Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they need to make a choice between grading days at the end of the marking period and religious holidays.

Or cut the Federal holidays like Indigenous Peoples day, MLK day, President's Day, etc. They can be observed as part of the curriculum.

They could. But many parents are off on these days. Virtually no one is off on the non-federal religious holidays.

I am generally not a supporter of APS closing school for religious holidays but the counterpoint is that no one has to miss school for Columbus Day or President's Day observance (and most parents would love a day off from work when the kids are in school - that is the holy grail!!!). But if you are Jewish and observing Yom Kippur, your kids can't go to school that day. That said, that is not true for all the religious holidays. Even with Rosh Hashanah some families would probably let their kids go to school for the afternoon by high school.

Well, my point was that if a parent is already off work, 1) they don’t need to find childcare for young kids, and 2) they can take a long weekend trip with the family. Sending kids to school on every federal holiday while having all these religious ones off would be pretty annoying. That said, I agree they don’t need EVERY federal holiday off. And if they start after Labor Day again, no need to factor in Labor Day and the Friday before. So get rid of a couple of fed days, religious holidays, and get back at least a week of summer break.

For those who don't work for the government, which are many people, we are finding childcare or taking time off for both religious and Federal holidays right now. Dropping some of these days, regardless of the category, would be helpful. It's too much.

I wish APS would adopt the model from Falls Church City where we still have school on religious holidays, but teachers don't introduce new content or test on those days. Students get excused absences for their religious holidays.

We had that, didn't work

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they need to make a choice between grading days at the end of the marking period and religious holidays.

Or cut the Federal holidays like Indigenous Peoples day, MLK day, President's Day, etc. They can be observed as part of the curriculum.

They could. But many parents are off on these days. Virtually no one is off on the non-federal religious holidays.

I am generally not a supporter of APS closing school for religious holidays but the counterpoint is that no one has to miss school for Columbus Day or President's Day observance (and most parents would love a day off from work when the kids are in school - that is the holy grail!!!). But if you are Jewish and observing Yom Kippur, your kids can't go to school that day. That said, that is not true for all the religious holidays. Even with Rosh Hashanah some families would probably let their kids go to school for the afternoon by high school.

Well, my point was that if a parent is already off work, 1) they don’t need to find childcare for young kids, and 2) they can take a long weekend trip with the family. Sending kids to school on every federal holiday while having all these religious ones off would be pretty annoying. That said, I agree they don’t need EVERY federal holiday off. And if they start after Labor Day again, no need to factor in Labor Day and the Friday before. So get rid of a couple of fed days, religious holidays, and get back at least a week of summer break.

For those who don't work for the government, which are many people, we are finding childcare or taking time off for both religious and Federal holidays right now. Dropping some of these days, regardless of the category, would be helpful. It's too much.

I wish APS would adopt the model from Falls Church City where we still have school on religious holidays, but teachers don't introduce new content or test on those days. Students get excused absences for their religious holidays.

We had that, didn't work

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they need to make a choice between grading days at the end of the marking period and religious holidays.

Or cut the Federal holidays like Indigenous Peoples day, MLK day, President's Day, etc. They can be observed as part of the curriculum.

They could. But many parents are off on these days. Virtually no one is off on the non-federal religious holidays.

I am generally not a supporter of APS closing school for religious holidays but the counterpoint is that no one has to miss school for Columbus Day or President's Day observance (and most parents would love a day off from work when the kids are in school - that is the holy grail!!!). But if you are Jewish and observing Yom Kippur, your kids can't go to school that day. That said, that is not true for all the religious holidays. Even with Rosh Hashanah some families would probably let their kids go to school for the afternoon by high school.

Well, my point was that if a parent is already off work, 1) they don’t need to find childcare for young kids, and 2) they can take a long weekend trip with the family. Sending kids to school on every federal holiday while having all these religious ones off would be pretty annoying. That said, I agree they don’t need EVERY federal holiday off. And if they start after Labor Day again, no need to factor in Labor Day and the Friday before. So get rid of a couple of fed days, religious holidays, and get back at least a week of summer break.

For those who don't work for the government, which are many people, we are finding childcare or taking time off for both religious and Federal holidays right now. Dropping some of these days, regardless of the category, would be helpful. It's too much.

I wish APS would adopt the model from Falls Church City where we still have school on religious holidays, but teachers don't introduce new content or test on those days. Students get excused absences for their religious holidays.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They either need to come off the 180 day commitment or eliminate holidays — don’t care if religious or Columbus Day or whatever. Something has to give. The calendar is out of control. We’ve gotten nothing out of moving up a week. They just added more days off. All the nonsense about more instructional days before AP exams was just a scam to put in the religious holidays.

go blame APE, they had their usual tantrum until APS caved and added this extra time. which no one wants and it's just a waste.

Stop. You cannot blame this horrible calendar on APE.

APE wanted more school days. You got em!

