Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"The August start should require FCPS ending Memorial Day weekend.

Each student should get 2 "free" days off for cultural and religious holidays, with the only religious holidays with no school being the ones where a large number (10%?? 15%??) Of students and teachers traditionally misding school.

Spring break should be tied to the end of the quarter.

Winter break should only go from 12/23-1/1, with school resuming on the 2nd. Getting off for Christmas is justified because of the sheer numbers of teachers and students who would miss that week, the federal offices and major businesses all closing or completely empty over that week, and the national holiday and cultural history of Christmas in the USA, not only as a religious holiday but also as a secular cultural holiday."

+1

I'm waiting for the rich white moms to come on and say "but, but, the international families travel home during that two weeks" as a way to justify their own international vacations over Christmas break.

Except it's true. A great deal of people, from countries that don't celebrate Christmas, do travel home and some go for longer than two weeks. I don't travel during those two weeks because it's too expensive to do so. I'll drive to WV during winter break and stay off the mountain for a few days. I go out West over spring break because it's cheaper, they still get snow out West, especially so, when spring break is in March. Otherwise I'm a local, with local family, and I don't need to travel over winter break, and I think two weeks is too long.

Call me crazy, but I would never move to another country and then expect the school calendar to be built around my desire to travel to my home country at a specific time of year. I would wait until there was a longer break from school, such as summer, to make that trip. Whatever happened to adapting to your surroundings?

My kid studied abroad to a non western country, and had classes both on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

They never would have thought to insist that schools were closed for a western religious holiday that is not a primary holiday in that country.

They might consider it if 1000 students were Christian.

No, they wouldn't.

There are thousands of Christians in that country. They still go to work and school on Christmas.

Eid isn't the "random day off" that everyone is talking about. I do think the major religious holidays should be days off. Let's get rid of Columbus day, All saints day, Veteran's Day, 3 kings day, Orthodox Christmas, lunar new year (not religious), Ash Wednesday, Juneteenth. Runners up would be Diwali and Bodhi day. I went to Catholic School and we didn't have Ash Wednesday off. Services were early in the morning and then you wore your ash cross all day at school. Most federal holidays should not be school holidays unless they're major. Veteran's Day, Columbus Day, and President's Day are great teaching days.

LOL, apparently no one even knows the exact date of Eid until some random dude sees the moon. It's the very definition of random. It's causing the insane 5 day Memorial Day weekend that nobody wanted. Get rid of all the religious holidays.

Anonymous wrote:The 2 week winter break is not going away. Most people that took the survey a few years back wanted it. Secondly, I have looked at many calendars recently from different areas of the US and they have 2 week winter breaks. It isn’t that foreign of a concept.

Was t it promised to staff that the 2 week winter break would remain as long as schools were starting before Labor Day?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"The August start should require FCPS ending Memorial Day weekend.

Each student should get 2 "free" days off for cultural and religious holidays, with the only religious holidays with no school being the ones where a large number (10%?? 15%??) Of students and teachers traditionally misding school.

Spring break should be tied to the end of the quarter.

Winter break should only go from 12/23-1/1, with school resuming on the 2nd. Getting off for Christmas is justified because of the sheer numbers of teachers and students who would miss that week, the federal offices and major businesses all closing or completely empty over that week, and the national holiday and cultural history of Christmas in the USA, not only as a religious holiday but also as a secular cultural holiday."

+1

I'm waiting for the rich white moms to come on and say "but, but, the international families travel home during that two weeks" as a way to justify their own international vacations over Christmas break.

Except it's true. A great deal of people, from countries that don't celebrate Christmas, do travel home and some go for longer than two weeks. I don't travel during those two weeks because it's too expensive to do so. I'll drive to WV during winter break and stay off the mountain for a few days. I go out West over spring break because it's cheaper, they still get snow out West, especially so, when spring break is in March. Otherwise I'm a local, with local family, and I don't need to travel over winter break, and I think two weeks is too long.

Call me crazy, but I would never move to another country and then expect the school calendar to be built around my desire to travel to my home country at a specific time of year. I would wait until there was a longer break from school, such as summer, to make that trip. Whatever happened to adapting to your surroundings?

My kid studied abroad to a non western country, and had classes both on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

They never would have thought to insist that schools were closed for a western religious holiday that is not a primary holiday in that country.

