Anonymous
05/07/2026 21:51
Subject: How DO we get the calendar changed?
Dunne noted the past year had the fewest 5-day weeks in FFX history. The student rep noted that this has led to lack of preparation for high school students on AP exams. School board voted down motion for more 5 day weeks
Anonymous
05/07/2026 20:45
Subject: How DO we get the calendar changed?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I am hearing that there is possibly a mtg next week to change the calendar? Would that be for next year?
This school board has toddler levels of reactivity. They need to slow down and stop doing knee jerk reactions.
Reid changed the calendar after school ended in 24. Can’t complain now.
Anonymous
05/07/2026 20:24
Subject: How DO we get the calendar changed?
Anonymous wrote:I am hearing that there is possibly a mtg next week to change the calendar? Would that be for next year?
This school board has toddler levels of reactivity. They need to slow down and stop doing knee jerk reactions.
Anonymous
05/07/2026 18:41
Subject: How DO we get the calendar changed?
I am hearing that there is possibly a mtg next week to change the calendar? Would that be for next year?
Anonymous
04/17/2026 07:51
Subject: How DO we get the calendar changed?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:[/b]Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We should not have these holidays off or as observance days-
Rosh Hashanah
Yom Kippur
Diwali
Eid al Fitr
Eid al Adha
Sounds about white.
If my kids go to a Jewish school, they don't celebrate all the Christian and Pagan holidays so enough with your virtue signaling. My "whitness" can't move to move to India and demand the entire country to give all "whites" paid days off for American holidays? Your insistent cultural neediness is exhausting and disruptive to the learning of ALL students. If you want cultural handholding go to an international school, not public.
Wrong. Public caters to ALL, whether you like it or not.
But we are punishing everyone trying to cater everyone! no one is getting what they need with this calendar. Life is not fair, but but literally have a calendar that does not work so everyone can have a day off when they need it is punishing every one else. Church and state are separated in this country.
[b]I celebrate Christmas and if you want to have school that day or that week, fine. I will take the day off for my kids.
And so will 90% of the rest of the students, teachers, support staff, bus drivers and federally connnected folks.
FCPS could not function on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, through January 1st. Only a handful of students and even fewer staff would attend.
Up until about 10 years ago FCPS had winter break start on 12/24 and end on 1/1/ (or as close to that as they could get). It would shift slightly each year depending on what day of the week Christmas fell on but the goal was alway to have the shortest possible break. Some years (like if Christmas was a Saturday) winter break would be Friday 12/24 plus the following week. The only years that break was 2 weeks were when Christmas fell on a Wednesday.
And do you know what happened on the years that Christmas break was shorter? Huge numbers of kids didn't show up to school. Families would take 2 weeks to travel and didn't care if kids missed 3 or 4 days of school. This is a significant reason why FCPS finally went to a guaranteed 2 week winter break.
And, uncoupling Spring Break from Easter will only work if other local counties agree to do the same. The one year FCPS tried it they ended up with tons of teachers who lived outside the county having to bring their own kids to work with them.
Then FCPS should prioritize hiring Fairfax residents.
Sorry the teachers didn’t plan well in advance like the FCPS boosters keep telling parents is so easy and inexpensive to do.
This crazy person is back. Do you realize how ridiculous you sound? People live/work all over in ALL fields. They did plan that year and TOOK off which led to an OPERATIONAL issue. Maybe if Fairfax County was affordable more teachers would move there.
My point is look at ANY school district in the US and you will find no district that has ALL staff living there.
Fairfax will be more affordable when the school calendar doesn’t force parents to shell out thousands in childcare to cover a random Tuesday “TW” day.
Housing is unaffordable. That is why teachers don’t all live here. Childcare adds into that but most people are moving to other counties due to housing. Look at Vienna. You cannot get a house for less than a million dollars. Even townhomes are 800,000 or more. Some of these homes are not million dollar homes.
Fairfax is bigger than Vienna, and if teachers *must* have McMansions they should work in LCPS or wherever they choose to live. Otherwise we continue to have worse quality in FCPS while we endlessly close schools because “the teachers live far away” and insist we can’t improve the calendar until other counties do. Foolish and reflects incorrect priorities.
Different poster. There is very little housing in Fairfax County under 750,000. Not everyone earns more than 200,000 a year.
DP
I’m a teacher, married to a teacher. I just searched our W Springfield zip and got 21 results for 3+ bedrooms <$750k.
There are also aome very nice houses in that price range zoned for Lewis.
Certainly Hayfield, Centerville, South County and Lake Braddock have nice homes in that range as well.
Anonymous
04/17/2026 07:48
Subject: How DO we get the calendar changed?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:[/b]Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We should not have these holidays off or as observance days-
Rosh Hashanah
Yom Kippur
Diwali
Eid al Fitr
Eid al Adha
Sounds about white.
