Anonymous
Post 12/21/2011 11:57     Subject: Re:Why is Winter Break so short?
Anonymous wrote:
For the PP who keeps complaining about not having enough time to see her extended family, can you explain why a week is not enough? And why is it so traumatizing for you to get your kids back to school not one, but two days after Easter?


You've probably never flown across the country with small kids. The return direct flight is 5.5 to 6 hours...


Wow - you have money to fly across the country - with kids too? I sure wish I had that kind of money. Vacations are a thing of the past for us.
Anonymous
Post 12/21/2011 11:53     Subject: Re:Why is Winter Break so short?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My kids' cousins in CA get a full week off for Thanksgiving and are off starting this Monday for Christmas. They don't end earlier for the summer and go back later in the fall.


I grew up in California, post-Prop 13.

Yes, we got a lot of time off. We also got to take our lunch every day (no cafeteria), we could study Spanish or French only until Level II (freshman year if you started in MS), and we had our choice of 3 whole AP classes -- with enrollment capped at 30 students each per year.


I also grew up in California, pre- and post-Prop 13. We always had two weeks off at Christmas even before Prop 13. I am also the youngest of 5 kids, the oldest being 15.5 years older than me, and they all also always had two weeks off at Christmas. I was stunned when my daughter started school at MCPS and only had a week off. My husband is from Texas, so we are travelling either to Texas or California for Christmas. Texas isn't so hard to pull off because the flight is shorter and the time difference is only one hour, but California is really hard because the flight is longer and the time difference is 3 hours. By the time my kids have adjusted to the time, it is time to go home. Maybe California has just traditionally had more people with extended family in far away places, so there is an expectation of a long Christmas break for visiting that they have accommodated. Though the DC area is similar--lots of people from lots of places. I don't understand. We end up taking off a few days before Christmas to extend our trip. She is only in 1st grade now, so it has not been a problem.
Anonymous
Post 12/21/2011 11:47     Subject: Re:Why is Winter Break so short?
I think the main problem is that Maryland and Montgomery County are more responsive to the needs of working parents regarding free childcare. Full day Kindergarten, very short breaks and long days in school address childcare needs of the community. We are a two income family so I understand the logistical hassle and expense of finding childcare. However, I also believe that childcare is the responsibility of the parents, not the school.
Anonymous
Post 12/21/2011 11:36     Subject: Re:Why is Winter Break so short?
For the PP who keeps complaining about not having enough time to see her extended family, can you explain why a week is not enough? And why is it so traumatizing for you to get your kids back to school not one, but two days after Easter?


You've probably never flown across the country with small kids. The return direct flight is 5.5 to 6 hours, at least an 1 -1.5 hours hour to get off the plane, get baggage, catch the shuttle to your car, 1 hour to drive home and then you have a 3 hour time change. For an early afternoon flight we easily end up rolling in the door around 1 am. My kids are incredibly well behaved on flights but they don't sleep. There are not as many flights as there used to be and you can't just choose a time to depart. We end up lucky of we can find an early flight. The early morning ones are much more expensive and book fast. They also involve getting the kids up at 3:30 am in order to get to the airport, return the rental car etc. My first grader does not do well going to bed at 1-2 am and then getting up for school the next morning if she is on east coast time. Throw in the fact that they have adjusted to west coast time and they are toast.

I have friends who have family up in New England and they make the drive. They run into the same problem of getting in super late because the traffic the day after a holiday is terrible. Their kids may not have the time change on top of it but they are just as exhausted.

The half day on Wednesday before Thanksgiving virtually guarantees that half the school will be out that day. Wednesday is a terrible travel day and taking a red eye Wednesday night to make it to Thanksgiving the next day isn't practical with kids. If the schools would just give 2-3 days off before and after holidays then anyone could travel to see family.
Anonymous
Post 12/21/2011 11:20     Subject: Re:Why is Winter Break so short?
Anonymous wrote:
Take trips when there is no school and during the 10 weeks students have off in the summer.


This isn't practical with large extended families. Ours lives up and down the West Coast. They are all several hours from each other, some 3-4 and others 10-12. They all get together for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. There is nothing my kids love more than running around with a pack of cousins. You don't have the same experience visiting 2-4 at a time and it would take weeks to travel separately to visit each one over the summer. This isn't practical if you work and it isn't the same as the whole family getting together.

