The grumblings from Northern Virginia public school parents are getting louder.
Last week, the discontent broke out into the open, when 106.7 The Fan host Danny Rouhier went on a rant that ended up going viral on social media and prompting some news coverage. His message: kids are getting too many days off of school.
Danny is sick and tried of Fairfax County Schools consistenly having days off school. pic.twitter.com/pba4ZT1Zba
— 106.7 The Fan (@1067theFan) April 6, 2026
Arlington and Fairfax schools have added more student holidays in recent years.
Starting with the 2021-2022, Arlington Public Schools added several religious holidays to its calendar, including Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Diwali and Eid al-Fitr. This year Eid al-Adha was added, after a divided school board decided against a last-minute addition to the calendar last year.
Both Arlington and Fairfax, meanwhile, added next Tuesday — special election day for the state redistricting amendment — as an off day and APS is off today (Monday) for a grade prep day. (Over the past month, APS has been off March 13, 20, 30-31 and April 1-3, 10, and 13.)
FCPS has even more off days on its calendar than APS and the Fairfax school board has been considering removing some federal holidays next year to strike a better balance. From an April 8 FFXnow article:
As the current school year enters its final stretch, the Fairfax County School Board is considering tweaking the calendar for the next year in response to mounting complaints about disruptions to class schedules.
At the board’s meeting tomorrow (Thursday), members led by governance committee chair Melanie Meren will propose nixing Indigenous Peoples’ Day and Veterans Day as official student holidays and limiting the number of scheduled early release days to four per year.
“Partial school weeks function as an informal ‘childcare tax’ that falls hardest on our hourly-wage and most vulnerable households,” said Meren, whose committee has been discussing a new calendar policy. “My goal is to adjust the 2026-27 calendar to increase the number of five-day school weeks.”
If the motions are approved, Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which will fall on Oct. 12 this year, and Veterans Day — observed annually on Nov. 11 — would become standard instructional days for both students and staff going forward. Fairfax County Public Schools would implement a curriculum to teach students about the groups that the occasions are intended to recognize.
After an April 9 vote, only Veterans Day will be eliminated as a school holiday, FFXnow reported today.
While Arlington has fewer off days than FCPS, some parents are nonetheless feeling the burden of frequently having to find childcare for myriad off days and early release days.
Do you think APS should also consider removing some off days next year? Weigh in below.