If my kids go to a Jewish school, they don't celebrate all the Christian and Pagan holidays so enough with your virtue signaling. My "whitness" can't move to move to India and demand the entire country to give all "whites" paid days off for American holidays? Your insistent cultural neediness is exhausting and disruptive to the learning of ALL students. If you want cultural handholding go to an international school, not public.
Wrong. Public caters to ALL, whether you like it or not.
But we are punishing everyone trying to cater everyone! no one is getting what they need with this calendar. Life is not fair, but but literally have a calendar that does not work so everyone can have a day off when they need it is punishing every one else. Church and state are separated in this country.
[b]I celebrate Christmas and if you want to have school that day or that week, fine. I will take the day off for my kids.
And so will 90% of the rest of the students, teachers, support staff, bus drivers and federally connnected folks.
FCPS could not function on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, through January 1st. Only a handful of students and even fewer staff would attend.
Up until about 10 years ago FCPS had winter break start on 12/24 and end on 1/1/ (or as close to that as they could get). It would shift slightly each year depending on what day of the week Christmas fell on but the goal was alway to have the shortest possible break. Some years (like if Christmas was a Saturday) winter break would be Friday 12/24 plus the following week. The only years that break was 2 weeks were when Christmas fell on a Wednesday.
And do you know what happened on the years that Christmas break was shorter? Huge numbers of kids didn't show up to school. Families would take 2 weeks to travel and didn't care if kids missed 3 or 4 days of school. This is a significant reason why FCPS finally went to a guaranteed 2 week winter break.
And, uncoupling Spring Break from Easter will only work if other local counties agree to do the same. The one year FCPS tried it they ended up with tons of teachers who lived outside the county having to bring their own kids to work with them.
Then FCPS should prioritize hiring Fairfax residents.
Sorry the teachers didn’t plan well in advance like the FCPS boosters keep telling parents is so easy and inexpensive to do.
This crazy person is back. Do you realize how ridiculous you sound? People live/work all over in ALL fields. They did plan that year and TOOK off which led to an OPERATIONAL issue. Maybe if Fairfax County was affordable more teachers would move there.
My point is look at ANY school district in the US and you will find no district that has ALL staff living there.
Fairfax will be more affordable when the school calendar doesn’t force parents to shell out thousands in childcare to cover a random Tuesday “TW” day.
Housing is unaffordable. That is why teachers don’t all live here. Childcare adds into that but most people are moving to other counties due to housing. Look at Vienna. You cannot get a house for less than a million dollars. Even townhomes are 800,000 or more. Some of these homes are not million dollar homes.
Fairfax is bigger than Vienna, and if teachers *must* have McMansions they should work in LCPS or wherever they choose to live. Otherwise we continue to have worse quality in FCPS while we endlessly close schools because “the teachers live far away” and insist we can’t improve the calendar until other counties do. Foolish and reflects incorrect priorities.
Different poster. There is very little housing in Fairfax County under 750,000. Not everyone earns more than 200,000 a year.
A great reason that schools should not be adding to household costs by having such an irregular schedule and driving up costs. The parents of their students have to live in these conditions, many do not own homes, they should not have a calendar dictated by where teachers can buy big houses.
There are not enough teachers living in Fairfax County to staff the schools. Every district has people commuting from other counties. They are literally hiring foreigners to help staff the schools. The schools priority should be getting quality teachers.
Very few people live in the town they work in. In ALL professions.
Your argument is ridiculous and not actually plausible as NO SCHOOL district in the US has all of their staff members living in boundary.
Except… nowhere was that my argument. Your out-of-county teacher would’ve told you, that a strawman.
I said Fairfax resident should be prioritized in hiring. That would lower the incentive to make foolish decisions based on people living in Loudoun. Quite a few areas have incentives for his teachers to move/live there, and many areas have residence requirements for employees, so welcome to 2026 where schools do not (or should not) exist to serve teachers, but students.
No teacher who lives in Fairfax is being turned away. Look at the vacancy list. Anyone who wants to teach can. But FCPS employs more than just teachers. All of the support staff, custodians, bus drivers, admin, etc can also live/work anywhere. When you are looking at not aligning spring breaks, it becomes not only about teachers but all operations during the school day.
That isn’t true. FCPS isn’t even accepting applications for subs.
The list of other professions does not reflect collective bargaining, and there isn’t pressure to close schools because of the janitors commute.
Anonymous
04/17/2026 07:47
Subject: How DO we get the calendar changed?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:[/b]Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We should not have these holidays off or as observance days-
Rosh Hashanah
Yom Kippur
Diwali
Eid al Fitr
Eid al Adha
Sounds about white.
