{"id":1673,"date":"2020-01-30T09:15:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-30T14:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/?p=1673"},"modified":"2020-01-29T08:55:40","modified_gmt":"2020-01-29T13:55:40","slug":"controversy-over-the-new-calendar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/controversy-over-the-new-calendar\/","title":{"rendered":"Controversy Over the New Calendar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">New Calendar Proposals for the 2021-2022 School Year Prompt Start-Date Disagreements<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Abigail St. Jean and Maddie Kysilko<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow aligncenter\" data-effect=\"slide\"><div class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_container swiper-container\"><ul class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_swiper-wrapper swiper-wrapper\"><li class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1650\" height=\"1275\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-1689\" data-id=\"1689\" src=\"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2021-22-trad-post-labor-day.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2021-22-trad-post-labor-day.jpg 1650w, https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2021-22-trad-post-labor-day-300x232.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2021-22-trad-post-labor-day-1024x791.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2021-22-trad-post-labor-day-768x593.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2021-22-trad-post-labor-day-1536x1187.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2021-22-trad-post-labor-day-1140x881.jpg 1140w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1650px) 100vw, 1650px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption\">Proposed Calendar for the 2021-2022 school year that starts school post Labor Day<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1650\" height=\"1275\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-1688\" data-id=\"1688\" src=\"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2021-22-trad-pre-labor-8-days.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2021-22-trad-pre-labor-8-days.jpg 1650w, https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2021-22-trad-pre-labor-8-days-300x232.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2021-22-trad-pre-labor-8-days-1024x791.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2021-22-trad-pre-labor-8-days-768x593.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2021-22-trad-pre-labor-8-days-1536x1187.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2021-22-trad-pre-labor-8-days-1140x881.jpg 1140w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1650px) 100vw, 1650px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption\">Proposed Calendar for the 2021-2022 school year that starts 8 days before Labor Day<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1650\" height=\"1275\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-1687\" data-id=\"1687\" src=\"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2021-22-trad-pre-labor-6-days.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2021-22-trad-pre-labor-6-days.jpg 1650w, https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2021-22-trad-pre-labor-6-days-300x232.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2021-22-trad-pre-labor-6-days-1024x791.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2021-22-trad-pre-labor-6-days-768x593.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2021-22-trad-pre-labor-6-days-1536x1187.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2021-22-trad-pre-labor-6-days-1140x881.jpg 1140w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1650px) 100vw, 1650px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption\">Proposed Calendar for the 2021-2022 school year that starts 6 days before Labor Day<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><a class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-prev swiper-button-prev swiper-button-white\" role=\"button\"><\/a><a class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-next swiper-button-next swiper-button-white\" role=\"button\"><\/a><a aria-label=\"Pause Slideshow\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-pause\" role=\"button\"><\/a><div class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_pagination swiper-pagination swiper-pagination-white\"><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>2020 brings not only a new yearly calendar, but also a new highly contested ACPS academic calendar. Three versions of proposed academic calendars for the 2021-2022 school year are in circulation. The most disputed aspect of these calendars is their start: should they start before or after Labor Day?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Option 1 follows our current calendar year, with school starting on September 7, the day after Labor Day, and getting out June 22. Option 2 would start August 26 and get out June 15. Option 3 would start August 24 and get out June 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A poll sent to ACPS families demonstrated most students prefer to start after Labor Day.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ACPS Superintendent Gregory Hutchings recommends the School Board approve a post-Labor Day start for next year, while continuing to investigate a pre-Labor Day start for the following school year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This year, the calendar process is unique. Usually when creating a new calendar, the committee looks one year ahead. Because it is looking to make a dramatic change, when the school board votes in February it will decide on the 2020-2021 calendar and 2021-2022 school year.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One concern with starting early is that it will cut into summer break. \u201cLike several people in this area, my job follows the congressional schedule,\u201d said an ACPS parent. \u201cThe month of August is the one time of the year I can spend quality time with my children without having to keep checking into work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI like the start of the year before Labor Day [because it] aligns with other school districts and ends school as early as possible,\u201d said another ACPS parent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A main argument for starting early is to make T.C. more competitive academically. AP exams take place in early- to mid-May. ACPS starts later into the year, so teachers have to cram the same amount of content into a shorter period of time. Starting early will also allow students and teachers to have more time to prepare for the SOLs, which students take in late May and early June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A letter to the school board urging an earlier start to the school year was signed by 25 AP teachers. \u201cOver 900 ACPS students took an AP exam last year in at least one of the 33 AP courses offered,\u201d the letter read. \u201cA large percentage of our students would directly benefit from the earlier start date &#8230; Successfully passing AP exams can earn students college credit, allow them to bypass introductory classes in college, and potentially save them thousands of dollars.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI like the start of the year before Labor Day [because it would] align with other school districts and end school as early as possible. The kids are done mentally after Memorial Day, so let\u2019s minimize the pain for everyone,\u201d said another ACPS parent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Currently, ACPS determines how long students stay in school based on the number of student days. They are considering transitioning to counting the number of student hours in school instead which would lead to 10 fewer days in the 2021-2022 school year (not factoring in teacher work days). Most public schools in Northern Virginia have already transitioned to this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Courtney Horwat, a\u00a0 teacher at T.C. and member of the School Board\u2019s Calendar Committee, there are issues with transitioning from counting school days to hours.  Although switching to hours would reduce the number of days, the issue is that teacher contracts have already been set up for the 2021 year. This means that ACPS cannot change the number of teacher days and summer would still come mid-June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMy hope is that they decide to start us early. It is a difficult mindset to start before Labor Day because Alexandria has done it for so long,\u201d said Horwat. \u201cAligning with other districts in the state would be beneficial, but it\u2019s Alexandria&#8211;you never know what is going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The calendar committee will make its decisions based on community, student, and staff input to an ACPS survey. Voting is still open and the survey can be found on the ACPS website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The calendar committee will make its decisions based on community, student, and staff input to an ACPS survey. Voting is still open. To respond to the survey, go to <a href=\"https:\/\/acpsweb.wufoo.com\/forms\/r6a8tjx1isi3eq\/\">https:\/\/acpsweb.wufoo.com\/forms\/r6a8tjx1isi3eq\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2020 brings not only a new yearly calendar, but also a new highly contested ACPS academic calendar. Three versions of proposed academic calendars for the 2021-2022 school year are in circulation. The most disputed aspect of these calendars is their start: should they start before or after Labor Day?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":1689,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2021-22-trad-post-labor-day.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1673"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1868,"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1673\/revisions\/1868"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2019-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}