Those dreaded Early Release Days--VENT

In article ,
"Donna Metler" wrote:

"Ericka Kammerer" wrote in message
...
0tterbot wrote:


this half-day thing from the o.p. otoh - i've got no idea what that's
supposed to be about. (?)


I'm not sure about precisely what her situation is--it
sounds like her half day thing is sporadic. In our district,
elementary school classes are only half days every Monday so
that the teachers have half a day for planning. I'm all for
teachers having planning time, but the half day on Monday
thing is a *royal* PITA for parents. Personally, I'd rather
they took the same amount of time and spread it around so that
there were standard start and end times. I've been getting
better at dealing with it, though.

Best wishes,
Ericka
That seems excessive to me-why not just have the kids come an hour later
every day? I almost wonder if they've cut back on support classes so there
isn't enough planning time available in the school day to make state
mandates?

In my district, we're given 1/2 day at the end of every grading period to
get grades and records together. Which means 5 a year. Parent conference and
other administrative days and holidays are full days. And, except for
weather (which could occasionally force early release, if the A/C breaks in
a school), all of these are announced not only from the beginning of the
year, but a year in advance. So there's really no excuse for not having made
plans in advance for scheduled days. And, in general, the community centers,
Y's, JCC, etc here which have afterschool programs for older kids tend to
have special activities on those days, as do some businesses like Putt-putt,
Chuck-E-Cheese's, and movie theatres (which would let one parent handle a
whole bunch of kids, and take the burden of entertainment off the parent).




I now live in an area where there are MANY school districts within a
fairly small geographical area -- and they are all on different
schedules. Heck, *I* live in two different districts: one for K-8, and
a different district that combines several of those districts for high
school. (Yes, completely different districts with distinct school
boards and funding and everything.) They are not even on exactly the
same schedule when it comes to things like early release days or days
off, creating an interesting problem for folks who want to rely on older
kids to be responsible for younger kids -- siblings or babysitters -- on
those days. I don't know if there are organizations that schedule
special things for ALL of the various schedules. It's hard enough for
me to try to schedule church events: after scheduling an August camping
trip for my middle school kids, I discovered that one of the kids was in
a school district that was starting more than a week earlier than anyone
else (he started mid-August), and a couple of kids who were entering new
schools got VERY late letters that they had to come in for a one day
orientation about a week before school started, so they had to miss the
camping trip. (And this orientation day was NOT something the parents
had been informed about in advance.) Except for Thanksgiving and the
week between Christmas and New Year's, the kids never seem to all be off
at the same time, and there seem to be huge stretches where at least one
is off for a week.

meh

meh
--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care

In article , Joni
Rathbun says...


On Fri, 31 Oct 2003, Ericka Kammerer wrote:


Aside from weather and emergencies, we do know about
the early release days in advance, which I'm sure is a huge
improvement over having them sprung on you!

Is that the OP's situation, or wasn't she compaining about the 1/2 days
themselves?



This is my experience too. The school calendar is approved the spring of
the year before. I know when I leave school in June exactly what the
schedule is for the following year.



Sure, but when do the parents at large get it? As a part of the Cub Scout
committe, I'd see it the June before because a couple other committee members
worked with the school district. But otherwise I'd only see it in September.

Banty

On 31 Oct 2003, Banty wrote:

In article , Joni
Rathbun says...


On Fri, 31 Oct 2003, Ericka Kammerer wrote:


Aside from weather and emergencies, we do know about
the early release days in advance, which I'm sure is a huge
improvement over having them sprung on you!

Is that the OP's situation, or wasn't she compaining about the 1/2 days
themselves?



This is my experience too. The school calendar is approved the spring of
the year before. I know when I leave school in June exactly what the
schedule is for the following year.



Sure, but when do the parents at large get it? As a part of the Cub Scout
committe, I'd see it the June before because a couple other committee members
worked with the school district. But otherwise I'd only see it in September.

Banty


Well, in my case... it's posted on the web, printed in the newspaper,
and available to anyone who calls and asks. It might also go home in
the end of the year newsletter but I wouldn't swear to it. I suspect
that is an individual school decision.

My previous district decided one year to change the calendar and
add some half-day planning days. The decision was made in October
after receiving some grant money to fund part of the project. A
new calendar went out (but they had to plan for the whole year;
they didn't just add new off-times as the year progressed).

I'm sure some districts somewhere have done so but most have to
deal with contracts and such and will have a school year calendar
approved in advance.

In article ,
says...

You all are probably going to hate this, but my district--the largest school
district in Colorado--is actually considering a 2-day furlough for all
district employees this year. This is due to severe budget shortfalls, and
one of the reasonings behind this decision is that it *will* put it in the
parents' faces, it *will* inconvenience them, and in the end they'll
*notice* that our district is so out of money that it has to completely shut
down for 2 days this year.

Believe it or not, the teachers are actually supporting this decision--hey,
it will mean a cut in my paycheck, but maybe it's time the tight-fisted "no
more tax increases" crowd start to notice things like this. Hell, we
haven't bought new biology books since 1989--we can't even afford to buy a
classroom set for each biology classroom, so we continue to use books that
are so outdated it's embarassing.

Of course, don't get me started on all the **other** budget issues....

In DENVER? Denver teachers are WELL compensated. Very well. My
husbands parents and sister (all teachers) wish they were paid and
had benefits like that.

And let's not forget that one of the districts in Northern Colorado
with the biggest "budget shortfalls" this year has them because of
gross mismanagement and fraud on the part of the administration.