Yes, MCPS has 10 days at Spring Break but they go back the Tuesday after Easter. This means that we are flying out on Monday the day after Easter and the kids will be exhausted from the long flight the day before and time change on their first day back to school. At least they have the Monday off or we would be running out of Grandma's house after finding one egg to the airport.


Then move, or as another PP suggested, homeschool. I don't know what else to tell you. But bitching that the school calendar doesn't permit cross-country travel for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter is fucking ridiculous. And BTW, you still get a week of for Christmas - get your ass on a plane on Saturday or Sunday, and you'll have a whole week with your family. Although I suspect that your extended family relishes those years when you can't make it to the annual gathering, if you always voice such absurd complaints.
Anonymous
Post 12/21/2011 11:01     Subject: Why is Winter Break so short?
10:44, those additional days off would have to come from somewhere. The state mandates that the instructional calendar is 180 days. Half days count as one of those days, so that is why school is not cancelled the day before Thanksgiving. If they cancelled it, that would add a day to the end of the school year. If 12/23 was cancelled, same thing. Adding two days often means going into an additional calendar week at the end of the year and then school ending on like a Tuesday when it could have ended on Friday. Then, people would complain that the summer was too short, they couldn't book their vacation for the third week in June, etc.
Anonymous
Post 12/21/2011 10:44     Subject: Why is Winter Break so short?
I'm not the PP, but I do wish we could have a couple of days before Christmas and Thanksgiving. We travel out of state to visit family for those holidays, and it's hard to get where we need to be (esp. since our family is largish so it's easier/cheaper to drive rather than fly) without missing a day of school. The half-day on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving is pointless - just give the entire day. I'd love to have Dec. 23rd off as well. It's always tight getting to my great aunt's Christmas Eve party.

I don't want them out all of Thanksgiving week or 2 weeks at Christmas, but I would love an extra day or two for travel.

On the other hand, I think having Easter Monday off is a little silly.
Anonymous
Post 12/21/2011 09:11     Subject: Why is Winter Break so short?
Can we leave aside the gratuitous MCPS bashing (complete with the requisite complaint from the mom who wants to fund an aide in her child's K class) and get back to the issue of this thread? I don't understand the whining about having "only" a week off at Xmas. That has been the norm in a lot of places, and presumably the privates only give more time off because their demographic tends to have more resources for travel. For the PP who keeps complaining about not having enough time to see her extended family, can you explain why a week is not enough? And why is it so traumatizing for you to get your kids back to school not one, but two days after Easter?
Anonymous
Post 12/21/2011 08:49     Subject: Why is Winter Break so short?
PTAs can buy smartboards, they cannot pay for human resources-ie fund a teacher's aide or special teacher.
Anonymous
Post 12/21/2011 00:33     Subject: Re:Why is Winter Break so short?


The Parents Coaltion seems like a bunch of loons. I don't care about pouring over MCPS finances to make sure that they never collected $10 from parents. Heck, I would happily donate thousands to schools across the system for some science supplies, some foreign language instruction, or extra PE or recess time. The PTA are focused on entertainment only and barred by legislatuion from fundraising for anything that actually impacts the course instruction. Since this is the case, it only attracts the social moms who don't have an interest in changing the system.



OP here again from out of state. So this means the PTA cannot arrange to buy extras for the classrooms? (Last year ours raised enough to buy smart boards for all of the classrooms; would this be allowed) If not, what do they spend their money on? And is MCPS really lacking in these types of things? It seems like a wealthier district than most.
Anonymous
Post 12/20/2011 21:52     Subject: Re:Why is Winter Break so short?
Anonymous wrote:
What about families with limited income which cannot afford to send their kids to camps and costly afterschool classes? Not everybody has resources to do things you listed above. It is too bad that many people give up on the school system and have to spend their own money.


As far as I can tell there is NO WAY to change MCPS. The administration has struck gold with all its focus on standardized testing. They "blame" NCLB but in reality they have constructed their own incentive system that fuels them to only focus what is on the test. The individual school principals compete against others in their cluster for fractions of a percentile point. The financial administrators fuel this even more as more test prep time means less expenditures on PE, science, art, or drama facilities and less spending on any special teachers who understand math or foreign languages.

Teachers are not afforded any creativity to make material come alive or given support and training to learn how to do this. Its easy to shoot for mediocrity across the board by being overly prescriptive and overly focused on administrative tasks than to nurture and support great teachers.