If my kids go to a Jewish school, they don't celebrate all the Christian and Pagan holidays so enough with your virtue signaling. My "whitness" can't move to move to India and demand the entire country to give all "whites" paid days off for American holidays? Your insistent cultural neediness is exhausting and disruptive to the learning of ALL students. If you want cultural handholding go to an international school, not public.
Wrong. Public caters to ALL, whether you like it or not.
But we are punishing everyone trying to cater everyone! no one is getting what they need with this calendar. Life is not fair, but but literally have a calendar that does not work so everyone can have a day off when they need it is punishing every one else. Church and state are separated in this country.
[b]I celebrate Christmas and if you want to have school that day or that week, fine. I will take the day off for my kids.
And so will 90% of the rest of the students, teachers, support staff, bus drivers and federally connnected folks.
FCPS could not function on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, through January 1st. Only a handful of students and even fewer staff would attend.
Up until about 10 years ago FCPS had winter break start on 12/24 and end on 1/1/ (or as close to that as they could get). It would shift slightly each year depending on what day of the week Christmas fell on but the goal was alway to have the shortest possible break. Some years (like if Christmas was a Saturday) winter break would be Friday 12/24 plus the following week. The only years that break was 2 weeks were when Christmas fell on a Wednesday.
And do you know what happened on the years that Christmas break was shorter? Huge numbers of kids didn't show up to school. Families would take 2 weeks to travel and didn't care if kids missed 3 or 4 days of school. This is a significant reason why FCPS finally went to a guaranteed 2 week winter break.
And, uncoupling Spring Break from Easter will only work if other local counties agree to do the same. The one year FCPS tried it they ended up with tons of teachers who lived outside the county having to bring their own kids to work with them.
Then FCPS should prioritize hiring Fairfax residents.
Sorry the teachers didn’t plan well in advance like the FCPS boosters keep telling parents is so easy and inexpensive to do.
This crazy person is back. Do you realize how ridiculous you sound? People live/work all over in ALL fields. They did plan that year and TOOK off which led to an OPERATIONAL issue. Maybe if Fairfax County was affordable more teachers would move there.
My point is look at ANY school district in the US and you will find no district that has ALL staff living there.
Fairfax will be more affordable when the school calendar doesn’t force parents to shell out thousands in childcare to cover a random Tuesday “TW” day.
Housing is unaffordable. That is why teachers don’t all live here. Childcare adds into that but most people are moving to other counties due to housing. Look at Vienna. You cannot get a house for less than a million dollars. Even townhomes are 800,000 or more. Some of these homes are not million dollar homes.
Fairfax is bigger than Vienna, and if teachers *must* have McMansions they should work in LCPS or wherever they choose to live. Otherwise we continue to have worse quality in FCPS while we endlessly close schools because “the teachers live far away” and insist we can’t improve the calendar until other counties do. Foolish and reflects incorrect priorities.
Different poster. There is very little housing in Fairfax County under 750,000. Not everyone earns more than 200,000 a year.
DP
I’m a teacher, married to a teacher. I just searched our W Springfield zip and got 21 results for 3+ bedrooms <$750k.
Were they nice or run-down? Not everyone wants to live in a fixer-upper.
Not everyone needs to own their own home as history has shown. And not everyone who does own their home needs to live in a McMansion.
Anonymous
04/17/2026 07:43
Subject: How DO we get the calendar changed?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:[/b]Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We should not have these holidays off or as observance days-
Rosh Hashanah
Yom Kippur
Diwali
Eid al Fitr
Eid al Adha
Sounds about white.
If my kids go to a Jewish school, they don't celebrate all the Christian and Pagan holidays so enough with your virtue signaling. My "whitness" can't move to move to India and demand the entire country to give all "whites" paid days off for American holidays? Your insistent cultural neediness is exhausting and disruptive to the learning of ALL students. If you want cultural handholding go to an international school, not public.
Wrong. Public caters to ALL, whether you like it or not.
But we are punishing everyone trying to cater everyone! no one is getting what they need with this calendar. Life is not fair, but but literally have a calendar that does not work so everyone can have a day off when they need it is punishing every one else. Church and state are separated in this country.
[b]I celebrate Christmas and if you want to have school that day or that week, fine. I will take the day off for my kids.
And so will 90% of the rest of the students, teachers, support staff, bus drivers and federally connnected folks.
FCPS could not function on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, through January 1st. Only a handful of students and even fewer staff would attend.
Up until about 10 years ago FCPS had winter break start on 12/24 and end on 1/1/ (or as close to that as they could get). It would shift slightly each year depending on what day of the week Christmas fell on but the goal was alway to have the shortest possible break. Some years (like if Christmas was a Saturday) winter break would be Friday 12/24 plus the following week. The only years that break was 2 weeks were when Christmas fell on a Wednesday.