They might consider it if 1000 students were Christian.

No, they wouldn't.

There are thousands of Christians in that country. They still go to work and school on Christmas.

Eid isn't the "random day off" that everyone is talking about. I do think the major religious holidays should be days off. Let's get rid of Columbus day, All saints day, Veteran's Day, 3 kings day, Orthodox Christmas, lunar new year (not religious), Ash Wednesday, Juneteenth. Runners up would be Diwali and Bodhi day. I went to Catholic School and we didn't have Ash Wednesday off. Services were early in the morning and then you wore your ash cross all day at school. Most federal holidays should not be school holidays unless they're major. Veteran's Day, Columbus Day, and President's Day are great teaching days.

We’ve always had Columbus Day off, you nut.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"The August start should require FCPS ending Memorial Day weekend.

Each student should get 2 "free" days off for cultural and religious holidays, with the only religious holidays with no school being the ones where a large number (10%?? 15%??) Of students and teachers traditionally misding school.

Spring break should be tied to the end of the quarter.

Winter break should only go from 12/23-1/1, with school resuming on the 2nd. Getting off for Christmas is justified because of the sheer numbers of teachers and students who would miss that week, the federal offices and major businesses all closing or completely empty over that week, and the national holiday and cultural history of Christmas in the USA, not only as a religious holiday but also as a secular cultural holiday."

+1

I'm waiting for the rich white moms to come on and say "but, but, the international families travel home during that two weeks" as a way to justify their own international vacations over Christmas break.

Except it's true. A great deal of people, from countries that don't celebrate Christmas, do travel home and some go for longer than two weeks. I don't travel during those two weeks because it's too expensive to do so. I'll drive to WV during winter break and stay off the mountain for a few days. I go out West over spring break because it's cheaper, they still get snow out West, especially so, when spring break is in March. Otherwise I'm a local, with local family, and I don't need to travel over winter break, and I think two weeks is too long.

Call me crazy, but I would never move to another country and then expect the school calendar to be built around my desire to travel to my home country at a specific time of year. I would wait until there was a longer break from school, such as summer, to make that trip. Whatever happened to adapting to your surroundings?

My kid studied abroad to a non western country, and had classes both on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

They never would have thought to insist that schools were closed for a western religious holiday that is not a primary holiday in that country.

They might consider it if 1000 students were Christian.

No, they wouldn't.

There are thousands of Christians in that country. They still go to work and school on Christmas.

Eid isn't the "random day off" that everyone is talking about. I do think the major religious holidays should be days off. Let's get rid of Columbus day, All saints day, Veteran's Day, 3 kings day, Orthodox Christmas, lunar new year (not religious), Ash Wednesday, Juneteenth. Runners up would be Diwali and Bodhi day. I went to Catholic School and we didn't have Ash Wednesday off. Services were early in the morning and then you wore your ash cross all day at school. Most federal holidays should not be school holidays unless they're major. Veteran's Day, Columbus Day, and President's Day are great teaching days.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The 2 week winter break is not going away. Most people that took the survey a few years back wanted it. Secondly, I have looked at many calendars recently from different areas of the US and they have 2 week winter breaks. It isn’t that foreign of a concept.

+1
I will fight anyone to the death who tries to take away that two week winter break.

2 weeks is a nice winter break. I don't think that should be taken away. But like many said, my family can't travel over winter break because we have to stay local/semi local with family due to the religious holiday. I would really like a full week off another time of the year, not tied to a religious holiday like Easter, so my family can travel. Obviously this is a selfish ask, but if schools can't plan around wealthier families too, families just take off. So many kids in our school just leave in the middle of the year for 1-2 weeks because there isn't another time they can go. Many of the places that families are from (India especially) are not places you want to visit in the summer.

Also, half days are the worst and should be outlawed. Many families no longer have any ability whatsoever to telework, so they have to take a full day of annual leave on half days. Just make the half day a full day off.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"The August start should require FCPS ending Memorial Day weekend.

Each student should get 2 "free" days off for cultural and religious holidays, with the only religious holidays with no school being the ones where a large number (10%?? 15%??) Of students and teachers traditionally misding school.

Spring break should be tied to the end of the quarter.

