things are done here, and I suppose with climate change, it's all going to get worse weather-wise. Ugh. I need to retire in some Scandinavian country or Canada.

It is so much better to have students in school in August inside air conditioned buildings during the sweltering last days of summer, and done with school early in late May or June when the weather is beautiful and perfect for pools, vacations and outdoor activities.

It makes zero sense to start school after labor day, when August is too hot to do anything fun.

Anonymous wrote:They don't start early. My friend's kids in South Carolina started way earlier and are in school already.

Agree.

They should start a week earlier and get out by Memorial Day weekend.

The point of fcps going with an August start date was so school could end the first half of June.

Unfortunately, this incompetent school board managed to bungle the calendar with a bunch of non teaching days, so now we get the worst of both worlds, a mid August start date and a late June dismissal.

If the school board could manage to stick with the original plan of ending school early June, then we could have a strong, workable schedule that aligns with most other states, basically all universities, and all of the June summer programs nationwide for high school students. We wouldn't have 3-4 wasted weeks of non insteuction following the AP exams and SOLs.

But managing a practical functional calendar with an August start date and late May/early June dismissal is just too much to ask of this fcps school board and the thousands of Gatehouse employees.

Dang, I wish we had a functioning school board that focused solely on education and not all the other nonsense.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because by mid-May, no matter if school starts in August or Sep, the kids are DONE. They are burned out. The weather is sunnier and getting warmer and they want to be outside. They want to have some freedom and relax. They have checked out and need to be out by early/mid June.

By mid/late-Aug. they are tired/bored of mostly being at home or the pool. Time to go back.

No, you are sick of your kids being home/paying for someone to watch them. If FCPS keeps shortening summer they will lose even more teachers.

You might be right.

Anonymous wrote:Because by mid-May, no matter if school starts in August or Sep, the kids are DONE. They are burned out. The weather is sunnier and getting warmer and they want to be outside. They want to have some freedom and relax. They have checked out and need to be out by early/mid June.

By mid/late-Aug. they are tired/bored of mostly being at home or the pool. Time to go back.

No, you are sick of your kids being home/paying for someone to watch them. If FCPS keeps shortening summer they will lose even more teachers.

I'd prefer they didn't have all the random days off. Start later, eliminate the random days off. Children thrive on consistency. None of this 4 day school stuff.

It sucks as a parent of a toddler too - a lot of the pools, etc. close during the week once school goes back.