Anonymous
Post 07/23/2025 07:49     Subject: Fcps 2026 calendar, January

Anonymous wrote:I just counted 38 holidays for next year. My childhood district has 22, 15 of which are Christmas break and spring break.


Christmas Break - 10 days
Spring Break - 5 days
Thanksgiving - 3 days
Other religious holidays - 5 (2 Jewish, 2 Islamic, 1 Hindi)

Federal Holidays - 5 days
State-mandated - 1 day (Friday before Labor Day)

Staff development - 2 days
School planning - 2 days
Teacher workday - 5 days

Of the 9 staff days, 4 overlap with religious or federal holidays and May 26th can probably be considered one too.

The 10-day Christmas Break is overwhelmingly supported. So, people seem to be generally mad at the 5 other religious days and the staff days.

Anonymous
Post 07/23/2025 07:35     Subject: Fcps 2026 calendar, January

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Ok. Thank you.

I am glad i am misreading the O days.

Why is next year's calendar so long?


Because our school board is run by idiots.

The only thing FCPS is good at is keeping kids out of school.


Sigh. You get 180 days. They are not keeping kids out of school any more or less than years past.


Oh, so I'm imagining that school starts earlier than ever and ends later than ever?

No wonder the FCPS budget keeps going up.


This year, we started August 19th and are ending June 11th. There were 180 instructional days over 42.5 weeks.
Next year, we will start August 18th and end June 17th. There will 180 instructional days over 43.5 weeks.

So somewhere, yes, there are 5 more days off in the middle of the school year than there were this year. I counted and there were 6 Teacher workday/Staff Development days this year and there will be 9 next year (not counting the days before and after school ends), so that's three of them. The remaining two must be holidays.


I just laugh so hard at all the white christians complaining about TWO extra holidays this year when they literally get three weeks off due to theirs.

*queue the lady who goes on and on about this is the only time for international families to visit their families overseas. My family always went in the summer. Yes, to India. Yes, during monsoon season.


Umm, there were no explicitly Christian holidays on the calendar until they added the unnecessary Orthodox holidays.

You may be referring to Spring and Winter Breaks, but as you can easily see, these are not Christian holidays.

Try harder.


This is such a stupid argument. The ONLY reason we have that particular two weeks off in Dec/January rather than at the end of the Quarter is because of Christmas and New Year's. You know it, I know it, we all know it. If we were having a true winter break, it would be at the end of the quarter in January.

I can make an even better connection for spring break. A few years ago, FCPS sent out a survey that literally asked parents and teachers if they wanted spring break tied to Easter. The majority of respondents apparently said yes, so therefore spring break is always going to be tied to easter and is going flip around between March and April. A lot of school systems don't do this, they pick the last week of March or the first week of April or the week after Quarter end EVERY YEAR for their spring break. But FCPS ties it to Easter. It is not quit literally an easter break, but it is an Easter Break. Again, everyone knows it, it was literally in a survey. FCPS will fully admit it.

Just because your religious holidays aren't in the name doesn't mean those breaks are not tied to the religious holidays. Stop being outraged at other religions getting holidays off when you're getting yours off, too.
That is INSANE, why would people pick the floating break instead of the simple post-quarter option? If they want it tied to Easter it's not even the correct week, the week after Easter is what you would want. The week before means Easter is the LAST DAY of the break!


Most parents did NOT want it tied to Easter. My recollection is that they added in a student survey or something else to help them fudge numbers because many staff VEHEMENTLY wanted to ensure the break is the same week other schools take. That was the priority. But other school districts take that break the week before Easter so that is what staff voted for.


The staff were correct. This has to be a regional decision, not system by system.
Anonymous
Post 07/23/2025 05:52     Subject: Fcps 2026 calendar, January

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Ok. Thank you.

I am glad i am misreading the O days.

Why is next year's calendar so long?


Because our school board is run by idiots.

