School half-days, necessary, or, an unnecessary burden?
I read the article School Half Days Are an Unnecessary Burden, and found myself thinking, “No!”, I mean, “Yes!”, I mean , “No!”, “I’m not sure.”
Then my head exploded.
The end.
OK, maybe not, but, I have a dog in both fights. My husband is a teacher, and, I am a working parent of school age children.
On one hand, it creates a problem for us, since part of the reason my husband is a teacher, is so he can pick them up after school.
But, it’s hard when it seems like school is out for everything in the sun every time I turn around.
On the other hand, I do understand the necessity of in-service and meeting times. It’s usually not fair to ask teachers to do these things on their vacation times, or, after hours.
Our kids’ school dismisses at 2pm once a week, and, though I understand why, I sometimes get annoyed that it costs me money for child care on the days when they are obviously not meeting.
I have no grand proposal to make the issue better, I was just wondering if anyone had experienced the same feelings?
Tags: Career and Kids, Child-Care, school-half-days, Working-ParentsRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Schedules
2 opinions for School half-days, necessary, or, an unnecessary burden?
JayMonster
Apr 25, 2007 at 8:13 am
Personally, I hate all the half days and such. When we switched to a private school with in school after care we though things would be better, but in this case, on days that the school closes early, there is NO aftercare. Ugh.
My wife changed careers briefly, from private practice to working in a school, thinking that she would then be able to pick up our daughter after school and so on, but around here at least, that was not the case, as the administration still had meetings and such afterwards.
Long story short (What ever do you mean “too late?”), I am NOT a big fan of the seemingly incessant number of 1/2 days.
Rose's Mom
Jun 26, 2008 at 2:15 pm
I’d like to find or start a national campaign against half days. Does anyone know of an existing campaign?
In my case, my daughter is disabled, and transitions are very difficult for her. EVERY morning is a struggle, especially now that she is in middle school and I have to get her up at 6 AM. To know that she spends almost as much time on the bus as in school on half days is so annoying!
Here are my anti-half day concerns; why I think that instead of two half days, school districts should have one day off and one day on:
School bus gas: Save districts money, reduce CO emissions, reduce dependence on foreign oil (even a little bit helps!), reduce wear and tear on buses.
School bus drivers hate half days; scheduling runs is a nightmare.
Reduce heating, cooling and electric costsfor schools.
Scheduling child care: easier for one full day than two half days?
Special ed kids do not get the physical, occupational and speech therapy to which they’re entitled on their IEP’s (Individualized Education Plans). Also, their medication schedules are disrupted, possibly leading to missed or duplicate meds. Communication between school and parent is not always as good as it should be.
How much education is actually provided on a half day, when so much of the day is spent with morning routine?
Let me know how you feel about these issues; let’s start a grass-roots campaign if there isn’t already one!
Thanks for your time!
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