APS students may get a second five-day weekend in November The proposed school calendar for November 2024 (via Arlington Public Schools)
Arlington students could be getting an additional five-day weekend this November.
Proposed changes to the 2024-25 calendar would give Arlington Public Schools students off between Nov. 1 and Nov. 5, shortly before another five-day weekend for Thanksgiving the last week of November.
Students were already scheduled to have off on Friday, Nov. 1 for Diwali and Tuesday, Nov. 5 for Election Day. The change, slated for an Arlington School Board vote on July 8, would give teachers an additional professional learning day on Monday, Nov. 4.
Students would also get an extra day off for a professional learning day on Thursday, Jan. 30, as part of a four-day weekend.
The additional vacation days would be a one-time change providing teachers with training to comply with the Virginia Literacy Act, Chief Academic Officer Gerald Mann told the School Board in a presentation last week. He said the proposal reflects input from APS employees.
“Really listening to our staff, and as we look at chats, and as our teams go out, one of the things our teachers say to us is ‘time,’” Mann said.
Other Northern Virginia school districts have already taken similar steps for the coming school year.
To accommodate teacher trainings, Fairfax County students are also getting a five-day vacation the first week of November in addition to seven early-release days for elementary schoolers. Loudon County students, meanwhile, are getting a total of four extra days off for professional development days.
The Virginia Literacy Act requires educators to undertake up to 27 hours of training modules.
School Board member Mary Kadera noted that scheduling professional learning days as part of a long weekend can make it easier for some parents to arrange childcare.
“We have heard from parents about the difficulty of arranging childcare on one-off days, where something appears in the middle of the week, and I just want to say thank you for recognizing that,” she told APS staff.