Michelle
Flutist

--
In my heart. By my side.
Never apart. AP with Pride!
Katrina Marie (10/19/96)
Xander Ryan (09/22/98 - 02/23/99)
Gareth Xander (07/17/00) Zachary Mitchell
Theona Alexis (06/03/03) (01/12/94, fostered 09/05/01 - 07/23/03)

"Banty" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Joni
Rathbun says...


This is my experience too. The school calendar is approved the spring of
the year before. I know when I leave school in June exactly what the
schedule is for the following year.

Sure, but when do the parents at large get it? As a part of the Cub Scout
committe, I'd see it the June before because a couple other committee
members
worked with the school district. But otherwise I'd only see it in
September.

Ours is available online. Our local newspaper, though, tends to not
print
it until close to the beginning of the school year. But any parent that
wants
one earlier can get one.



P. Tierney

In article giAob.53107$mZ5.320909@attbi_s54, P. Tierney says...


"Banty" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Joni
Rathbun says...


This is my experience too. The school calendar is approved the spring of
the year before. I know when I leave school in June exactly what the
schedule is for the following year.

Sure, but when do the parents at large get it? As a part of the Cub Scout
committe, I'd see it the June before because a couple other committee
members
worked with the school district. But otherwise I'd only see it in
September.

Ours is available online. Our local newspaper, though, tends to not
print
it until close to the beginning of the school year. But any parent that
wants
one earlier can get one.



P. Tierney




OK, if they have a computer and know it's online and know the URL or how to
search and know there are 1/2 days and know that they'd be set already at a
certain point...

I never considered that sort of thing 'making available to parents at large'.
I'd say, if they sent the next years' schedule home with the kids on the last
day of school, the school district could reasonably say that the parents should
have an opportunity to plan for it when it was available.

Banty

"Banty" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Joni
Rathbun says...


On Fri, 31 Oct 2003, Ericka Kammerer wrote:


Aside from weather and emergencies, we do know about
the early release days in advance, which I'm sure is a huge
improvement over having them sprung on you!

Is that the OP's situation, or wasn't she compaining about the 1/2 days
themselves?



This is my experience too. The school calendar is approved the spring of
the year before. I know when I leave school in June exactly what the
schedule is for the following year.



Sure, but when do the parents at large get it? As a part of the Cub Scout
committe, I'd see it the June before because a couple other committee
members
worked with the school district. But otherwise I'd only see it in
September.

Banty
Ours is on the district web site, and is up by the time school is out the
previous year. And since the schools have them, a parent could call the
school and get the calendar if they so desired. We already have next year's
projected calendar in the school-the idea is that any objections should be
filed now, and it will be officially adopted in April.

In article , Donna Metler says...


"Banty" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Joni
Rathbun says...


On Fri, 31 Oct 2003, Ericka Kammerer wrote:


Aside from weather and emergencies, we do know about
the early release days in advance, which I'm sure is a huge
improvement over having them sprung on you!

Is that the OP's situation, or wasn't she compaining about the 1/2 days
themselves?



This is my experience too. The school calendar is approved the spring of
the year before. I know when I leave school in June exactly what the
schedule is for the following year.



Sure, but when do the parents at large get it? As a part of the Cub Scout
committe, I'd see it the June before because a couple other committee
members
worked with the school district. But otherwise I'd only see it in
September.

Banty
Ours is on the district web site, and is up by the time school is out the
previous year. And since the schools have them, a parent could call the
school and get the calendar if they so desired. We already have next year's
projected calendar in the school-the idea is that any objections should be
filed now, and it will be officially adopted in April.





OK, but like I said in another post, I just don't consider "yeah you can get it
if you know how and know it's available and that it's available already and also
already have some idea why you should care" to be particularly informative.

It was a surprise to me to see them at the Cub Scout committee meeting that
first June, for example - I didn't know they were available; it would never have
occurred to me to go search for them already.

Send flyers home with the kids about a week before school lets out. Not the
very last day because then they'll get lost with the rest of the clean-out-desk
stuff.

What - say can't afford it? How about just ONE less flyer per year to tell the
parents about each school bond election :-)

Banty

"Banty" wrote:

OK, but like I said in another post, I just don't consider "yeah you can
get it
if you know how and know it's available and that it's available already
and also
already have some idea why you should care" to be particularly
informative.

It isn't a particularly complicated maze to travel. Parents only need
to call the district, or any school, to get the information that they want.
Since most parents have a phone, the technology is out there. ;-)


P. Tierney

"Banty" wrote in message
...
In article giAob.53107$mZ5.320909@attbi_s54, P. Tierney says...


OK, if they have a computer and know it's online and know the URL or how
to
search and know there are 1/2 days and know that they'd be set already at
a
certain point...

As I wrote elsewhere, they only need to call the school or district.
It need not be nearly as complicated as you are making it out to be.

I never considered that sort of thing 'making available to parents at
large'.
I'd say, if they sent the next years' schedule home with the kids on the
last
day of school, the school district could reasonably say that the parents
should
have an opportunity to plan for it when it was available.

We likely would have done this is the parents had wanted it. But they
didn't. Those that who wanted it accessed it or picked up a copy from
school. Those who didn't know which specific days we had off well in
advance did not.

Addressing the needs of the parents in such a situation isn't a dificult
thing. However, if only a minority needed such information, then it
wouldn't
be necessary to send it home to everyone. If the majority wants it,
however,
then they need to be sure to make their voice heard, either en masse or via
a
parent representative (or four, as we had) on the school board committee.
Or through the PTA. Communication is a two-way street.


P. Tierney