Winter break should only go from 12/23-1/1, with school resuming on the 2nd. Getting off for Christmas is justified because of the sheer numbers of teachers and students who would miss that week, the federal offices and major businesses all closing or completely empty over that week, and the national holiday and cultural history of Christmas in the USA, not only as a religious holiday but also as a secular cultural holiday."

+1

I'm waiting for the rich white moms to come on and say "but, but, the international families travel home during that two weeks" as a way to justify their own international vacations over Christmas break.

Except it's true. A great deal of people, from countries that don't celebrate Christmas, do travel home and some go for longer than two weeks. I don't travel during those two weeks because it's too expensive to do so. I'll drive to WV during winter break and stay off the mountain for a few days. I go out West over spring break because it's cheaper, they still get snow out West, especially so, when spring break is in March. Otherwise I'm a local, with local family, and I don't need to travel over winter break, and I think two weeks is too long.

Call me crazy, but I would never move to another country and then expect the school calendar to be built around my desire to travel to my home country at a specific time of year. I would wait until there was a longer break from school, such as summer, to make that trip. Whatever happened to adapting to your surroundings?

My kid studied abroad to a non western country, and had classes both on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

They never would have thought to insist that schools were closed for a western religious holiday that is not a primary holiday in that country.

They might consider it if 1000 students were Christian.

No, they wouldn't.

There are thousands of Christians in that country. They still go to work and school on Christmas.

Anonymous wrote:The 2 week winter break is not going away. Most people that took the survey a few years back wanted it. Secondly, I have looked at many calendars recently from different areas of the US and they have 2 week winter breaks. It isn’t that foreign of a concept.

+1
I will fight anyone to the death who tries to take away that two week winter break.

The 2 week winter break is not going away. Most people that took the survey a few years back wanted it. Secondly, I have looked at many calendars recently from different areas of the US and they have 2 week winter breaks. It isn’t that foreign of a concept.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:6 years ago. My child who is currently in 7th, started K after Labor Day, but started 1st before Labor Day.

Wrong. It started in August 2017. It’s now 2025. That’s eight (8) years ago.

I mean, I can't do math but I'm correct about the years. My child started K after Labor Day.

I guess you can keep arguing this until you’re blue in the face. The last time FCPS started school after Labor Day was in 2016. If your kid started kindergarten in 2016 and they were not held back or skipped a grade, they would be in 9th grade right now.

If they are currently in grade 7, they started kindergarten in 2018.

Here are the calendars:

https://teacherquality.nctq.org/dmsView/Fairfax_16-17_calendar

https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/forms/SY16-17StandardCal.pdf

https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/forms/SY18-19StandardCal.pdf

https://teacherquality.nctq.org/dmsView/Fairfax_19-20-standard-school-year-calendar

+1 you don’t need to do math either. The date in 2018 that school started was 8/28/18. That’s BEFORE Labor Day. And my child is a current 7th grader. PP is an idiot.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"The August start should require FCPS ending Memorial Day weekend.

Each student should get 2 "free" days off for cultural and religious holidays, with the only religious holidays with no school being the ones where a large number (10%?? 15%??) Of students and teachers traditionally misding school.

Spring break should be tied to the end of the quarter.

Winter break should only go from 12/23-1/1, with school resuming on the 2nd. Getting off for Christmas is justified because of the sheer numbers of teachers and students who would miss that week, the federal offices and major businesses all closing or completely empty over that week, and the national holiday and cultural history of Christmas in the USA, not only as a religious holiday but also as a secular cultural holiday."

+1

I'm waiting for the rich white moms to come on and say "but, but, the international families travel home during that two weeks" as a way to justify their own international vacations over Christmas break.

Except it's true. A great deal of people, from countries that don't celebrate Christmas, do travel home and some go for longer than two weeks. I don't travel during those two weeks because it's too expensive to do so. I'll drive to WV during winter break and stay off the mountain for a few days. I go out West over spring break because it's cheaper, they still get snow out West, especially so, when spring break is in March. Otherwise I'm a local, with local family, and I don't need to travel over winter break, and I think two weeks is too long.

Call me crazy, but I would never move to another country and then expect the school calendar to be built around my desire to travel to my home country at a specific time of year. I would wait until there was a longer break from school, such as summer, to make that trip. Whatever happened to adapting to your surroundings?