And do you know what happened on the years that Christmas break was shorter? Huge numbers of kids didn't show up to school. Families would take 2 weeks to travel and didn't care if kids missed 3 or 4 days of school. This is a significant reason why FCPS finally went to a guaranteed 2 week winter break.
And, uncoupling Spring Break from Easter will only work if other local counties agree to do the same. The one year FCPS tried it they ended up with tons of teachers who lived outside the county having to bring their own kids to work with them.
Then FCPS should prioritize hiring Fairfax residents.
Sorry the teachers didn’t plan well in advance like the FCPS boosters keep telling parents is so easy and inexpensive to do.
This crazy person is back. Do you realize how ridiculous you sound? People live/work all over in ALL fields. They did plan that year and TOOK off which led to an OPERATIONAL issue. Maybe if Fairfax County was affordable more teachers would move there.
My point is look at ANY school district in the US and you will find no district that has ALL staff living there.
Fairfax will be more affordable when the school calendar doesn’t force parents to shell out thousands in childcare to cover a random Tuesday “TW” day.
Housing is unaffordable. That is why teachers don’t all live here. Childcare adds into that but most people are moving to other counties due to housing. Look at Vienna. You cannot get a house for less than a million dollars. Even townhomes are 800,000 or more. Some of these homes are not million dollar homes.
Fairfax is bigger than Vienna, and if teachers *must* have McMansions they should work in LCPS or wherever they choose to live. Otherwise we continue to have worse quality in FCPS while we endlessly close schools because “the teachers live far away” and insist we can’t improve the calendar until other counties do. Foolish and reflects incorrect priorities.
Different poster. There is very little housing in Fairfax County under 750,000. Not everyone earns more than 200,000 a year.
DP
I’m a teacher, married to a teacher. I just searched our W Springfield zip and got 21 results for 3+ bedrooms <$750k.
Were they nice or run-down? Not everyone wants to live in a fixer-upper.
I wouldn’t say they are run down. These are a few, but the others are similar.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/9118-Tiffany-Park-Ct-Springfield-VA-22152/51932699_zpid/
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6526-Greenview-Ln-Springfield-VA-22152/51936075_zpid/
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/7229-Olde-Lantern-Way-Springfield-VA-22152/51939889_zpid/
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8600-Kentford-Dr-Springfield-VA-22152/51936363_zpid/
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8408-Millwood-Dr-Springfield-VA-22152/51909123_zpid/
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8024-Bethelen-Woods-Ln-Springfield-VA-22153/51940657_zpid/
Anonymous
04/16/2026 21:25
Subject: How DO we get the calendar changed?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We should not have these holidays off or as observance days-
Rosh Hashanah
Yom Kippur
Diwali
Eid al Fitr
Eid al Adha
Sounds about white.
If my kids go to a Jewish school, they don't celebrate all the Christian and Pagan holidays so enough with your virtue signaling. My "whitness" can't move to move to India and demand the entire country to give all "whites" paid days off for American holidays? Your insistent cultural neediness is exhausting and disruptive to the learning of ALL students. If you want cultural handholding go to an international school, not public.
You're talking (complaining) about days off for five RELIGIOUS holidays, then start rambling about moving to India and demanding Caucasians have days off for "American" holidays?
Never knew RELIGIOUS holidays were geographically based LOL
America = Country. Diwali = Religion. Make it make sense.
DP
Good Friday is a public holiday in India but not here in the US. So yeah I guess religious holidays can be geographic
Anonymous
04/16/2026 21:09
Subject: How DO we get the calendar changed?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:[/b]Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We should not have these holidays off or as observance days-
Rosh Hashanah
Yom Kippur
Diwali
Eid al Fitr
Eid al Adha
Sounds about white.
If my kids go to a Jewish school, they don't celebrate all the Christian and Pagan holidays so enough with your virtue signaling. My "whitness" can't move to move to India and demand the entire country to give all "whites" paid days off for American holidays? Your insistent cultural neediness is exhausting and disruptive to the learning of ALL students. If you want cultural handholding go to an international school, not public.
Wrong. Public caters to ALL, whether you like it or not.
But we are punishing everyone trying to cater everyone! no one is getting what they need with this calendar. Life is not fair, but but literally have a calendar that does not work so everyone can have a day off when they need it is punishing every one else. Church and state are separated in this country.
[b]I celebrate Christmas and if you want to have school that day or that week, fine. I will take the day off for my kids.
And so will 90% of the rest of the students, teachers, support staff, bus drivers and federally connnected folks.
