Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This year, we started one week before Labor Day & have a 2 week winter break. How on earth is the only way we can start & end at the same time next year is by shortening winter break?? Not to mention the extra minutes. They need to have fewer, more efficient days. Ugh. It’s going to awful to start Aug 21 & STILL go to mid-June. And for what?

To be in line with Fairfax. Thanks APE for pushing this.

The push to align with Fairfax also has been around since long before APE. It was primarily driven by teachers, because many of our teachers live in Fairfax (because Arlington is too expensive) and gave childcare issues when the calendars don’t align.

I agree with the value of aligning with Fairfax, it helps teacher retention especially since we are no longer the best paying school district outside DCPS

Maybe Fairfax needs to align with us. There’s no reason to randomly add another week of school. Aligning spring break makes sense. But we don’t need a shorter summer just to match Fairfax.

It’s hard to take you seriously when you post stuff like this. FCPS isn’t the one having a problem with misalignment, APS is. Why would FCPS change something that is working just fine for them?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This year, we started one week before Labor Day & have a 2 week winter break. How on earth is the only way we can start & end at the same time next year is by shortening winter break?? Not to mention the extra minutes. They need to have fewer, more efficient days. Ugh. It’s going to awful to start Aug 21 & STILL go to mid-June. And for what?

To be in line with Fairfax. Thanks APE for pushing this.

180 days of instruction? that's not to be in line with fairfax, that's to comply with state law. the commonwealth of Virginia mandates 180 days of instruction. They have a provision in the law to look at hours if there are snow days etc, so that you can use 'hours' rather than adding on days at the end of the year. But the starting point is to be 180 days. Last year APS decided to go by 'hours' instead of days. Which is a misreading of the state law- which they knew full well when they did it and got called to account for it. They are fixing it going forward- good.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This year, we started one week before Labor Day & have a 2 week winter break. How on earth is the only way we can start & end at the same time next year is by shortening winter break?? Not to mention the extra minutes. They need to have fewer, more efficient days. Ugh. It’s going to awful to start Aug 21 & STILL go to mid-June. And for what?

To be in line with Fairfax. Thanks APE for pushing this.

The push to align with Fairfax also has been around since long before APE. It was primarily driven by teachers, because many of our teachers live in Fairfax (because Arlington is too expensive) and gave childcare issues when the calendars don’t align.

I agree with the value of aligning with Fairfax, it helps teacher retention especially since we are no longer the best paying school district outside DCPS

Maybe Fairfax needs to align with us. There’s no reason to randomly add another week of school. Aligning spring break makes sense. But we don’t need a shorter summer just to match Fairfax.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This year, we started one week before Labor Day & have a 2 week winter break. How on earth is the only way we can start & end at the same time next year is by shortening winter break?? Not to mention the extra minutes. They need to have fewer, more efficient days. Ugh. It’s going to awful to start Aug 21 & STILL go to mid-June. And for what?

To be in line with Fairfax. Thanks APE for pushing this.

The push to align with Fairfax also has been around since long before APE. It was primarily driven by teachers, because many of our teachers live in Fairfax (because Arlington is too expensive) and gave childcare issues when the calendars don’t align.

+1 that part wasn’t APE, it was staff complaints and absences. It’s frustrating for me as an APS teacher who lives in Arlington. If I wanted to be on FCPS schedule I’d live/work there. I don’t mind the shortened break, when I started in APS 6 years ago it was shorter and it was fine.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This year, we started one week before Labor Day & have a 2 week winter break. How on earth is the only way we can start & end at the same time next year is by shortening winter break?? Not to mention the extra minutes. They need to have fewer, more efficient days. Ugh. It’s going to awful to start Aug 21 & STILL go to mid-June. And for what?

To be in line with Fairfax. Thanks APE for pushing this.

The push to align with Fairfax also has been around since long before APE. It was primarily driven by teachers, because many of our teachers live in Fairfax (because Arlington is too expensive) and gave childcare issues when the calendars don’t align.

I agree with the value of aligning with Fairfax, it helps teacher retention especially since we are no longer the best paying school district outside DCPS

Anonymous wrote:People have been complaining about the two week winter break since before APE existed. It’s nice for affluent families who want to travel, but a huge burden on working class families that have to find and pay for alternative childcare for those two weeks.

And in APs Affluent families have left for private. Hence short break.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This year, we started one week before Labor Day & have a 2 week winter break. How on earth is the only way we can start & end at the same time next year is by shortening winter break?? Not to mention the extra minutes. They need to have fewer, more efficient days. Ugh. It’s going to awful to start Aug 21 & STILL go to mid-June. And for what?

To be in line with Fairfax. Thanks APE for pushing this.

The push to align with Fairfax also has been around since long before APE. It was primarily driven by teachers, because many of our teachers live in Fairfax (because Arlington is too expensive) and gave childcare issues when the calendars don’t align.

People have been complaining about the two week winter break since before APE existed. It’s nice for affluent families who want to travel, but a huge burden on working class families that have to find and pay for alternative childcare for those two weeks.

I posted in a previous thread asking when school would start because I had to book a vacation and someone suggested that school could start on the 21st. Just want to say thanks to whoever that was!!

This is all so typical. APE makes a big fuss in the way only they can... APS gives in and then ... comes to find out hey, APE doesn't actually speak for the vast majority of APS parents.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This year, we started one week before Labor Day & have a 2 week winter break. How on earth is the only way we can start & end at the same time next year is by shortening winter break?? Not to mention the extra minutes. They need to have fewer, more efficient days. Ugh. It’s going to awful to start Aug 21 & STILL go to mid-June. And for what?

To be in line with Fairfax. Thanks APE for pushing this.

APE killed the nice long winter break. Thanks, APE.

Do they usually publish the results of the survey? I can’t imagine who is going to choose option 1.

As a Jewish family, I really hope they get rid of all the holidays. Sure it’s nice that I don’t need to worry about my kid making up missed work BUT another at the expense of having no school for all religious holidays. No tests on holidays is good enough. Kids miss school all the time for various reasons (like being sick) and have to make up the class work. Why is it so different just because it’s a holiday causing the absence. I get APS is obsessed with how people “feel” about having to miss and they think having every holiday off is more inclusive. But I’d like to know how this is equitable for working families.

Anonymous wrote:This year, we started one week before Labor Day & have a 2 week winter break. How on earth is the only way we can start & end at the same time next year is by shortening winter break?? Not to mention the extra minutes. They need to have fewer, more efficient days. Ugh. It’s going to awful to start Aug 21 & STILL go to mid-June. And for what?

To be in line with Fairfax. Thanks APE for pushing this.

This year, we started one week before Labor Day & have a 2 week winter break. How on earth is the only way we can start & end at the same time next year is by shortening winter break?? Not to mention the extra minutes. They need to have fewer, more efficient days. Ugh. It’s going to awful to start Aug 21 & STILL go to mid-June. And for what?