The Parents Coaltion seems like a bunch of loons. I don't care about pouring over MCPS finances to make sure that they never collected $10 from parents. Heck, I would happily donate thousands to schools across the system for some science supplies, some foreign language instruction, or extra PE or recess time. The PTA are focused on entertainment only and barred by legislatuion from fundraising for anything that actually impacts the course instruction. Since this is the case, it only attracts the social moms who don't have an interest in changing the system.



I agree 100% - and love the "loon" comment, btw. But what measures would you put in place to change the system?
Anonymous
Post 12/20/2011 12:13     Subject: Re:Why is Winter Break so short?
What about families with limited income which cannot afford to send their kids to camps and costly afterschool classes? Not everybody has resources to do things you listed above. It is too bad that many people give up on the school system and have to spend their own money.


As far as I can tell there is NO WAY to change MCPS. The administration has struck gold with all its focus on standardized testing. They "blame" NCLB but in reality they have constructed their own incentive system that fuels them to only focus what is on the test. The individual school principals compete against others in their cluster for fractions of a percentile point. The financial administrators fuel this even more as more test prep time means less expenditures on PE, science, art, or drama facilities and less spending on any special teachers who understand math or foreign languages.

Teachers are not afforded any creativity to make material come alive or given support and training to learn how to do this. Its easy to shoot for mediocrity across the board by being overly prescriptive and overly focused on administrative tasks than to nurture and support great teachers.

The Parents Coaltion seems like a bunch of loons. I don't care about pouring over MCPS finances to make sure that they never collected $10 from parents. Heck, I would happily donate thousands to schools across the system for some science supplies, some foreign language instruction, or extra PE or recess time. The PTA are focused on entertainment only and barred by legislatuion from fundraising for anything that actually impacts the course instruction. Since this is the case, it only attracts the social moms who don't have an interest in changing the system.

Anonymous
Post 12/20/2011 12:08     Subject: Re:Why is Winter Break so short?
Anonymous wrote:
Agree with 16:32. Our kids don't need long breaks from school. I wish the summer break is much shorter.


It depends on the school. If you go to a private school with lots of extra classes like art, drama, PE multiple times a week, and more stimulating activities then I would agree. However, MCPS is a soul sucking experience for kids. Summer is a great time to get the physical activity kids need, science, activities and all the other things that are missing in school today.I think that my kids learn more from some of their camps now than school. They certainly have more fun.


Soul sucking, really? PE is required even in HS (which I actually found to be a waste of time for a kid who was involved in both school and outside sports). And there are art requirements and tech ed reqirements (which is basically graphic design), and tons of opportunities for music both in and out of class. I found that MCPS actually required more extras than our private school and there are more opportunities for outside activities than at a smaller private school.
Anonymous
Post 12/20/2011 12:03     Subject: Re:Why is Winter Break so short?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I usually lose 1/3 of my class the 2-3 days before Winter Break. I don't teach anything new those days b/c those kids would miss it and the others would forget it all before the test in Jan.


When you teach AP classes you don't have that luxury. Note to parents...don't pull your kids from school before a vacation begins. The learning they miss is YOUR fault!


Agree, my DC doesn't want to miss any school because it is difficult to catch up. And this week seems to be a heavy test week for honors and AP classes.

The day before Thanksgiving is the one that seems to be a waste of time - 1/2 day and 1/2 the kids aren't there.
Anonymous
Post 12/20/2011 11:57     Subject: Re:Why is Winter Break so short?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Agree with 16:32. Our kids don't need long breaks from school. I wish the summer break is much shorter.


It depends on the school. If you go to a private school with lots of extra classes like art, drama, PE multiple times a week, and more stimulating activities then I would agree. However, MCPS is a soul sucking experience for kids. Summer is a great time to get the physical activity kids need, science, activities and all the other things that are missing in school today.I think that my kids learn more from some of their camps now than school. They certainly have more fun.


What about families with limited income which cannot afford to send their kids to camps and costly afterschool classes? Not everybody has resources to do things you listed above. It is too bad that many people give up on the school system and have to spend their own money.


The school system was not created to provide every last enrichment experience we might all want, nor was it created as childcare. People who want a lot of different experiences and enrichment activities for their kids, and who need childcare when school is not in session, need to look outside of school. MoCo itself (not the school system) has many reasonably-priced enrichment options.

I disagree that MCPS is a soul-sucking experience for kids (at least, my kids) but agree that summer is a great time to get the physical activity kids need, and other things that are missing in school today.