FCPS could not function on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, through January 1st. Only a handful of students and even fewer staff would attend.
Up until about 10 years ago FCPS had winter break start on 12/24 and end on 1/1/ (or as close to that as they could get). It would shift slightly each year depending on what day of the week Christmas fell on but the goal was alway to have the shortest possible break. Some years (like if Christmas was a Saturday) winter break would be Friday 12/24 plus the following week. The only years that break was 2 weeks were when Christmas fell on a Wednesday.
And do you know what happened on the years that Christmas break was shorter? Huge numbers of kids didn't show up to school. Families would take 2 weeks to travel and didn't care if kids missed 3 or 4 days of school. This is a significant reason why FCPS finally went to a guaranteed 2 week winter break.
And, uncoupling Spring Break from Easter will only work if other local counties agree to do the same. The one year FCPS tried it they ended up with tons of teachers who lived outside the county having to bring their own kids to work with them.
Then FCPS should prioritize hiring Fairfax residents.
Sorry the teachers didn’t plan well in advance like the FCPS boosters keep telling parents is so easy and inexpensive to do.
This crazy person is back. Do you realize how ridiculous you sound? People live/work all over in ALL fields. They did plan that year and TOOK off which led to an OPERATIONAL issue. Maybe if Fairfax County was affordable more teachers would move there.
My point is look at ANY school district in the US and you will find no district that has ALL staff living there.
Fairfax will be more affordable when the school calendar doesn’t force parents to shell out thousands in childcare to cover a random Tuesday “TW” day.
Housing is unaffordable. That is why teachers don’t all live here. Childcare adds into that but most people are moving to other counties due to housing. Look at Vienna. You cannot get a house for less than a million dollars. Even townhomes are 800,000 or more. Some of these homes are not million dollar homes.
Fairfax is bigger than Vienna, and if teachers *must* have McMansions they should work in LCPS or wherever they choose to live. Otherwise we continue to have worse quality in FCPS while we endlessly close schools because “the teachers live far away” and insist we can’t improve the calendar until other counties do. Foolish and reflects incorrect priorities.
Different poster. There is very little housing in Fairfax County under 750,000. Not everyone earns more than 200,000 a year.
A great reason that schools should not be adding to household costs by having such an irregular schedule and driving up costs. The parents of their students have to live in these conditions, many do not own homes, they should not have a calendar dictated by where teachers can buy big houses.
There are not enough teachers living in Fairfax County to staff the schools. Every district has people commuting from other counties. They are literally hiring foreigners to help staff the schools. The schools priority should be getting quality teachers.
Very few people live in the town they work in. In ALL professions.
Your argument is ridiculous and not actually plausible as NO SCHOOL district in the US has all of their staff members living in boundary.
Except… nowhere was that my argument. Your out-of-county teacher would’ve told you, that a strawman.
I said Fairfax resident should be prioritized in hiring. That would lower the incentive to make foolish decisions based on people living in Loudoun. Quite a few areas have incentives for his teachers to move/live there, and many areas have residence requirements for employees, so welcome to 2026 where schools do not (or should not) exist to serve teachers, but students.
No teacher who lives in Fairfax is being turned away. Look at the vacancy list. Anyone who wants to teach can. But FCPS employs more than just teachers. All of the support staff, custodians, bus drivers, admin, etc can also live/work anywhere. When you are looking at not aligning spring breaks, it becomes not only about teachers but all operations during the school day.
Anonymous
04/16/2026 20:31
Subject: Re:How DO we get the calendar changed?
I think we need to eliminate DEI initiatives in FCPS and end all non Christian holidays from occurring.
Anonymous
04/16/2026 20:26
Subject: How DO we get the calendar changed?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:[/b]Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We should not have these holidays off or as observance days-
Rosh Hashanah
Yom Kippur
Diwali
Eid al Fitr
Eid al Adha
Sounds about white.
If my kids go to a Jewish school, they don't celebrate all the Christian and Pagan holidays so enough with your virtue signaling. My "whitness" can't move to move to India and demand the entire country to give all "whites" paid days off for American holidays? Your insistent cultural neediness is exhausting and disruptive to the learning of ALL students. If you want cultural handholding go to an international school, not public.
Wrong. Public caters to ALL, whether you like it or not.
But we are punishing everyone trying to cater everyone! no one is getting what they need with this calendar. Life is not fair, but but literally have a calendar that does not work so everyone can have a day off when they need it is punishing every one else. Church and state are separated in this country.
[b]I celebrate Christmas and if you want to have school that day or that week, fine. I will take the day off for my kids.
And so will 90% of the rest of the students, teachers, support staff, bus drivers and federally connnected folks.
FCPS could not function on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, through January 1st. Only a handful of students and even fewer staff would attend.
