Regular Half days

[Anonymous]

Op here: I see that some schools have a paid Wednesday option but I have zero confidence that our charter (LAMB) can make this happen given that they haven’t been able to meet the need for aftercare for several years. I work in person and am barely surviving paying for aftercare as it is. I can’t pay more honestly.

Also, I don’t know how they’ll make up the days with half days. It seems like they’re cutting instructional time, and seeing how kids are performing on tests I’m not sold that this is a good idea.

At this point I think we will move to our inbound or another charter but I can’t risk another charter with the same nonsense half day policy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCB has half day Fridays. It’s honestly fine. The school day M-Th is a little longer than the DCPS day, which has some advantages. On Fridays after card is available and there’s no cap at DCB, ie there are spots for all. And it can useful for kids to have a half day on a Friday if you are traveling

Thanks for this!

[Anonymous]

Our charter is 8:30-3:30, which is an hour longer than our IB which is 9-3.

Also, if you like the charter and value it for other characteristics, there is likely a childcare solution. Casa Lala, for example, caters to many charter schools with early release days. I believe Brillando does as well.

It's not my favorite from a work perspective, but my kids look forward to their early release day, and I think 2 hours a week for them to do an aftercare activitiy (yoga,dance,art) or come home and get some extra down time is also valuable to them.

[Anonymous]

Two Rivers has regular half days. Every Wednesday. We looked at them for this current school year but when they told me about this at the open house, it was a no for me. There is an option for after care but if you aren't already paying for 5 days a week of aftercare, it costs extra on Wednesdays just for your kid to stay until the normal release time. This was insane to me. We do aftercare 2 days a week but the idea of paying for an extra day just to cover normal school hours makes no sense to me.

I get teachers need PD time but building it into the school week like that is such an FU to working parents. We are at a DCPS now and they usually tack PD days onto existing 3 day weekends (like we just had a 4 day weekend for MLK day because they made Friday a PD day). That is much easier to plan for IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two Rivers has regular half days. Every Wednesday. We looked at them for this current school year but when they told me about this at the open house, it was a no for me. There is an option for after care but if you aren't already paying for 5 days a week of aftercare, it costs extra on Wednesdays just for your kid to stay until the normal release time. This was insane to me. We do aftercare 2 days a week but the idea of paying for an extra day just to cover normal school hours makes no sense to me.

I get teachers need PD time but building it into the school week like that is such an FU to working parents. We are at a DCPS now and they usually tack PD days onto existing 3 day weekends (like we just had a 4 day weekend for MLK day because they made Friday a PD day). That is much easier to plan for IMO.

Op here- this is exactly how I feel. Lamb honestly isn’t good enough to have me wreck my life so they can have extra half days. I don’t want to pay even more to Casa Lala either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our charter is 8:30-3:30, which is an hour longer than our IB which is 9-3.

Also, if you like the charter and value it for other characteristics, there is likely a childcare solution. Casa Lala, for example, caters to many charter schools with early release days. I believe Brillando does as well.

It's not my favorite from a work perspective, but my kids look forward to their early release day, and I think 2 hours a week for them to do an aftercare activitiy (yoga,dance,art) or come home and get some extra down time is also valuable to them.

I think this might be your charter trying to stretch the truth.

Our IB's instructional hours are 9-3, but drop off starts at 8:15 and pick-up starts at 3:15 and you are not late for pick up as long as you get there before 3:30. Which I'm guess is similar to what your charter is doing, it's just they are fudging and making it sound like instructional hours are 8:30-3:30 when in reality they are probably 9-3 and the extra 30 minutes on each end is spent getting kids to the classroom or to the pick-up location or aftercare, as is the case at all elementary schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here: I see that some schools have a paid Wednesday option but I have zero confidence that our charter (LAMB) can make this happen given that they haven’t been able to meet the need for aftercare for several years. I work in person and am barely surviving paying for aftercare as it is. I can’t pay more honestly.

Also, I don’t know how they’ll make up the days with half days. It seems like they’re cutting instructional time, and seeing how kids are performing on tests I’m not sold that this is a good idea.