The only thing FCPS is good at is keeping kids out of school.


Sigh. You get 180 days. They are not keeping kids out of school any more or less than years past.


Oh, so I'm imagining that school starts earlier than ever and ends later than ever?

No wonder the FCPS budget keeps going up.


This year, we started August 19th and are ending June 11th. There were 180 instructional days over 42.5 weeks.
Next year, we will start August 18th and end June 17th. There will 180 instructional days over 43.5 weeks.

So somewhere, yes, there are 5 more days off in the middle of the school year than there were this year. I counted and there were 6 Teacher workday/Staff Development days this year and there will be 9 next year (not counting the days before and after school ends), so that's three of them. The remaining two must be holidays.


I just laugh so hard at all the white christians complaining about TWO extra holidays this year when they literally get three weeks off due to theirs.

*queue the lady who goes on and on about this is the only time for international families to visit their families overseas. My family always went in the summer. Yes, to India. Yes, during monsoon season.


Umm, there were no explicitly Christian holidays on the calendar until they added the unnecessary Orthodox holidays.

You may be referring to Spring and Winter Breaks, but as you can easily see, these are not Christian holidays.

Try harder.


This is such a stupid argument. The ONLY reason we have that particular two weeks off in Dec/January rather than at the end of the Quarter is because of Christmas and New Year's. You know it, I know it, we all know it. If we were having a true winter break, it would be at the end of the quarter in January.

I can make an even better connection for spring break. A few years ago, FCPS sent out a survey that literally asked parents and teachers if they wanted spring break tied to Easter. The majority of respondents apparently said yes, so therefore spring break is always going to be tied to easter and is going flip around between March and April. A lot of school systems don't do this, they pick the last week of March or the first week of April or the week after Quarter end EVERY YEAR for their spring break. But FCPS ties it to Easter. It is not quit literally an easter break, but it is an Easter Break. Again, everyone knows it, it was literally in a survey. FCPS will fully admit it.

Just because your religious holidays aren't in the name doesn't mean those breaks are not tied to the religious holidays. Stop being outraged at other religions getting holidays off when you're getting yours off, too.
That is INSANE, why would people pick the floating break instead of the simple post-quarter option? If they want it tied to Easter it's not even the correct week, the week after Easter is what you would want. The week before means Easter is the LAST DAY of the break!


Most parents did NOT want it tied to Easter. My recollection is that they added in a student survey or something else to help them fudge numbers because many staff VEHEMENTLY wanted to ensure the break is the same week other schools take. That was the priority. But other school districts take that break the week before Easter so that is what staff voted for.
Anonymous
Post 07/23/2025 01:27     Subject: Fcps 2026 calendar, January

Anonymous wrote:This ship has sailed parents.

The time to speak up was when it was up for discussion.


I first warned people back in MARCH 2024!
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1194160.page
March 2025 update (same thread) https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/120/1194160.page
At least two of the board members agreed that the calendar goes forever next year but nothing has happened
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1244249.page
Anonymous
Post 07/22/2025 21:56     Subject: Fcps 2026 calendar, January

Diocese of Arlington elementary schools do trimesters. Spring Break is always the week after Easter because the week before Easter is Holy Week.
Anonymous
Post 07/21/2025 23:35     Subject: Fcps 2026 calendar, January

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Ok. Thank you.

I am glad i am misreading the O days.

Why is next year's calendar so long?


A few holidays that were on weekends this year fall on weekdays next year and a few more work days built in. The students go back a week later in August of 2026 so it all evens out.

That saves summer 2026 from being extra short but that isn't to make up for the late end. It is because Labor Day 2026 is September 7 so the two week before mark which is the earliest school can start is August 24. August 18-June 17 is crazy, take away five random off days and it can be August 18-June 10 which is the same length of the last two years. If you take away eight days it can end June 5 which matches FCCPS.

