School Vacation Days Are Annoying and Irritating and Troublesome

Jonah has eleven days off from school this fall. Ian has at least ten days off and not necessarily the same days off as Jonah. He attends an out-of-district school. Of those ten holidays, only one (Thanksgiving) is recognized by my school or my husband's company. Neither my husband nor myself can ever miss work. Never ever. Our district does not offer after school care for special needs kids.

If I didn't have my mom to pick up the slack, I'm not sure what we would do.

I'm going to spend the morning writing angry letters.

Comments

[Wendy]

Yay! Comments! Or is this a mistake?

Once again, our public school comes through. They contract with a child care program that operates in the school. The teachers have 2 inservice days on Nov 3 and 4, days both my husband and I have to teach. The child care program will be open.

The other day in November the kids have off is Nov 11, Veterans Day. However, the child care program can't run without extra expense because it's an official day off for the custodial staff, and they'd have to be paid overtime to come in. And again, both my husband and I are scheduled to work, and for me it's an exam day/teaching day. My husband will fill in till 11:30 (maybe I can get a proctor for my 9 am exam), then I will take over when I'm done. Of course, I'm just realizing I've scheduled a workshop that day. Ugh. But it's lowkey and I can bring the laptops and put the kids in front of Webkinz for an hour.

[Western Dave]

You don't get off for the Jewish Holidays? It makes no sense to have school then. Where you live, anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 the teachers aren't going to be in school. Granted, my school messed up by not noticing the Yom Kippur Thursday Columbus Day Monday and had school on Friday instead of having the in-service day then. Your beef isn't with the school, it's with yours and your husbands jobs.

[Western Dave]

You don't get off for the Jewish Holidays? It makes no sense to have school then. Where you live, anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 the teachers aren't going to be in school. Granted, my school messed up by not noticing the Yom Kippur Thursday Columbus Day Monday and had school on Friday instead of having the in-service day then. Your beef isn't with the school, it's with yours and your husbands jobs.

[Lisa V]

You would hate our school. We have two professional development days a month. As I parent, I know it's frustrating for people who don't flexible jobs. As a staff member, I know my children's teachers are better prepared, educated and motivated to take on challenges in the classroom. It's worth it.

Until this year we had daycare in the building on days off. Now a preschool has come into that space, so parents are on their own. We hope to be able to offer care again next year.

[bj]

We rely on grandparents to pick up the slack. We have a bunch of days off in November, enough that I'm wondering how the teachers manage the teaching when the kids are missing days here and there. Especially a problem if you then add in sick days.

[Russell Arben Fox]

Today, here in Wichita, KS, our children have Columbus Day off--as a holiday, not an inservice day. (They did have Friday off as an inservice day, so a 4-day weekend for them.) I was pretty surprised when I saw Columbus Day off for them--I was used to Columbus Day being taken seriously as a holiday when I was at Catholic University as a graduate student, and I suppose most of those who send their children to parochial schools are probably familiar with it as well, but I'd never seen it on a school calendar anywhere else, certainly not in public schools. It wasn't that way when I was growing up in Washington State.

Of course, this just goes to show no one from Canada has commented yet here today, with today being their Thanksgiving Day and all. And Dave, what about Sukkot? Any time off for that?

[Russell Arben Fox]

Today, here in Wichita, KS, our children have Columbus Day off--as a holiday, not an inservice day. (They did have Friday off as an inservice day, so a 4-day weekend for them.) I was pretty surprised when I saw Columbus Day off for them--I was used to Columbus Day being taken seriously as a holiday when I was at Catholic University as a graduate student, and I suppose most of those who send their children to parochial schools are probably familiar with it as well, but I'd never seen it on a school calendar anywhere else, certainly not in public schools. It wasn't that way when I was growing up in Washington State.

Of course, this just goes to show no one from Canada has commented yet here today, with today being their Thanksgiving Day and all. And Dave, what about Sukkot? Any time off for that?

[dave.s.]

Today my kids had school and I had a holiday. The weather was unbelievably good, for October. We had the parents of one of my daughters over for lunch. Talked about the care and maintenance of 7-yo divas. Sat in the garden. We'll pay for it someday, I'm sure, but today was sure sweet.

[Janice]

I'm getting better and better at writing angry letters (stealth closing of the respite outings program; board's unopposable plan to close youngest's school (shoving ASD classes into a suddenly twice-the-students environment?), so on and so on).