At this point I think we will move to our inbound or another charter but I can’t risk another charter with the same nonsense half day policy.

If avoiding early release is make-or-break for you, I would avoid any charter. Even charters that don't currently have early release may adopt one in the future (like it appears yours is starting to do).

I'm sorry to see how stressed your after care situation is, that sounds really tough. I do think there are other charters that would help a lot more with cheaper after care options (on non early release days) or financial help for early release programs. I think LAMB is known to have one of the more expensive and harder to get after care programs, not all other Charters are like that (our aftercare is $15/day and is guarunteed, with significant sibling discounts of 50% I think).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two Rivers has regular half days. Every Wednesday. We looked at them for this current school year but when they told me about this at the open house, it was a no for me. There is an option for after care but if you aren't already paying for 5 days a week of aftercare, it costs extra on Wednesdays just for your kid to stay until the normal release time. This was insane to me. We do aftercare 2 days a week but the idea of paying for an extra day just to cover normal school hours makes no sense to me.

I get teachers need PD time but building it into the school week like that is such an FU to working parents. We are at a DCPS now and they usually tack PD days onto existing 3 day weekends (like we just had a 4 day weekend for MLK day because they made Friday a PD day). That is much easier to plan for IMO.

Op here- this is exactly how I feel. Lamb honestly isn’t good enough to have me wreck my life so they can have extra half days. I don’t want to pay even more to Casa Lala either.

Agreed. I honestly feel like charters do this intentionally because they know a lot of working class parents rely on school for childcare and will balk, so it's a way to artificially ensure they have a higher SES student base, which is easier for them. Sketchy for a taxpayer funded public school IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here: I see that some schools have a paid Wednesday option but I have zero confidence that our charter (LAMB) can make this happen given that they haven’t been able to meet the need for aftercare for several years. I work in person and am barely surviving paying for aftercare as it is. I can’t pay more honestly.

Also, I don’t know how they’ll make up the days with half days. It seems like they’re cutting instructional time, and seeing how kids are performing on tests I’m not sold that this is a good idea.

At this point I think we will move to our inbound or another charter but I can’t risk another charter with the same nonsense half day policy.

If avoiding early release is make-or-break for you, I would avoid any charter. Even charters that don't currently have early release may adopt one in the future (like it appears yours is starting to do).

I'm sorry to see how stressed your after care situation is, that sounds really tough. I do think there are other charters that would help a lot more with cheaper after care options (on non early release days) or financial help for early release programs. I think LAMB is known to have one of the more expensive and harder to get after care programs, not all other Charters are like that (our aftercare is $15/day and is guarunteed, with significant sibling discounts of 50% I think).

Lambs aftercare has been absolutely terrible on all fronts. I don’t like casa Lala, it is expensive, and I don’t like kids being driven around in vans forever. I think my inbound is okay for at least a few years, and I don’t think it’s worthwhile to drive myself crazy for a mediocre school.

[Anonymous]

Let's be fair, DCPS hasn't barely had 10 full school weeks this year. The number of PD/Conference/other days off is insane

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two Rivers has regular half days. Every Wednesday. We looked at them for this current school year but when they told me about this at the open house, it was a no for me. There is an option for after care but if you aren't already paying for 5 days a week of aftercare, it costs extra on Wednesdays just for your kid to stay until the normal release time. This was insane to me. We do aftercare 2 days a week but the idea of paying for an extra day just to cover normal school hours makes no sense to me.

I get teachers need PD time but building it into the school week like that is such an FU to working parents. We are at a DCPS now and they usually tack PD days onto existing 3 day weekends (like we just had a 4 day weekend for MLK day because they made Friday a PD day). That is much easier to plan for IMO.

Op here- this is exactly how I feel. Lamb honestly isn’t good enough to have me wreck my life so they can have extra half days. I don’t want to pay even more to Casa Lala either.

Agreed. I honestly feel like charters do this intentionally because they know a lot of working class parents rely on school for childcare and will balk, so it's a way to artificially ensure they have a higher SES student base, which is easier for them. Sketchy for a taxpayer funded public school IMO.

