Can someone tell me why APS has two half days this week?

[Anonymous]

Yes I realize that if I don't like it I can just pull them out. But I'm trying to understand the logic of having a half day on wednesday and a half day on Friday. Why not just combine the two days and have school end on Thursday?

[Anonymous]

Half days aren't really half days. They're just two hours shorter than a regular day. The kids are still in 4.5 hours each day.

[Anonymous]

Tradition I suspect. This Wed most elementary school do their end of the year staff celebrations and say goodbye to people leaving.

Perhaps this could of been done the previous Wed which was also an early release.

However the real question you should ask is why do elementary teachers have to work two more days than high school teachers?

I believe APS is the only local district that does not have the same last day for all students.

[Anonymous]

As a working parent I appreciate the full week (even with 2 half days) to ending on a Wednesday where the week would be too short to make paying for camp worthwhile, but I also don’t want to burn PTO 2 days. I guess we could coordinate travel around a 4 day weekend, but we like to plan our trips a bit later in the summer because or travel sports tournaments going until mid July. So no complaints from me!

[Anonymous]

Because APS hates working families

[Anonymous]

APS is the worst...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because APS hates working families

Those teachers aren’t given any contracted time to clean and pack their rooms up. That’s all they get. Two half days.

[Anonymous]

Who cares?

Kids get off a little early twice. Last week of school. You’ll be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because APS hates working families

Those teachers aren’t given any contracted time to clean and pack their rooms up. That’s all they get. Two half days.

That doesn't address OP's question. cleaning and packing time could be consolidated into one day. Why not make Wed the last day of school for students and teachers have thurs and fri to clean their rooms? When I was in elementary school, students spent the last day or two cleaning out their desks, taking their junk home, and helping to clean the classroom by taking down all the stuff on the bulletin boards and walls, cleaning the chalkboards (yes, we still had chalkboards), cleaning the desk tops, and even taking home extra supplies the teacher was getting rid of. It was fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because APS hates working families

Those teachers aren’t given any contracted time to clean and pack their rooms up. That’s all they get. Two half days.

That doesn't address OP's question. cleaning and packing time could be consolidated into one day. Why not make Wed the last day of school for students and teachers have thurs and fri to clean their rooms? When I was in elementary school, students spent the last day or two cleaning out their desks, taking their junk home, and helping to clean the classroom by taking down all the stuff on the bulletin boards and walls, cleaning the chalkboards (yes, we still had chalkboards), cleaning the desk tops, and even taking home extra supplies the teacher was getting rid of. It was fun.

My second grader spent a significant chunk of this week carrying stuff to the dumpster for the teacher to help her clean out her room, as well as doing other chores. She put them all to work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who cares?

Kids get off a little early twice. Last week of school. You’ll be fine.

I’m asking why the half days exists. You think my question is a waste of time? Move on to another thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because APS hates working families

Those teachers aren’t given any contracted time to clean and pack their rooms up. That’s all they get. Two half days.

That doesn't address OP's question. cleaning and packing time could be consolidated into one day. Why not make Wed the last day of school for students and teachers have thurs and fri to clean their rooms? When I was in elementary school, students spent the last day or two cleaning out their desks, taking their junk home, and helping to clean the classroom by taking down all the stuff on the bulletin boards and walls, cleaning the chalkboards (yes, we still had chalkboards), cleaning the desk tops, and even taking home extra supplies the teacher was getting rid of. It was fun.

OP here. That seems to make much more sense to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who cares?

Kids get off a little early twice. Last week of school. You’ll be fine.

I’m asking why the half days exists. You think my question is a waste of time? Move on to another thread.

And yes I know I’ll be fine. I telework from home and my job is super flexible. I am just trying to understand why we have two half days instead of finishing the week early.

[Anonymous]

Because that's the only time Elementary teachers can use to box up or take down their classrooms.

But also conform to the number of required days in a school year.

[Anonymous]

OP here! Thanks for all your responses. Seems to me that it would make more sense to end two days early with high school. In our elementary school a large chunk of families just took off the last week or two (many have family abroad and travelled). There were a lot of fun and games and very little learning. Fine by me but I feel that maybe we could have had one week of fun and games and ended a week early.