Up until about 10 years ago FCPS had winter break start on 12/24 and end on 1/1/ (or as close to that as they could get). It would shift slightly each year depending on what day of the week Christmas fell on but the goal was alway to have the shortest possible break. Some years (like if Christmas was a Saturday) winter break would be Friday 12/24 plus the following week. The only years that break was 2 weeks were when Christmas fell on a Wednesday.
And do you know what happened on the years that Christmas break was shorter? Huge numbers of kids didn't show up to school. Families would take 2 weeks to travel and didn't care if kids missed 3 or 4 days of school. This is a significant reason why FCPS finally went to a guaranteed 2 week winter break.
And, uncoupling Spring Break from Easter will only work if other local counties agree to do the same. The one year FCPS tried it they ended up with tons of teachers who lived outside the county having to bring their own kids to work with them.
Then FCPS should prioritize hiring Fairfax residents.
Sorry the teachers didn’t plan well in advance like the FCPS boosters keep telling parents is so easy and inexpensive to do.
This crazy person is back. Do you realize how ridiculous you sound? People live/work all over in ALL fields. They did plan that year and TOOK off which led to an OPERATIONAL issue. Maybe if Fairfax County was affordable more teachers would move there.
My point is look at ANY school district in the US and you will find no district that has ALL staff living there.
Fairfax will be more affordable when the school calendar doesn’t force parents to shell out thousands in childcare to cover a random Tuesday “TW” day.
Housing is unaffordable. That is why teachers don’t all live here. Childcare adds into that but most people are moving to other counties due to housing. Look at Vienna. You cannot get a house for less than a million dollars. Even townhomes are 800,000 or more. Some of these homes are not million dollar homes.
Fairfax is bigger than Vienna, and if teachers *must* have McMansions they should work in LCPS or wherever they choose to live. Otherwise we continue to have worse quality in FCPS while we endlessly close schools because “the teachers live far away” and insist we can’t improve the calendar until other counties do. Foolish and reflects incorrect priorities.
Different poster. There is very little housing in Fairfax County under 750,000. Not everyone earns more than 200,000 a year.
A great reason that schools should not be adding to household costs by having such an irregular schedule and driving up costs. The parents of their students have to live in these conditions, many do not own homes, they should not have a calendar dictated by where teachers can buy big houses.
There are not enough teachers living in Fairfax County to staff the schools. Every district has people commuting from other counties. They are literally hiring foreigners to help staff the schools. The schools priority should be getting quality teachers.
Very few people live in the town they work in. In ALL professions.
Your argument is ridiculous and not actually plausible as NO SCHOOL district in the US has all of their staff members living in boundary.
Except… nowhere was that my argument. Your out-of-county teacher would’ve told you, that a strawman.
I said Fairfax resident should be prioritized in hiring. That would lower the incentive to make foolish decisions based on people living in Loudoun. Quite a few areas have incentives for his teachers to move/live there, and many areas have residence requirements for employees, so welcome to 2026 where schools do not (or should not) exist to serve teachers, but students.
Do you really think teachers in Fairfax County are being turned away so teachers who live in other counties can be hired? Any unemployed teacher living in Fairfax County can apply for an open job today and get hired without any difficulty.
Even if they were prioritized they’d still have almost the same numbers of teachers living in other counties.
Anonymous
04/16/2026 20:21
Subject: How DO we get the calendar changed?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:[/b]Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We should not have these holidays off or as observance days-
Rosh Hashanah
Yom Kippur
Diwali
Eid al Fitr
Eid al Adha
Sounds about white.
If my kids go to a Jewish school, they don't celebrate all the Christian and Pagan holidays so enough with your virtue signaling. My "whitness" can't move to move to India and demand the entire country to give all "whites" paid days off for American holidays? Your insistent cultural neediness is exhausting and disruptive to the learning of ALL students. If you want cultural handholding go to an international school, not public.
Wrong. Public caters to ALL, whether you like it or not.
But we are punishing everyone trying to cater everyone! no one is getting what they need with this calendar. Life is not fair, but but literally have a calendar that does not work so everyone can have a day off when they need it is punishing every one else. Church and state are separated in this country.
[b]I celebrate Christmas and if you want to have school that day or that week, fine. I will take the day off for my kids.
And so will 90% of the rest of the students, teachers, support staff, bus drivers and federally connnected folks.
FCPS could not function on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, through January 1st. Only a handful of students and even fewer staff would attend.
Up until about 10 years ago FCPS had winter break start on 12/24 and end on 1/1/ (or as close to that as they could get). It would shift slightly each year depending on what day of the week Christmas fell on but the goal was alway to have the shortest possible break. Some years (like if Christmas was a Saturday) winter break would be Friday 12/24 plus the following week. The only years that break was 2 weeks were when Christmas fell on a Wednesday.