I wish we had grandparents to help and I'm so glad that you have your mother nearby to lend a hand with the crazy-quilt schedule the schools imposed. Fortunately, due to my spouse's move into a part-time job, we're able to cover most sick days without a problem. But my appointment to a high-ranking provincial board is going to wreak havoc with our system starting in December. Gak!

[Western Dave]

Russell,
To get Sukkot off you have to send your kids to Jewish school. You gotta draw the line somewhere and Sukkot is a festival not a holiday. That said, I would kill to get at least one non-weekend day of Passover off. I'm sympathetic to Laura's larger issue though. We have parent conference days (even for Upper School) in-service, etc. It's hard to get a rhythm going. At the same time, Laura's situation is worse because they have this weird state=wide in-service plan.

[Western Dave]

Does anybody else remember going to work with Dad (or mom, but for me it was always Dad) on these days? Couldn't we coordinate the take your kid to work day with in-service?

[Timothy Burke]

I remember once or twice going to my Dad's office when for some reason my Mom wasn't available, yeah. We'd just doodle on legal pads all morning. Melissa and I sometimes take Emma into our office. It's a bit hard to take kids into classrooms, though, especially under 6 or so.

[Wendy]

Despite my family-friendly department, we really are discouraged from bringing kids to class. I did bring my daughter once or twice and was told, hm, maybe I shouldn't do that. It's also a liability issue for the university. For meetings, though, it's different. I have brought the kids to department meetings (again, setting them up with Webkinz or drawing).

[Lisa V]

You know, I work at a school and it really isn't workable for me to bring my kids to work. Other people do it and frankly those kids are really distracting. But I'm sympathetic if they have no other option.

[bj]

I've never been able to bring my kids to work (and my dad did, occasionally, when we were little). I suspect that our view of it as kids didn't take into account the fact that not much work got done. And, of course, it depends on the kids, too. Mine just aren't the sit in the corner quietly type, and require a lot of attention. My older one could probably come now, and read. But the younger one requires a playmate, which means no work gets done.

[harry b]

Like dave s I had a really nice day (my kid, though, was sick, and when she is sick she is unbelievably delightful, unlike her siblings), working in the same room as her while she watched Dr Who, The Prisoner, and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased).

I think kids are distracting at work because a) they're not used to it and b) we're not used to it. If it were just a standard thing that people did they would not be dispruptive, and adults wouldn't be distracted. I have taken my kids to department meetings and to class, and it has been made pretty clear to me, especially by older faculty, interestingly, that it is fine to do so. Mark youo, my first two kids have been extraordinarily easy to manage; #3 is a pain in the ass, and I can't imagine taking him anywhere much.

[laura]

I could take my oldest (9 yrs old to school) for short periods of time and provided he wasn't too sick. (I once took him to school and he had to run out of class to puke.) The youngest could never, never come to school with me. He was out from school all last week between the holiday and strep throat. I'm terribly ill right now partly because of the stress of juggling all that mess last week. But even with the most well behaved, illness-free child, it is still too much to take a kid to school for 11 days in one semester. Do the schools really need to take off for Columbus Day?

[Russell Arben Fox]

FWIW, my graduate advisor at Catholic University would bring his daughter into the office with him on occasion. He had a bunch of old dolls and other toys on his shelf that she could play with. This worked, obviously, because 1) he had an office where the doors could close, and 2) she was a quiet and not particularly needy child. I could have done so, I think, with our second, Caitlyn, and maybe our oldest too. But Alison or Kristen the way they are now? No way.

[jen]

BTW I really resent this idea that, because teachers need a day off, then parents a priori must burn a vacation day. In my work if I am going to be unavailable at some point, it is my responsibility together with my supervisor to make sure that I can still serve clients. I'm not saying the *teachers* need to be there. But *someone* should be there. I don't declare my office closed because I have training. Puh-lease.

This all gets back to underfunded schools in the end. Don't get me started.

[bj]

Jen:

I don't think your analogy is accurate -- the teachers & schools are contracted to teach your child, not to take care of them. The taking care is just a side effect of the teaching. If they've determined that a certain number of days are the right number to provide that education, the school is not required to hold their hand on other days, any more than any other business. A business that cells flowers for valentine's day isn't required to provide candy for Halloween as well.

Mind you, I have my own problem with these spotty days (which I do think is a budget issue), but my beef is on educational grounds. I find it impossible to work if I have a day here and there and everywhere, and I think kids do, too. If they have, like we do for veterans day, 2 days off, 2 days on, one day off, what learning can they accomplish in those middle days?

