Anonymous wrote:Slowly working toward year round schooling with no weeks where children go all 5 days.

Year round schooling is great for families and students, if it incorporates 2-3 weeks off at regular intervals and perhaps a 5-6 week summer break. This 1-2 days off every couple of weeks and multiple weeks of standardized testing is terrible all around.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They do serve summer meals.
https://www.fcps.edu/family-resources/student-safety-and-wellness/food-and-nutrition-programs/summer-meal-service

DP, I think the PP was trying to say that this service should not be the responsibility of the school system.

I believe the summer meals aren’t administered by the school system but are just distributed at schools and other community sites.

Some are suggesting that the school year is extended so that poor students can get two meals a day during the week. That isn't the purpose of school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They do serve summer meals.
https://www.fcps.edu/family-resources/student-safety-and-wellness/food-and-nutrition-programs/summer-meal-service

DP, I think the PP was trying to say that this service should not be the responsibility of the school system.

I believe the summer meals aren’t administered by the school system but are just distributed at schools and other community sites.

Anonymous wrote:They do serve summer meals.
https://www.fcps.edu/family-resources/student-safety-and-wellness/food-and-nutrition-programs/summer-meal-service

DP, I think the PP was trying to say that this service should not be the responsibility of the school system.

They do serve summer meals.
https://www.fcps.edu/family-resources/student-safety-and-wellness/food-and-nutrition-programs/summer-meal-service

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The calendar seems longer than when I was a kid… maybe by about 2-3 weeks? My memory isn’t great though. I wonder what teachers think of the shortened summers? That always seemed like the best perk of the job.

As someone whose DD starts with FCPS this fall...teachers are paid as contract employees based on days - usually 195-day contracted employees - they get paid once a month and have to ensure they budget correctly because they don't get paid the "summer" months. So this might have something to do with it. Although I also see it as a downside because they'd have less summertime to get a 2nd job which many teachers do.

Also - remember...not all of FCPS is UMC - there are many and probably a lot more now (we all know the woes of overcrowded schools) who are on free or reduced lunch programs and these students are the ones who truly suffer with extended summer breaks.

The school isn't there to provide meals for the summer. And why would the rest of the kids have to change their schedules to achieve this goal? Host food kitchens for families if needed.

I think they need to match it up better to when the SOL’s and the AP tests are given. I’m just looking at McLean’s dates since it was the first one to come up on a search https://mcleanhs.fcps.edu/node/4680 and all the SOL’s are done before Memorial Day apart from retakes, but even those are done by the end of May after MD. AP tests for HS are the same. And I think there’s a mental block after Memorial Day - everyone is checked out and not much learning is going on. It feels like wasted time. I know some 1st grade teacher is going to say they’re doing a lot after Memorial Day but it’s different when you get to SOL age.

They could do a better job of consolidating the teacher work days and student holidays. 24-25 calendar actually isn’t too bad with this, the annoying 3 hour ES ER days notwithstanding. But 25-26 is rough. For example, October 2025 has holidays for Yom Kippur on Thursday 10/2, and Diwali on Tuesday 10/21, and a teacher work day on Monday 10/13 for Columbus/Indigenous Peoples Day. They couldn’t give a teacher work day on any of those days and consolidate a little? The kids have a day off on Veterans Day in November - which historically was NOT a student holiday - with 2 days off earlier in the month for teacher work days/voting and 3 days for Thanksgiving? If they could cut out just 5 days of holidays, they could get out on June 10th.

I think the General Public are not aware that many teachers must have summer income. When we got out in mid June and did not start until after Labor Day that gave them the opportunity to hold down a second job and also gave families opportunities to plan ahead for summer vacations, camps etc. There is no doubt that the addition of all of the various religious holidays and the extended two weeks for winter break, have had a delirious impact. In addition I pity the AP teachers many of whom I know very well who try to pack in their curriculum in a shortened time span due to SOL testing starting in April and so many four day weeks. The calendar is definitely a mess and will continue to be a mess as long as the school board feels everybody has to have a voice that must be heard. When you try to please everyone you please nobody.

Anonymous wrote:Slowly working toward year round schooling with no weeks where children go all 5 days.

This will eventually lead to a loss of even more teachers. The school week has been stretched to several weeks longer than it used to be with no commensurate increase in pay. Teachers who needed a 2nd job now have several weeks less in summer income because those days have now been spread out to a day here and a day there.

