Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I lived in Arizona where we had a modified year round calendar. It was wildly popular. There were four quarters a year with two weeks off in between session in the fall, winter and spring, plus a 6 week summer break. The breaks were great because older kids were between classes so had absolutely no work to do during break, so no studying, projects, etc. They were completely free. The calendar also didn't have the same wasted 3-4 weeks at the end of the year like we do in Virginia after SOLs, as teachers taught the same content for 4th quarter classes as they did when that class was offered in a different quarter. Kids also missed less school for family vacations because there were cheaper times to travel built into the school year. There was less of a loss of momentum over a short summer, but still time for kids to go to a few weeks of sleep away camp plus a family vacation. Sports didn't start until school started, so that didn't cut into the summer at all.

It was great, but a change like that would require the whole region to switch and I don't see that happening.

Would love this!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Richmond Public School District has increased the number of days of the school year to counter Covid learning loss. Would you support that if your district did it? https://www.cbsnews.com/news/virginia-school-district-expands-academic-year/

Nope. There's not enough family time as it is. We use breaks to travel (local, driving distance and flying), and occasional stay-cation, but it's all family time, whether nuclear family or extended family. In summer, the kids do some camps they are interested in, or do swim team in addition to family time.
We're not giving it up!

Anonymous wrote:Richmond Public School District has increased the number of days of the school year to counter Covid learning loss. Would you support that if your district did it? https://www.cbsnews.com/news/virginia-school-district-expands-academic-year/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A billion percent (I am a teacher in a Title I school). We waste so much time getting kids back into routines and making up for massive learning loss over the summer. If this was offered in my district, I would transfer schools to teach on that schedule.

I see at our school, that kids watched a movie twice this week when it was raining or too hot for outdoor recess. I see that they don't do ANYTHING the last 2 weeks of school. I see that the days before each break are empty. I see that my kids are bored because they are not challenged and are not free to do more in school. I agree school should be year-round, but I also think teachers should be paid more and tech should play a much smaller part and we should stop teaching for the test and teach for life.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I lived in Arizona where we had a modified year round calendar. It was wildly popular. There were four quarters a year with two weeks off in between session in the fall, winter and spring, plus a 6 week summer break. The breaks were great because older kids were between classes so had absolutely no work to do during break, so no studying, projects, etc. They were completely free. The calendar also didn't have the same wasted 3-4 weeks at the end of the year like we do in Virginia after SOLs, as teachers taught the same content for 4th quarter classes as they did when that class was offered in a different quarter. Kids also missed less school for family vacations because there were cheaper times to travel built into the school year. There was less of a loss of momentum over a short summer, but still time for kids to go to a few weeks of sleep away camp plus a family vacation. Sports didn't start until school started, so that didn't cut into the summer at all.

It was great, but a change like that would require the whole region to switch and I don't see that happening.

This sounds great. Sign me up. They only gave the kids here 8 weeks summer here in NOVA and we sure didn't get 2 weeks off other times of the year. Just a measily 3 days off for thanksgiving! So many wasted teacher work days. The.n they berate you if you ever need to take the kids out of school for a day or 2. No excused absences. Give me a break!

Anonymous wrote:I lived in Arizona where we had a modified year round calendar. It was wildly popular. There were four quarters a year with two weeks off in between session in the fall, winter and spring, plus a 6 week summer break. The breaks were great because older kids were between classes so had absolutely no work to do during break, so no studying, projects, etc. They were completely free. The calendar also didn't have the same wasted 3-4 weeks at the end of the year like we do in Virginia after SOLs, as teachers taught the same content for 4th quarter classes as they did when that class was offered in a different quarter. Kids also missed less school for family vacations because there were cheaper times to travel built into the school year. There was less of a loss of momentum over a short summer, but still time for kids to go to a few weeks of sleep away camp plus a family vacation. Sports didn't start until school started, so that didn't cut into the summer at all.

It was great, but a change like that would require the whole region to switch and I don't see that happening.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You ready to pay every single 10 month staff member and hourly staff for 20 extra days? Next question: What are you willing to cut from the budget?

Or do you just need more “free” childcare?

I don't need it, but I'll pay for it for those who do. If I had a time machine I would start by cutting the ridiculous aquatics center that cost $100 million and who knows what else to actually operate and then move on from there.

You can afford it all by yourself? Or are you trying to demand that others join you in paying?

I'm not sure what you mean by "demand" as this is a message board and I don't have authority over taxing and spending. But yeah I do think it would be a worthy use of tax dollars. I can tell from reading these boards that many people would benefit from more school.

So you're willing to pay for it with someone else's money. How noble.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You ready to pay every single 10 month staff member and hourly staff for 20 extra days? Next question: What are you willing to cut from the budget?

Or do you just need more “free” childcare?

I don't need it, but I'll pay for it for those who do. If I had a time machine I would start by cutting the ridiculous aquatics center that cost $100 million and who knows what else to actually operate and then move on from there.

You can afford it all by yourself? Or are you trying to demand that others join you in paying?

I'm not sure what you mean by "demand" as this is a message board and I don't have authority over taxing and spending. But yeah I do think it would be a worthy use of tax dollars. I can tell from reading these boards that many people would benefit from more school.

Anonymous wrote:I lived in Arizona where we had a modified year round calendar. It was wildly popular. There were four quarters a year with two weeks off in between session in the fall, winter and spring, plus a 6 week summer break. The breaks were great because older kids were between classes so had absolutely no work to do during break, so no studying, projects, etc. They were completely free. The calendar also didn't have the same wasted 3-4 weeks at the end of the year like we do in Virginia after SOLs, as teachers taught the same content for 4th quarter classes as they did when that class was offered in a different quarter. Kids also missed less school for family vacations because there were cheaper times to travel built into the school year. There was less of a loss of momentum over a short summer, but still time for kids to go to a few weeks of sleep away camp plus a family vacation. Sports didn't start until school started, so that didn't cut into the summer at all.

It was great, but a change like that would require the whole region to switch and I don't see that happening.