But, I think putting child care at the feet of the schools is just one more expansion of their mandate that the schools are poorly equipped to handle.

[kudzu fire]

bummer

[jen]

I see your point, bj, but I don't think your flower store analogy is accurate either. The issue here is not with the service provided while the kids are in the building: the issue is with the predictability and reliability of its scheduling. If I am part of a process that involves many different people and is highly time-sensitive (such as the school drop-off and pick-up process) then if I need to pull out of that process for a period of time I check with everyone and do my best to either provide backfill or to keep disruption to a minimum. What I do *not* do is unilaterally declare that from now on every Wednesday is early pick-up and everyone should just deal.

Part of my issue is that I don't see why professional education and conferences, etc., are scheduled during the school year. I just see no need for this, other than teacher convenience. And that's just not enough for me, frankly.

Full disclosure: I am a bit poisoned on this issue because my sister is an elementary school teacher. And every year during NEA weekend -- when she's supposed to be at all this vaunted professional education -- she calls me from the mall, where she's hanging out with all her teacher friends. It's so unprofessional! Which is exactly what this school scheduling stuff strikes me as: not well thought through, with lots of bad and easily avoidable side effects.

[harry b]

Well, we know different teachers, jen. On those NEA weekends that my teacher friends and relatives have they do not go to the conference (which, like most professional conferences, they see as a sort of playtime) and instead spend the day working on their grading or revising curriculum. Most teachers have very little time in their daily schedule to reflect, prepare, and develop; they need it, just like anyone else doing a serious job. You might say, well they are salaried workers, so they should just work extra hours like the rest of us. But the teachers I know do work 55 hour weeks. The difference is that they get no material benefit, because they do not have a career structure that rewards excellence, or managers who can recognise it. You might blame their unions for that; and unions deserve exactly half the blame: school district members and the public deserve the other half of the blame.

Now, professional development days. That's a different question; teachers having their time wasted by incompetent managers.

As for schedules being predictable: our school district publishes a calendar specifying exactly when the kids will have to be home from school, so parents can plan to manage that time, either by taking a vacation day, or organising a babysitter (expensive, maybe, but not so much if 5 or 6 parents go in together). My two daughters are good friends with the daughters of a friend of mine, and if one of us has responsibilities (work in my case, volunteering in his) the other one looks after both sets for the day (our wives are both teachers, so they have to work).

[jen]

Sorry, harry, but I don't consider "I've given you six months notice about how you need to use all your vacation days" to be the same as taking parents' schedules into account when opting for 17 mid-week, non-holiday related days off. (This is the total for my kid's school this year; they also get a 6-day spring break and a Christmas break.)

If the average teacher can't get their work done during their regular work week, then *that's* the problem to solve. Am I to believe the absolute only way to resolve the issue is by closing the school for a day every two weeks? It does not feel like anyone's really made all that much effort to make it easier on parents.

[Wendy]

Jen, your district's professional development days do sound excessive. We have 3, as far as I can tell from my kids' school's schedule. I looked up Laura's, and hers are more than mine, plus she has to deal with taking off the Jewish holidays (which we don't, due to the smaller Jewish population around here). We do have 2 breaks, one in February around Presidents Day and one in April around Patriots Day (hey, Battle of Lexington and Concord is a big thing here :).

So I can sympathize with your frustration. It does seem like overkill.

[harry b]

Ok jen, what you are objecting to is not that the days off are unpredictable and unreliable, but that they are, although predictable and reliable, incredibly stupidly arranged. Everyone -- teachers, students, parents, and even administrators -- would be better off if most of those days were taken as blocks at sensible intervals.

You should write a calm, unfrustrated, letter to both your school board and the local union, emphasising the educational and professional value of having a more coherent schedule. And you should share the letter with other parents and get them to put on pressure too. If you want to run an angry draft by me (so I can tone it down and make some references to research -- let me tell you, I have written some of these letters and know how to do it) you're welcome (you can find an email address at crookedtimber, or laura has it).

[Lisa V]

Jen are you a parent at my school?

We have lots of P.D. days. Lots. We do try to group them together. Like Thanksgiving week is off for kids, but staff and teachers will work Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday of that week.

They need the days to work together. To learn together. They really do. They are great teachers and I don't begrudge them constantly learning how to go even farther. My kids benefit.

I agree it's a pain in the ass. We've organized some child care with other parents. "You take this day and watch 3 kids, then I'll take the next one, and Joe takes the one after that."

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