And do you know what happened on the years that Christmas break was shorter? Huge numbers of kids didn't show up to school. Families would take 2 weeks to travel and didn't care if kids missed 3 or 4 days of school. This is a significant reason why FCPS finally went to a guaranteed 2 week winter break.
And, uncoupling Spring Break from Easter will only work if other local counties agree to do the same. The one year FCPS tried it they ended up with tons of teachers who lived outside the county having to bring their own kids to work with them.
Then FCPS should prioritize hiring Fairfax residents.
Sorry the teachers didn’t plan well in advance like the FCPS boosters keep telling parents is so easy and inexpensive to do.
This crazy person is back. Do you realize how ridiculous you sound? People live/work all over in ALL fields. They did plan that year and TOOK off which led to an OPERATIONAL issue. Maybe if Fairfax County was affordable more teachers would move there.
My point is look at ANY school district in the US and you will find no district that has ALL staff living there.
Fairfax will be more affordable when the school calendar doesn’t force parents to shell out thousands in childcare to cover a random Tuesday “TW” day.
Housing is unaffordable. That is why teachers don’t all live here. Childcare adds into that but most people are moving to other counties due to housing. Look at Vienna. You cannot get a house for less than a million dollars. Even townhomes are 800,000 or more. Some of these homes are not million dollar homes.
Fairfax is bigger than Vienna, and if teachers *must* have McMansions they should work in LCPS or wherever they choose to live. Otherwise we continue to have worse quality in FCPS while we endlessly close schools because “the teachers live far away” and insist we can’t improve the calendar until other counties do. Foolish and reflects incorrect priorities.
Different poster. There is very little housing in Fairfax County under 750,000. Not everyone earns more than 200,000 a year.
DP
I’m a teacher, married to a teacher. I just searched our W Springfield zip and got 21 results for 3+ bedrooms <$750k.
Were they nice or run-down? Not everyone wants to live in a fixer-upper.
Anonymous
04/16/2026 19:44
Subject: How DO we get the calendar changed?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:[/b]Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We should not have these holidays off or as observance days-
Rosh Hashanah
Yom Kippur
Diwali
Eid al Fitr
Eid al Adha
Sounds about white.
If my kids go to a Jewish school, they don't celebrate all the Christian and Pagan holidays so enough with your virtue signaling. My "whitness" can't move to move to India and demand the entire country to give all "whites" paid days off for American holidays? Your insistent cultural neediness is exhausting and disruptive to the learning of ALL students. If you want cultural handholding go to an international school, not public.
Wrong. Public caters to ALL, whether you like it or not.
But we are punishing everyone trying to cater everyone! no one is getting what they need with this calendar. Life is not fair, but but literally have a calendar that does not work so everyone can have a day off when they need it is punishing every one else. Church and state are separated in this country.
[b]I celebrate Christmas and if you want to have school that day or that week, fine. I will take the day off for my kids.
And so will 90% of the rest of the students, teachers, support staff, bus drivers and federally connnected folks.
FCPS could not function on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, through January 1st. Only a handful of students and even fewer staff would attend.
Up until about 10 years ago FCPS had winter break start on 12/24 and end on 1/1/ (or as close to that as they could get). It would shift slightly each year depending on what day of the week Christmas fell on but the goal was alway to have the shortest possible break. Some years (like if Christmas was a Saturday) winter break would be Friday 12/24 plus the following week. The only years that break was 2 weeks were when Christmas fell on a Wednesday.
And do you know what happened on the years that Christmas break was shorter? Huge numbers of kids didn't show up to school. Families would take 2 weeks to travel and didn't care if kids missed 3 or 4 days of school. This is a significant reason why FCPS finally went to a guaranteed 2 week winter break.
And, uncoupling Spring Break from Easter will only work if other local counties agree to do the same. The one year FCPS tried it they ended up with tons of teachers who lived outside the county having to bring their own kids to work with them.
Then FCPS should prioritize hiring Fairfax residents.
Sorry the teachers didn’t plan well in advance like the FCPS boosters keep telling parents is so easy and inexpensive to do.
This crazy person is back. Do you realize how ridiculous you sound? People live/work all over in ALL fields. They did plan that year and TOOK off which led to an OPERATIONAL issue. Maybe if Fairfax County was affordable more teachers would move there.
My point is look at ANY school district in the US and you will find no district that has ALL staff living there.
Fairfax will be more affordable when the school calendar doesn’t force parents to shell out thousands in childcare to cover a random Tuesday “TW” day.