My kid studied abroad to a non western country, and had classes both on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

They never would have thought to insist that schools were closed for a western religious holiday that is not a primary holiday in that country.

They might consider it if 1000 students were Christian.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:6 years ago. My child who is currently in 7th, started K after Labor Day, but started 1st before Labor Day.

Wrong. It started in August 2017. It’s now 2025. That’s eight (8) years ago.

I mean, I can't do math but I'm correct about the years. My child started K after Labor Day.

I guess you can keep arguing this until you’re blue in the face. The last time FCPS started school after Labor Day was in 2016. If your kid started kindergarten in 2016 and they were not held back or skipped a grade, they would be in 9th grade right now.

If they are currently in grade 7, they started kindergarten in 2018.

Here are the calendars:

https://teacherquality.nctq.org/dmsView/Fairfax_16-17_calendar

https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/forms/SY16-17StandardCal.pdf

https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/forms/SY18-19StandardCal.pdf

https://teacherquality.nctq.org/dmsView/Fairfax_19-20-standard-school-year-calendar

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"The August start should require FCPS ending Memorial Day weekend.

Each student should get 2 "free" days off for cultural and religious holidays, with the only religious holidays with no school being the ones where a large number (10%?? 15%??) Of students and teachers traditionally misding school.

Spring break should be tied to the end of the quarter.

Winter break should only go from 12/23-1/1, with school resuming on the 2nd. Getting off for Christmas is justified because of the sheer numbers of teachers and students who would miss that week, the federal offices and major businesses all closing or completely empty over that week, and the national holiday and cultural history of Christmas in the USA, not only as a religious holiday but also as a secular cultural holiday."

+1

I'm waiting for the rich white moms to come on and say "but, but, the international families travel home during that two weeks" as a way to justify their own international vacations over Christmas break.

Except it's true. A great deal of people, from countries that don't celebrate Christmas, do travel home and some go for longer than two weeks. I don't travel during those two weeks because it's too expensive to do so. I'll drive to WV during winter break and stay off the mountain for a few days. I go out West over spring break because it's cheaper, they still get snow out West, especially so, when spring break is in March. Otherwise I'm a local, with local family, and I don't need to travel over winter break, and I think two weeks is too long.

Call me crazy, but I would never move to another country and then expect the school calendar to be built around my desire to travel to my home country at a specific time of year. I would wait until there was a longer break from school, such as summer, to make that trip. Whatever happened to adapting to your surroundings?

My kid studied abroad to a non western country, and had classes both on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

They never would have thought to insist that schools were closed for a western religious holiday that is not a primary holiday in that country.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax has more teacher workdays than most districts. Many other districts have teacher workdays on the specialized holidays vs having both. We used to have school on Veteran’s Day.

The last day of school could have been June 12 if they made Veteran’s Day a school day and got rid of 2 teacher workdays.

FCPS has 15 teacher workdays, which I agree is too many and a good way to shorten the year. But this is a public school system and we should be getting rid of religious holidays before federal holidays. The extra religious holidays that were instituted a few years ago have added a week to the calendar.

Except this area is really diverse. There are schools in the county that would have 20-30 percent of the kids out on EID. How much learning is happening on these days if that many kids are out. How many teachers are out?

I would much rather they swapped these holidays for Teacher Workdays so teachers can take off if needed but no sub is needed.

For example, if the Jewish New Year is a teacher work day, make Columbus Day a school day. The days are now swapped.

Who cares if the kids are out for Eid? That's on the parents. It only matters if the schools can operate and there's no evidence that Eid (or any of the other religious holidays) have caused operational problems.

I think this was more a nod toward giving cultural weight or respect to non-christian religious observances. Also, if you are a politician and you want votes it's a good idea to be seen as advocating for "the group" even if the group itself has no interest, or places a low priority in taking the day off. It's still a win "for the group," I'm here, and you see me, and my beliefs are as important. The message is sent whether true or false, doesn't matter, that I'm in your corner.

When it becomes a Federal Holiday it will be non-performative.

Call me cynical but there is no obligation to abstain from work or school on these days, which makes it's performative all around.

I enjoyed having the extra week of summer break, great time to go to on much less crowded, and cheaper vacations.

+1
Spot on.