Anonymous wrote:Can we please, please push for the 9 weeks on, 2 weeks off schedule that gives us a 7 week summer break?

Start in August and go through 9 weeks for Q1, and then have 2 weeks off in October. Back in school for 9 weeks for Q2 (with 3 days off at Thanksgiving), and then 2.5 weeks off in Dec/Jan. Back in school for 9 weeks for Q3, and then 2 weeks off in the spring. One last 9 week session for Q4 with a 7 week summer.

That has an extra 10 days built in for random holidays, like 4-day Labor Day and Memorial Day weekends, Election Day, MLK Day, religious holidays, and so on.

Pretty please?

Yes!! This would be so awesome. Maybe one day we'll get there...

I did not realize 26-27 was posted:

https://www.fcps.edu/system/files/forms/2024-06/2026-2027-standard-school-year-calendar.pdf

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People suggesting multiple weeks long breaks throughout the year are delusional. How much in a bubble are you that you think everyone else has the time and money to travel during those times? Talk about inequitable. The kids whose parents can’t afford to travel need childcare and there is no one to staff it when college students are not available. Not to mention many teachers would hate this schedule. It would push even more of them out of the profession. Who wants to deal with re-acclimating a classroom full of kids after several weeks off multiple times per year? People here think only of their own families and situations. The school board’s biggest mistake was sending out a survey about the calendar. It makes something simple so overly complicated trying to “let everyone’s voice be heard”. Why we can’t just do things like every other school district in this part of the country, I don’t know.

Nah, most of my teacher colleagues either a) don't care, as long as their schedule mirrors their kids' schedules, or b) would prefer a shorter summer to eliminate summer brain drain and the chaos of the first month back. The first quarter stinks because it's so much review. Coming back from winter break is 30 minutes of reacquainting ourselves to rules and procedures and moving on.

As a secondary teacher, all I care about is getting my days in before the AP exams. Doesn't matter to me if they are full weeks or short weeks, as long as I have an equal number of days with A/B classes and they happen before mid may. June days are worthless, August days are great.

Go talk to elementary teachers.

+1
Two ES Teachers

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People suggesting multiple weeks long breaks throughout the year are delusional. How much in a bubble are you that you think everyone else has the time and money to travel during those times? Talk about inequitable. The kids whose parents can’t afford to travel need childcare and there is no one to staff it when college students are not available. Not to mention many teachers would hate this schedule. It would push even more of them out of the profession. Who wants to deal with re-acclimating a classroom full of kids after several weeks off multiple times per year? People here think only of their own families and situations. The school board’s biggest mistake was sending out a survey about the calendar. It makes something simple so overly complicated trying to “let everyone’s voice be heard”. Why we can’t just do things like every other school district in this part of the country, I don’t know.

The childcare cost/burden would be the same with a shorter summer and longer breaks. It's the same number of school days on and school days off.

That absolutely does not mean: 1) coat is the same for mid year camps staffed by adults vs summer camps staffed by college kids and 2) that it is as easy for parents to take PTO to cover parts of it.

Anonymous wrote:The idea that businesses wouldn’t find a way to adapt is amusing. If school suddenly became 3 days a week, they’d figure things out. When a snow day happens, camps magically appear. When there are teacher workdays, there are camps. They wouldn’t be staffed by out of state college kids, sure—but I can’t tell you the last time my kids went to one that was. They are staffed by adults (parents who want part time work mostly) and high schoolers.

Sigh. A snow day and a random work day do not compare volume wise to the amount of kids that are in camp in the summer.
College kids are a huge part of the summer camp workforce

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The calendar seems longer than when I was a kid… maybe by about 2-3 weeks? My memory isn’t great though. I wonder what teachers think of the shortened summers? That always seemed like the best perk of the job.

As someone whose DD starts with FCPS this fall...teachers are paid as contract employees based on days - usually 195-day contracted employees - they get paid once a month and have to ensure they budget correctly because they don't get paid the "summer" months. So this might have something to do with it. Although I also see it as a downside because they'd have less summertime to get a 2nd job which many teachers do.

Also - remember...not all of FCPS is UMC - there are many and probably a lot more now (we all know the woes of overcrowded schools) who are on free or reduced lunch programs and these students are the ones who truly suffer with extended summer breaks.

Exactly because when they are off for days throughout the school year, they only have to go three or four days without food.

Oh wait, do kids need food every day?