Housing is unaffordable. That is why teachers don’t all live here. Childcare adds into that but most people are moving to other counties due to housing. Look at Vienna. You cannot get a house for less than a million dollars. Even townhomes are 800,000 or more. Some of these homes are not million dollar homes.
Fairfax is bigger than Vienna, and if teachers *must* have McMansions they should work in LCPS or wherever they choose to live. Otherwise we continue to have worse quality in FCPS while we endlessly close schools because “the teachers live far away” and insist we can’t improve the calendar until other counties do. Foolish and reflects incorrect priorities.
Different poster. There is very little housing in Fairfax County under 750,000. Not everyone earns more than 200,000 a year.
DP
I’m a teacher, married to a teacher. I just searched our W Springfield zip and got 21 results for 3+ bedrooms <$750k.
Anonymous
04/16/2026 19:03
Subject: How DO we get the calendar changed?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:[/b]Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We should not have these holidays off or as observance days-
Rosh Hashanah
Yom Kippur
Diwali
Eid al Fitr
Eid al Adha
Sounds about white.
If my kids go to a Jewish school, they don't celebrate all the Christian and Pagan holidays so enough with your virtue signaling. My "whitness" can't move to move to India and demand the entire country to give all "whites" paid days off for American holidays? Your insistent cultural neediness is exhausting and disruptive to the learning of ALL students. If you want cultural handholding go to an international school, not public.
Wrong. Public caters to ALL, whether you like it or not.
But we are punishing everyone trying to cater everyone! no one is getting what they need with this calendar. Life is not fair, but but literally have a calendar that does not work so everyone can have a day off when they need it is punishing every one else. Church and state are separated in this country.
[b]I celebrate Christmas and if you want to have school that day or that week, fine. I will take the day off for my kids.
And so will 90% of the rest of the students, teachers, support staff, bus drivers and federally connnected folks.
FCPS could not function on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, through January 1st. Only a handful of students and even fewer staff would attend.
Up until about 10 years ago FCPS had winter break start on 12/24 and end on 1/1/ (or as close to that as they could get). It would shift slightly each year depending on what day of the week Christmas fell on but the goal was alway to have the shortest possible break. Some years (like if Christmas was a Saturday) winter break would be Friday 12/24 plus the following week. The only years that break was 2 weeks were when Christmas fell on a Wednesday.
And do you know what happened on the years that Christmas break was shorter? Huge numbers of kids didn't show up to school. Families would take 2 weeks to travel and didn't care if kids missed 3 or 4 days of school. This is a significant reason why FCPS finally went to a guaranteed 2 week winter break.
And, uncoupling Spring Break from Easter will only work if other local counties agree to do the same. The one year FCPS tried it they ended up with tons of teachers who lived outside the county having to bring their own kids to work with them.
Then FCPS should prioritize hiring Fairfax residents.
Sorry the teachers didn’t plan well in advance like the FCPS boosters keep telling parents is so easy and inexpensive to do.
This crazy person is back. Do you realize how ridiculous you sound? People live/work all over in ALL fields. They did plan that year and TOOK off which led to an OPERATIONAL issue. Maybe if Fairfax County was affordable more teachers would move there.
My point is look at ANY school district in the US and you will find no district that has ALL staff living there.
Fairfax will be more affordable when the school calendar doesn’t force parents to shell out thousands in childcare to cover a random Tuesday “TW” day.
Housing is unaffordable. That is why teachers don’t all live here. Childcare adds into that but most people are moving to other counties due to housing. Look at Vienna. You cannot get a house for less than a million dollars. Even townhomes are 800,000 or more. Some of these homes are not million dollar homes.
Fairfax is bigger than Vienna, and if teachers *must* have McMansions they should work in LCPS or wherever they choose to live. Otherwise we continue to have worse quality in FCPS while we endlessly close schools because “the teachers live far away” and insist we can’t improve the calendar until other counties do. Foolish and reflects incorrect priorities.
Different poster. There is very little housing in Fairfax County under 750,000. Not everyone earns more than 200,000 a year.
A great reason that schools should not be adding to household costs by having such an irregular schedule and driving up costs. The parents of their students have to live in these conditions, many do not own homes, they should not have a calendar dictated by where teachers can buy big houses.
There are not enough teachers living in Fairfax County to staff the schools. Every district has people commuting from other counties. They are literally hiring foreigners to help staff the schools. The schools priority should be getting quality teachers.
Very few people live in the town they work in. In ALL professions.
Your argument is ridiculous and not actually plausible as NO SCHOOL district in the US has all of their staff members living in boundary.
Then pump up this program!
https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/housing/rentalhousing/magnet
I agree, but the posters saying teachers can’t afford to purchase homes Vienna won’t think teachers should be expected to do something so gauche as *rent*.