Elementary school will end early on eight Wednesdays next year
Fairfax County Public Schools will continue the early release schedule for elementary schools next year but will switch from Mondays to Wednesdays.
During the current year, FCPS launched a pilot program in which elementary students were dismissed three hours early on select Mondays. The goal was to give teachers extra time to plan lessons, participate in training, and collaborate with their peers.
FCPS is moving the early-release days to Wednesdays during the 2025-26 school year, because so many holidays happen on Mondays.
Each elementary school will have a total of eight early-release days throughout the school year. During those Wednesday afternoons, FCPS is offering supervision “at no-cost to families for students with unique childcare needs.”
The students who stay at school will be placed in mixed-age groups. They could use the time to catch up on homework, play games, visit the library, use laptops or tablets, do crafts, or read independently. Supervision will be provided by school or central office staff or substitute teachers.
Lunch will be provided on early-release Wednesdays. Buses will run their regular route when students are released early and again at normal dismissal time.
The schedule for early-release Wednesday will vary depending on the school’s location.
Elementary schools in the Annandale, Falls Church, and Woodson pyramids will be released early on these dates: Sept. 10, Oct. 8, Nov. 12, Dec. 10, Feb. 18, March 18, April 22, and May 13.
Elementary schools in the Justice Pyramid will be released early on these Wednesdays: Sept. 17, Oct. 15, Nov. 19, Dec. 17, Feb. 25, March 25, April 29, and May 20.
7 responses to “Elementary school will end early on eight Wednesdays next year”
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Why is early release (that is, less-then-half school days) necessary? We didn’t have this in Fairfax County in times gone by. When academic standard and achievements were higher in this school system. It this in actuality just an extra half-day off each month for the teachers, so they can attend to personal issues at home? And if the teachers are really going to be working during these hours, why did this become necessary? It worked great without this in the past. That’s why I can’t help but think that this is all about the teachers and their unions, and not about the students.
One teacher I know said that they were required to participate in a language and comprehension training/professional development course due to the Virginia Literacy Act. It was described as this long set of information with each section including a quiz in order to pass. It sounds like that was the main focus that was driving these early release days.
Until seceral years ago, they used to get out early every Monday. It was a blessing for parents when the went to full day Mondays. So this is not something new.
I am not a teacher, but my mother is, and she was throughout my whole childhood. It has always been necessary for teachers to have more time to meet the many, many demands placed on them by districts, parents, and society. If we want our teachers to have continuous, quality education, to plan out engaging and substantive lessons for our kids, and to stay in their profession, an extra half-day each month is not that much to ask. It’s a logistical pain for parents, I know from experience. But that’s not the real problem. The real problem is that childcare is difficult and expensive to arrange, and that adults’ workdays don’t match our children’s schedules. Those issues are not the fault of our teachers. And if we expect them to take good and proper care of the most precious people in our lives while we are out hustling, we should be ready to support them in doing that.
Because most teachers are working to plan lessons, grade assignments, contact families, and evaluate data outside of contract hours (i.e. for free). Additionally, teacher work days have been reduced since your “times gone by.” Early release for students gives a regular period of time where teachers can plan to make instruction as meaningful for kids as possible.
Most jobs expect employees to work extra hours. Learn better time management instead of taking instruction away from students who, under this generation of teachers, continue to score poorly relative to “times gone by.”
There are many more demands put on teachers today than in times gone by. The school day as a whole is longer, for one, and the teachers have very limited planning time for the added responsibilities. These early release days are for training new Virginia state mandated standards, not so teachers can do personal tasks.