It went from 178/179 to 180

yeah that's the 2 days people are complaining about having to be in school the week of Xmas-- Dec 21 and 22nd. Thanks APE!

Looks like Eid and Yom Kippur to me

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they need to make a choice between grading days at the end of the marking period and religious holidays.

Or cut the Federal holidays like Indigenous Peoples day, MLK day, President's Day, etc. They can be observed as part of the curriculum.

They could. But many parents are off on these days. Virtually no one is off on the non-federal religious holidays.

I am generally not a supporter of APS closing school for religious holidays but the counterpoint is that no one has to miss school for Columbus Day or President's Day observance (and most parents would love a day off from work when the kids are in school - that is the holy grail!!!). But if you are Jewish and observing Yom Kippur, your kids can't go to school that day. That said, that is not true for all the religious holidays. Even with Rosh Hashanah some families would probably let their kids go to school for the afternoon by high school.

Well, my point was that if a parent is already off work, 1) they don’t need to find childcare for young kids, and 2) they can take a long weekend trip with the family. Sending kids to school on every federal holiday while having all these religious ones off would be pretty annoying. That said, I agree they don’t need EVERY federal holiday off. And if they start after Labor Day again, no need to factor in Labor Day and the Friday before. So get rid of a couple of fed days, religious holidays, and get back at least a week of summer break.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they need to make a choice between grading days at the end of the marking period and religious holidays.

Or cut the Federal holidays like Indigenous Peoples day, MLK day, President's Day, etc. They can be observed as part of the curriculum.

They could. But many parents are off on these days. Virtually no one is off on the non-federal religious holidays.

I am generally not a supporter of APS closing school for religious holidays but the counterpoint is that no one has to miss school for Columbus Day or President's Day observance (and most parents would love a day off from work when the kids are in school - that is the holy grail!!!). But if you are Jewish and observing Yom Kippur, your kids can't go to school that day. That said, that is not true for all the religious holidays. Even with Rosh Hashanah some families would probably let their kids go to school for the afternoon by high school.

Anonymous wrote:Wow 6 full weeks before Christmas break (which is very short).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they need to make a choice between grading days at the end of the marking period and religious holidays.

Or cut the Federal holidays like Indigenous Peoples day, MLK day, President's Day, etc. They can be observed as part of the curriculum.

They could. But many parents are off on these days. Virtually no one is off on the non-federal religious holidays.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They either need to come off the 180 day commitment or eliminate holidays — don’t care if religious or Columbus Day or whatever. Something has to give. The calendar is out of control. We’ve gotten nothing out of moving up a week. They just added more days off. All the nonsense about more instructional days before AP exams was just a scam to put in the religious holidays.

go blame APE, they had their usual tantrum until APS caved and added this extra time. which no one wants and it's just a waste.

Stop. You cannot blame this horrible calendar on APE.

APE wanted more school days. You got em!

It went from 178/179 to 180

yeah that's the 2 days people are complaining about having to be in school the week of Xmas-- Dec 21 and 22nd. Thanks APE!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They either need to come off the 180 day commitment or eliminate holidays — don’t care if religious or Columbus Day or whatever. Something has to give. The calendar is out of control. We’ve gotten nothing out of moving up a week. They just added more days off. All the nonsense about more instructional days before AP exams was just a scam to put in the religious holidays.

go blame APE, they had their usual tantrum until APS caved and added this extra time. which no one wants and it's just a waste.

Stop. You cannot blame this horrible calendar on APE.

APE wanted more school days. You got em!

It went from 178/179 to 180

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They either need to come off the 180 day commitment or eliminate holidays — don’t care if religious or Columbus Day or whatever. Something has to give. The calendar is out of control. We’ve gotten nothing out of moving up a week. They just added more days off. All the nonsense about more instructional days before AP exams was just a scam to put in the religious holidays.

go blame APE, they had their usual tantrum until APS caved and added this extra time. which no one wants and it's just a waste.

Stop. You cannot blame this horrible calendar on APE.

APE wanted more school days. You got em!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They either need to come off the 180 day commitment or eliminate holidays — don’t care if religious or Columbus Day or whatever. Something has to give. The calendar is out of control. We’ve gotten nothing out of moving up a week. They just added more days off. All the nonsense about more instructional days before AP exams was just a scam to put in the religious holidays.

go blame APE, they had their usual tantrum until APS caved and added this extra time. which no one wants and it's just a waste.

Stop. You cannot blame this horrible calendar on APE.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they need to make a choice between grading days at the end of the marking period and religious holidays.

Or cut the Federal holidays like Indigenous Peoples day, MLK day, President's Day, etc. They can be observed as part of the curriculum.

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if APS will rethink school on December 21 and 22. The Fairfax board has a thread about emails from FCPS about not missing schools around the breaks, attendance is important etc.

We won’t be traveling so my kids will be there but I’m going to guess there will be a lot of student and staff absences.