It doesn't all even out for the students, what are you talking about? The year is entirely too long. The entire month of June is a waste.
Anonymous
Post 07/21/2025 22:33     Subject: Fcps 2026 calendar, January

Anonymous wrote:After someone posted about june Eid, I pulled up next years 2025-2026 calendar.

We start really early, August 18, and go really, really, unusually late, June 17.

I started to look at all the dates and religious events that FCPS marked off next year. One month in particular caught my mind.

The kids return from winter break on Monday, January 5th. With New Years on a Thursday, that makes perfect sense.

BUT...

It appears that students only have one day of school (January 5th) then they are off for 2 Days for Epiphany? (January 6th and 7th) Because of this, there is only one full week of classes in January.

Am I looking at that correctly? That can't be right, can it? There are only 3 Orthodox churches in Fairfax County, so the population of students and staff in that religious tradition cannot be significant enough to cause even a blip of absences if all of them take off on a school day.

When FCPS moved to an August start, one of the main arguments for it was that the school year would end 2 weeks earlier in early June, shortly after SOLs and AP exams.

When the school board created a committee to look at giving days off for major religious holidays, the premise and task was to look at holidays where staff and student attendance was significantly impacted, and develop a list based explicitly on attendance issues. Looking at the FCPS population, an attendance metric would have added the muslim, Jewish and Hindu holdays currently added to the calendar, but that should have been it.

How did we end up with 2 days off for the aorthodox Christmas/Epiphany, with only 1 day of classes between it and winter break?

Am I reading the calendar correctly? Or am I misunderstanding the 2 different O day markings? Epiphany does not have the no activities marking. It has the full O.

https://www.fcps.edu/system/files/forms/2024-02/2025-2026-standard-school-year-calendar.pdf


I am an Orthodox Christian. We don't really do anything on those days. We celebrate on the 25th like most Christians and our kids go to school on those days in Jan and we are good with tests and homework and learning and normalcy.
Anonymous
Post 07/19/2025 00:16     Subject: Fcps 2026 calendar, January

with snow days if we are lucky we might have 5 days
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 22:16     Subject: Fcps 2026 calendar, January

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Ok. Thank you.

I am glad i am misreading the O days.

Why is next year's calendar so long?


A few holidays that were on weekends this year fall on weekdays next year and a few more work days built in. The students go back a week later in August of 2026 so it all evens out.


It doesn't all even out for the students, what are you talking about? The year is entirely too long. The entire month of June is a waste.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 19:41     Subject: Fcps 2026 calendar, January

Anonymous wrote:This ship has sailed parents.

The time to speak up was when it was up for discussion.


We tried, but the survey (not they even pay attention to those) did not allow any meaningful feedback.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 19:40     Subject: Fcps 2026 calendar, January

Anonymous wrote:I just counted 38 holidays for next year. My childhood district has 22, 15 of which are Christmas break and spring break.


And teachers don't get paid for any of those - each of those holidays pushes back the end of our 195 day contract to make the (also unpaid) summer shorter and shorter. It's less time for us to pick up summer work, because it's less than 2 months. And we can't all just magically turn those three/four day weekends into a week long trip somewhere because we need to find subs and write plans (and get principal approval, which is harder for those weeks because everyone wants to do the same thing).
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 18:55     Subject: Fcps 2026 calendar, January

Anonymous wrote:This ship has sailed parents.

The time to speak up was when it was up for discussion.


Don’t they have to do this again at some point soon? Last time I thought it was for three years. And plenty of people did speak up back then and were ignored.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 15:11     Subject: Fcps 2026 calendar, January

There is a freaking five day weekend fur Memorial Day 2026.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 15:10     Subject: Fcps 2026 calendar, January

This ship has sailed parents.

The time to speak up was when it was up for discussion.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 13:50     Subject: Fcps 2026 calendar, January

I just counted 38 holidays for next year. My childhood district has 22, 15 of which are Christmas break and spring break.