Stephanie Stohler & Karla Roark | April 3, 2026
(Fairfax County Times) — “Do they have school today?”
It may sound like a joke, but it is a question many Fairfax County families have asked countless times this year, on what should be regular school days.
In Fairfax County, nearly half of school weeks are not full five-day weeks.
Early dismissals. Teacher workdays. Staff development days. Student holidays. Another early release. Another closure. And then, snow.
Each one makes sense on paper, but together they create a calendar that is fragmented and hard to navigate.
But this is more than logistics. This is about learning time and the very real ripple effects that disruption has on families, work schedules, and daily routines. This isn’t about intent; it’s about impact.
Fairfax County Public Schools serves more than 177,000 students. When a district this large builds a calendar, it shapes the daily rhythm of learning for students, and the stability families rely on to support them.
Right now, that rhythm is broken.
In the past decade, the number of days off has risen from about 28 to 40, a more than 40% increase, leaving fewer full, uninterrupted weeks of learning for students. As Mount Vernon School Board member Mateo Dunne recently noted, only about 52% of FCPS school weeks are full five-day weeks, making it one of the most fragmented calendars in the region and the country.
No reasonable parent argues that teachers shouldn’t have time to plan, they absolutely should.
But here is the reality: on early-release days, formal instruction ends hours early. When those early releases are layered alongside scattered days off, the result is constant disruption — not only to learning, but to the routines families depend on, including their ability to work and earn a living. Frequent interruptions break academic momentum and make it harder for students to stay engaged and build skills. Families, meanwhile, are left repeatedly adjusting work schedules and arranging costly childcare.
The impact is especially significant for younger students, for whom consistent routines are critical for development, and for families who rely on school for stability.
It is encouraging to see some School Board members stepping forward. On April 9, the Board will vote on motions introduced by member Melanie Meren (Hunter Mill), with support from colleagues Mateo Dunne (Mount Vernon), Ricardy Anderson (Mason), and Ryan McElveen (At-large). The motions would limit early-release days, increase the number of full five-day school weeks, and begin moving the district toward a calendar that reflects what students and families actually need. This is not a minor procedural vote. It is a real opportunity to reverse a decade-long trend of growing fragmentation — and the Board members backing it deserve credit for taking it on.
This proposal is an important step in the right direction and deserves a yes vote. But to be clear: it is not the full solution.
The current proposal focuses partly on making federal holidays like Veterans Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day instructional days. While that may help in the near term, federal holidays are generally manageable for most families. The bigger issue is the number of scattered, non-federal days off throughout the year that create frequent short weeks and disrupt both learning and family routines.
Spread throughout the calendar, these interruptions may seem small on their own, but together they add up. Many families value these observances. The question is not whether to recognize them, but whether full school closures are always the best way to do so. If closures for religious or cultural observances are to be part of the calendar, those decisions should be grounded in clear, transparent data reflecting the needs of the broader community. Without that clarity, it risks creating a system that feels inconsistent and disconnected from the students and families it is meant to serve.
Fairfax County is capable of doing better. Professional development can be consolidated into fewer, more predictable days. Early-release days can be reduced or restructured. More dates can remain observances rather than full closures. And five-day school weeks can once again become the norm, not the exception.
Families cannot wait years for relief from a calendar that is not working today. The April 9 vote is a meaningful first step — and the broader work of restoring a consistent, student-centered calendar must continue beyond it.
Because this is not just about calendars. It is about protecting learning time, supporting students, and building a system that works for the families who depend on it.
Fairfax County can do better. Our students and families expect it — and deserve it.
Stephanie Stohler and Karla Roark are parents of students who attend Fairfax County Public Schools. Their commentary was made available to EdNews Virginia via the Fairfax County Times.