Anonymous wrote:I actually love it when teachers take their leave on PD days. It also means that no subs are needed. I think it should be encouraged not looked at as a problem.

I’m a teacher and if I want to plan a trip during the year I always try to do it during pd weekends (this happens like once a year).

I actually love it when teachers take their leave on PD days. It also means that no subs are needed. I think it should be encouraged not looked at as a problem.

The record keeping and classroom setup ones are useful and the rest are a complete waste of time. Every time we have an opportunity to provide feedback to the union I suggest fewer PD days but I guess it’s not a priority. Maybe the snow days were unavoidable, but with all of the short weeks and so many district-mandated assessments, it’s been hard to maintain any continuity.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The PD days sound like a waste of time. Our school used the entire PD two weeks ago discussing inclusivity and how to take bias out of teaching. Never mind that school is predominantly minority and most of the teachers are Latino and black. And the school is already super liberal. They really need to spend a day on this? What about discussing how to include an advanced math track for 7th graders which parents have been asking for.

PD days are a waste of time. Move them all to June so they aren't so disruptive and then suddenly teachers wouldn't want them.

Teachers don’t want PD days either. But I’d support moving them all to June and then calling out that week.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The PD days sound like a waste of time. Our school used the entire PD two weeks ago discussing inclusivity and how to take bias out of teaching. Never mind that school is predominantly minority and most of the teachers are Latino and black. And the school is already super liberal. They really need to spend a day on this? What about discussing how to include an advanced math track for 7th graders which parents have been asking for.

PD days are a waste of time. Move them all to June so they aren't so disruptive and then suddenly teachers wouldn't want them.

Not even sure the teachers ever wanted them. It was a union-management agreement. AFAIK, the teachers still need to physically show up to school for most of the PD days, so it's not like its extra time off for them. And the number of PD days seems to increase with every new union agreement.

DC is unique in that they want to keep the summer short in order to minimize learning loss and keep low-income kids out of trouble. I get it. It's probably better to give these kids more time off of school during crappy January weather than having them run around during the summer when crime shoots up. Still, I think it would be better over a single week in February than abbreviated school weeks for nearly 2 months.

Anonymous wrote:Where were all these February break fans when DCPS sent out surveys asking for input on future schedules? Because parents spoke loudly and clearly that most hated the February break.

OP of this thread: I always commented on those to keep the February break. In the recent feedback on 26-29 calendars, I asked them to add back the February break and even did the spreadsheet example they asked of us.

Trust me, I've been pushing it for years. The long weekend-palooza this year is worse than before because of the snow days. That's still going to be a problem moving forward in future years.

Anonymous wrote:The PD days sound like a waste of time. Our school used the entire PD two weeks ago discussing inclusivity and how to take bias out of teaching. Never mind that school is predominantly minority and most of the teachers are Latino and black. And the school is already super liberal. They really need to spend a day on this? What about discussing how to include an advanced math track for 7th graders which parents have been asking for.

PD days are a waste of time. Move them all to June so they aren't so disruptive and then suddenly teachers wouldn't want them.

A lot of schools, especially charters, are flouting the requirement that they provide 180 days of instruction.