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Fairfax County families are pressing for fewer interruptions to the school year, arguing that a calendar filled with holidays, teacher workdays and early dismissals is disrupting learning and creating costly child care challenges.
Parent Alix Fetch said she began noticing how rarely students in Fairfax County Public Schools attend class for five consecutive days. Beyond federal holidays, the calendar includes teacher workdays when students stay home. Elementary students also leave early nearly every month so teachers can complete required training.
The county’s Park Authority offers one-day camps at recreation centers during planned closures, but they cost about $75 per day. Fetch described the camps as essential for many working families. Other options include using paid leave or arranging separate child care.
Students in Northern Virginia’s largest school district began spring break Monday. After they return, they will face another fragmented week: April 6 is a teacher workday, while April 10 is designated for school planning. Campuses will be closed to students on both dates.
Fetch said the repeated disruptions make it harder for children to maintain classroom routines and behavioral expectations. She also questioned how families can be told their children are falling behind in reading or math when so many weeks include time away from school.
Virginia requires school divisions to provide either 180 instructional days or at least 990 instructional hours. Each division decides how to satisfy that requirement.
The Fairfax County School Board approved a three-year calendar plan in 2023 that extends through the 2025-26 academic year and incorporates scheduled breaks and religious holidays. Superintendent Michelle Reid has said the elementary early-release days are needed for mandatory teacher training.
Unplanned closures caused by weather or events such as the April 21 special election have added to parents’ frustration.
Fetch said she is fortunate to have enough flexibility to work from home when her children are dismissed early. But, she added, caring for children while working remotely is difficult and stressful—a lesson many families experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
An analysis shared with families by School Board Member Mateo Dunne found that only slightly more than half of the weeks in the 2025-26 school year are full five-day weeks.
Dunne said Fairfax County has the longest school year and shortest summer break among the districts examined, along with the most days off, the greatest number of cultural and religious holidays and the lowest share of five-day weeks. He called the FCPS calendar an outlier regionally and nationally and said it requires immediate changes.
Eileen Chollet, whose son attends Providence Elementary School, said her role as her family’s primary earner has allowed her husband to adjust his work around the school schedule. But she said calendar planning often appears to assume that every parent works a predictable 9-to-5 job.
That assumption does not fit families employed in fields such as retail, trucking or the military, Chollet said, where schedules may vary considerably.
Several board members—including Dunne, Melanie Meren, Ricardy Anderson and Ryan McElveen—have proposed changes intended to reduce the burden.
One proposal would keep schools open on Veterans Day and Indigenous Peoples Day. Another would cap early-release days at four per year across elementary, middle and high schools.
The School Board is scheduled to vote on the proposals April 9.
Meren said the changes would give families at least two additional full weeks of school in the fall. She acknowledged that broader policy work remains but said the proposals could bring parents relief sooner.
She is also working with other board members on a policy that would establish clearer limits for future school calendars.
Fetch said she wants the district to restore more five-day weeks and eliminate monthly half days for elementary students, noting that many other school systems do not use the same arrangement.