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Fairfax County students could spend more time in class next school year as School Board members consider eliminating two student holidays and sharply reducing the number of early-release days.

At Thursday’s meeting, members led by governance committee chair Melanie Meren are expected to propose making Indigenous Peoples’ Day and Veterans Day regular instructional days. A separate motion would limit scheduled early releases to four per year.

“Partial school weeks function as an informal ‘childcare tax’ that falls hardest on our hourly-wage and most vulnerable households,” Meren said. “My goal is to adjust the 2026-27 calendar to increase the number of five-day school weeks.”

If approved, the change would take effect with the 2026-27 calendar. Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which falls on Oct. 12 this year, and Veterans Day, observed annually on Nov. 11, would become standard school days for students and employees. Fairfax County Public Schools would develop lessons about the people and groups recognized by the occasions.

Meren, who represents the Hunter Mill District, did not immediately explain why the committee selected those two holidays. FCPS only began treating Veterans Day as a student holiday during the 2022-23 school year. In 2020, the board replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day as the name of the federal holiday observed on the second Monday in October.

Early releases strain families

FCPS tested three-hour Monday early releases for elementary students during the 2024-25 school year, intending to give teachers more preparation and training time. The current calendar expanded the approach to eight Wednesday early releases.

Mount Vernon District board member Mateo Dunne, who plans to introduce the proposed four-day cap, said the schedule has forced working parents to take leave or arrange child care they would not ordinarily need.

“They’re in the middle of the week at a time when parents are working, and they don’t have readily available and affordable child care options,” Dunne said. “So, we need to be sensitive to the burden that the school system places on families when the school division acts in its own interest for its own convenience.”

Dunne also questioned whether early releases deliver the promised planning and training benefits. FCPS has said it would supervise students who remain at school rather than ride an early bus home, while operating buses at both early-release and regular dismissal times creates additional transportation costs.

Superintendent Michelle Reid responded to some of the concerns on March 25 by canceling two early-release days planned for this month. Instead, FCPS will hold a teacher workday and staff development day on April 21, when classes are already canceled because schools will serve as polling places for a special election on a proposed redistricting constitutional amendment.

Short summers, fragmented weeks

Complaints about the calendar surfaced in September, when Mason District representative Ricardy Anderson and at-large member Ryan McElveen said families believed the 2025 summer break was too short.

For decades, Virginia’s “Kings Dominion law” required public schools to begin classes after Labor Day to support the tourism industry. FCPS obtained a waiver to start earlier beginning in 2017. State lawmakers changed the law in 2019, allowing schools to open as many as 14 days before Labor Day if students still receive Labor Day and the preceding Friday off.

Dunne said the board intended to pair the earlier opening with an earlier end to the school year, rather than continuing classes into late June. That adjustment never happened.

“The result was a permanent loss of two weeks of summer from students and families,” he said.

According to Dunne, the FCPS calendar spans 303 days and provides a 62-day summer break, the shortest among D.C.-area school divisions. Meanwhile, only 52% of school weeks contain five full instructional days because of early releases, cultural and religious holidays, teacher development days and other scheduled closures. Weather emergencies and special elections can further interrupt classes.

“Something has to change,” Anderson said. “Parents are concerned about the lack of summer and the constant disruptions throughout the school year.”

Virginia schools must provide students with at least 180 instructional days or 990 instructional hours.

The School Board directed Reid and other administrators in early 2023 to produce calendars by July 1 at least two years before the school year under consideration. That year, the board approved calendars through 2025-26. Calendars for 2026-27 and 2027-28 are posted on the FCPS website, but Dunne said the board has not formally approved them as state law requires.

In February, board members also instructed the governance committee to work with the superintendent on an updated calendar policy.

“FCPS supports a school calendar that prioritizes teaching and learning and exceeds state required instructional hours as we continue to provide a world class education for students,” the school division said.