As a result of School Board action at its meeting on Wednesday, December 3, this year’s Prince William County Public School calendar has been revised. Inauguration Day (January 20) will be a school holiday for all students and staff. In exchange, Presidents Day, which falls this year on February 16, will be a regular school day. This calendar adjustment will be in effect every four years effective January 2009.
All schools and School Division offices are closed on Monday, January 19, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and on Tuesday, January 20, for Inauguration Day.
More information will be forthcoming on elementary level parent/teacher conferences and the high school testing schedule.
I am not sure how this will effect education but it should ease the traffic situation. We apparently have become more a part of the metropolitan area.
[UPDATE: Manassas Park Schools will also be closed Inauguration Day, Jan 20]
Further proof there is no free lunch. The day must be paid back with the Presidents’ Day holiday that was scheduled for Feb. 16. For those who have already made plans for that long weekend, which falls over the Valentine’s Day Weekend, good luck with personal leave.
This is again a case of unintended consequences for someone.
I guess that this is only for PWC since I have not heard a thing in MCPS. Furthermore, MCPS does not get Pres Day off, so I imagine that they have nothing to give up in exchange for an inauguration day holiday. They’ve already extended the end of year date to accomodate a longer xmas vacation, as has PWC and other school systems.
DB, I got it on one of those email things with county announcements. It was straight from the county. I haven’t heard what Manassas City is doing. Frankly, I am not sure why the county caved other than because of the traffic situation.
People make plans around school calendars. Last minute changes trash vacations and other plans, especially when there is not the flexibility to use personal leave. Back when I was a kid, I would always take any off day any way I could get it. It’s a long time between Jan. 20 and spring break which begins April 6. Ouch!
PWCS calendar before Jan 20 change:
http://www.pwcs.edu/departments/accountability/SchlCal/documents/2008-09SchoolCalendar.pdf
DCPS, Arlington schools, Alexandria schools and FCPS all have inauguration day off. I work for FCPS and they finalized it last year, so we don’t lose a holiday. In fact, we get MLK day off and then the next day for Inauguration off. Honestly, I’m taking that Weds, Thurs and Friday off and getting out of town – it’s starting to sound like the whole week is going to be chaotic
Off topic…
Last night, I attended an amazing event. It had been a hard day at work, and I had a lot of tough, troubling issues to deal with that were bringing me down. I decided to attend a celebration dinner that my mother invited me to. She volunteers to teach interested adult immigrants English one night per week, and this was the culmination of the semester for the program. Each level of students brought their families and dishes to share, performed a skit, demo, or song to show how much they had learned, and received their graduation certificates.
I cannot fully explain how joyous the event was. Those students amazed me at how hard they had worked on their language skills, and how enthusiastic they were to learn. The classes showed a real sense of family/community. My mother is a high school teacher, and I had to shed a tear at how this volunteering position probably gives her more teaching joy than her day job now. She talks about her class all the time, and was truly touched by the affection they have for her, the gifts they gave her, and how committed they are to learn despite the fact that many of them work long shifts or more than one job.
It pained me to think that despite the fact that there are enthusiastic, caring, committed adult immigrants all over this country, involved in classes such as these, there will always be people who choose to view immigrants in a negative light. I am sorry for them. I understand that problems exist in the system, but events like I attended last night show that we need to remember the human side of the issue. Kudos to programs like these that celebrate the true community spirit of America; may they continue to foster love and learning even as we debate the issues of the times.
DG, Thank you for sharing a very special moment with us. My friend who tutors immigrant women finds it very rewarding also. Your mother is a wonderful person to volunteer her time after teaching all day.
They are all crazy…… 🙂