Fairfax County Public Schools considers changes to school calendar
Fairfax County Public Schools considers changes to school calendar
The Fairfax County School Board is weighing new action after feedback from hundreds of fed-up families across the district who are angry with the school calendar. FOX 5's Sydney Persing reports.
FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. - The Fairfax County School Board is weighing new action after feedback from hundreds of fed-up families across the district who are angry with the school calendar.
Parents say the number of shortened school weeks is unacceptable – and impossible to work with.
By the numbers:
These Fairfax families are frustrated because only about half of the school weeks in the year in Fairfax are actually full, five-day weeks, and that’s before you add in any weather-related closures.
Data shared by one board member shows that compared to school districts in the DMV and the largest school districts in the country, FCPS has the longest school year at 303 days. The shortest summer was 62 days. The lowest percentage of five-day weeks is at only 52%. The highest number of days off at 40, and the largest number of cultural/religious holidays at nine.
On top of those early release days, parents say the calendar is disruptive to kids, reduces their instruction time, makes it impossible to establish their routines and also upends parents' work schedules, increasing childcare costs.
What they're saying:
On Thursday night, it was clear that most, if not all, board members agree this is a big issue.
What they did not all agree on his how to fix it.
The board is considering and debating three proposals to adjust the calendar next school year.
The first includes nixing Indigenous People’s Day and Veterans Day as official student holidays to keep kids in school on those days, and also limiting the number of scheduled early release days to four per year.
The board disagreed on whether Indigenous People's Day was an effective holiday to cancel, given that many parents might have off work themselves, and that they may have already committed their kids to sporting events that day.
In the end they voted that solution down.
What's next:
At this hour, they are still debating the other two proposals on Veterans Day and the limit on early release days.
The main concern on early release days appears to be how it might affect teachers’ important work and planning time.
Some parents who spoke were also split on whether these proposals were the best way to tackle the issue.
Many board members stressed these are just initial proposals, that this debate needs to continue, so it's clear this discussion is far from over but obviously, time is not unlimited.