As someone who has worked in DC schools for decades, you sound insane. This is not a thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cap City does early release on Wed at 1

This was one of the reasons we left, it was really hard to handle, and although the aftercare program can cover that time, its expensive if you pay full price and not great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two Rivers has regular half days. Every Wednesday. We looked at them for this current school year but when they told me about this at the open house, it was a no for me. There is an option for after care but if you aren't already paying for 5 days a week of aftercare, it costs extra on Wednesdays just for your kid to stay until the normal release time. This was insane to me. We do aftercare 2 days a week but the idea of paying for an extra day just to cover normal school hours makes no sense to me.

I get teachers need PD time but building it into the school week like that is such an FU to working parents. We are at a DCPS now and they usually tack PD days onto existing 3 day weekends (like we just had a 4 day weekend for MLK day because they made Friday a PD day). That is much easier to plan for IMO.

Op here- this is exactly how I feel. Lamb honestly isn’t good enough to have me wreck my life so they can have extra half days. I don’t want to pay even more to Casa Lala either.

Agreed. I honestly feel like charters do this intentionally because they know a lot of working class parents rely on school for childcare and will balk, so it's a way to artificially ensure they have a higher SES student base, which is easier for them. Sketchy for a taxpayer funded public school IMO.

As someone who has worked in DC schools for decades, you sound insane. This is not a thing.

Regular half days at charters that leave working parents scrambling for childcare is definitely a thing. Read the thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two Rivers has regular half days. Every Wednesday. We looked at them for this current school year but when they told me about this at the open house, it was a no for me. There is an option for after care but if you aren't already paying for 5 days a week of aftercare, it costs extra on Wednesdays just for your kid to stay until the normal release time. This was insane to me. We do aftercare 2 days a week but the idea of paying for an extra day just to cover normal school hours makes no sense to me.

I get teachers need PD time but building it into the school week like that is such an FU to working parents. We are at a DCPS now and they usually tack PD days onto existing 3 day weekends (like we just had a 4 day weekend for MLK day because they made Friday a PD day). That is much easier to plan for IMO.

Op here- this is exactly how I feel. Lamb honestly isn’t good enough to have me wreck my life so they can have extra half days. I don’t want to pay even more to Casa Lala either.

Agreed. I honestly feel like charters do this intentionally because they know a lot of working class parents rely on school for childcare and will balk, so it's a way to artificially ensure they have a higher SES student base, which is easier for them. Sketchy for a taxpayer funded public school IMO.

As someone who has worked in DC schools for decades, you sound insane. This is not a thing.

Regular half days at charters that leave working parents scrambling for childcare is definitely a thing. Read the thread.

Nobody is arguing about that. What is insane is arguing that schools do this to force out poor families. That’s a crazy thing to think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two Rivers has regular half days. Every Wednesday. We looked at them for this current school year but when they told me about this at the open house, it was a no for me. There is an option for after care but if you aren't already paying for 5 days a week of aftercare, it costs extra on Wednesdays just for your kid to stay until the normal release time. This was insane to me. We do aftercare 2 days a week but the idea of paying for an extra day just to cover normal school hours makes no sense to me.

I get teachers need PD time but building it into the school week like that is such an FU to working parents. We are at a DCPS now and they usually tack PD days onto existing 3 day weekends (like we just had a 4 day weekend for MLK day because they made Friday a PD day). That is much easier to plan for IMO.

Op here- this is exactly how I feel. Lamb honestly isn’t good enough to have me wreck my life so they can have extra half days. I don’t want to pay even more to Casa Lala either.

Agreed. I honestly feel like charters do this intentionally because they know a lot of working class parents rely on school for childcare and will balk, so it's a way to artificially ensure they have a higher SES student base, which is easier for them. Sketchy for a taxpayer funded public school IMO.

As someone who has worked in DC schools for decades, you sound insane. This is not a thing.

Regular half days at charters that leave working parents scrambling for childcare is definitely a thing. Read the thread.

Nobody is arguing about that. What is insane is arguing that schools do this to force out poor families. That’s a crazy thing to think.

Op here. I’m not poor but I’m not rich and they’re forcing me out with these policies. So it’s working, regardless of whatever the reasoning.