Why do private schools hate working parents?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And I don't know about your school but our breaks are not the same as public so I have to cover both sets of breaks. Privates in MD are only required to have 170 days and publics have 180.

Same here. But that said, our private has parent meetings at 8 am, which is do much better than the MCPS parent meetings at odd times of the day!

PP here. All of my meetings at MCPS are before 8 am. Everyone knows I work and they are very accommodating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And I don't know about your school but our breaks are not the same as public so I have to cover both sets of breaks. Privates in MD are only required to have 170 days and publics have 180.

Same here. But that said, our private has parent meetings at 8 am, which is do much better than the MCPS parent meetings at odd times of the day!

PP here. All of my meetings at MCPS are before 8 am. Everyone knows I work and they are very accommodating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just received the calendar for next year. In addition to the normal 2 weeks at Christmas and Spring Break, we now have an entire week off for Thanksgiving, a fall break and an additional winter break. Let's not forget that the school year ends long before camps start. Oh and it is not the best idea to start the school year on a Thursday! Do schools not understand that taking multiple weeks off is not always an option? I will definitely be thinking seriously before signing my contract for next year.

Just curious how long these winter and fall breaks are. Also, is the Spring Break just a week?

Our school has long weekends in the fall and winter (usually tied to Columbus Day and Presidents Day), so two 4-day weekends. The entire week of Thanksgiving seems a bit much - not sure there are too many schools in that camp. Starting school on a Thursday is odd to say the least.

I'm not sure though that privates vs. publics have much difference in the actual number of days off during the year (setting aside that many of the privates end earlier, but I consider the shorter school year a plus). It feels like the MoCo kids in our neighborhood get quite a few more days off during the school year than our private.

[Anonymous]

I think the point is that yes overall all the kids public/ private are in the same number of days. For working parents it is far easier to take days off here and there as opposed to a block of time.

I am the OP...the fall break and winter breaks are Th, F, M; spring break is a week and a day (go back Tues), Christmas break is two weeks and a day (again go back Tues...so ridiculous after having 2 weeks off. If teachers need planning time it should be that Mon before Christmas as the holiday falls on Friday this year) and yes a full week for Thanksgiving.

The whole thing is annoying to me and I am a bit surprised since the head of school is herself a working mother. One would think that perhaps she would give thought to parents who work.

[Anonymous]

This is something I of course checked out before sending my kids to their independent school. Lots of IMF and Bank working parents, who benefit from having two week winter and spring breaks to make trips home feasible. Also, a fair number if people who travel A LOT with their families. I'm in neither of those groups, but it's not as though the school calendar is a surprise. Am happy our school is getting better at having major meeting/ presentation duplicated, once in the morning, once at night, to accommodate more schedules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the point is that yes overall all the kids public/ private are in the same number of days. For working parents it is far easier to take days off here and there as opposed to a block of time.

I am the OP...the fall break and winter breaks are Th, F, M; spring break is a week and a day (go back Tues), Christmas break is two weeks and a day (again go back Tues...so ridiculous after having 2 weeks off. If teachers need planning time it should be that Mon before Christmas as the holiday falls on Friday this year) and yes a full week for Thanksgiving.

The whole thing is annoying to me and I am a bit surprised since the head of school is herself a working mother. One would think that perhaps she would give thought to parents who work.

No they aren't- public schools have more days per year than most privates.

[Anonymous]

This is something I of course checked out before sending my kids to their independent school. Lots of IMF and Bank working parents, who benefit from having two week winter and spring breaks to make trips home feasible. Also, a fair number if people who travel A LOT with their families. I'm in neither of those groups, but it's not as though the school calendar is a surprise. Am happy our school is getting better at having major meeting/ presentation duplicated, once in the morning, once at night, to accommodate more schedules.

My daughter has attended this school for years; this is a new calendar. We have never had week long Thanksgiving breaks or these extended fall and winter breaks. This was given to the parents on Thursday as part of the weekly letter. To my knowledge there was no meeting beforehand about revamping the calendar.

[Anonymous]

So just for comparison, MCPS doesn't have school today, but the private schools are all in. Nice 4 day weekend there. Or not. I see this more with the public school calendars than with independent schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about: so many requests for volunteering, etc. take place during the day? Or, so many kids' events take place during the school day: talent show, meet-the-room-mothers coffee and bagels, etc.

Am I alone in just not giving a shit? My kid is in a private Catholic and I have never been to the class to read, or to serve lunch in the lunchroom, or check out books in the library, etc. I am not going to volunteer to organize the spring fundraiser. I wouldn't do any of this stuff if my kid was in a public either. Here's what I am able to do:

- Contribute healthy snacks for class parties and supplies the teacher has requested
- Make sure my kid completes all of his class assignments on time
- Write a check to the annual fund
- Spend money at the spring fundraiser
- Volunteer for the fall festival (which has evening and weekend hours)

This is not discrimination. It is what it is. School happens during the day; ergo they need volunteers during the day. I work, therefore I do not volunteer. The school has dozens of SAHM's who do volunteer. I view this as their "work" while I am at my job. I hear you on the excessive breaks, though. I am just fortunate that I have enough family around to help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So just for comparison, MCPS doesn't have school today, but the private schools are all in. Nice 4 day weekend there. Or not. I see this more with the public school calendars than with independent schools.

FWIW, it's a "Professional Day" in MCPS. The semester just ended, upper grades just finished final exams, and today is a day for teachers to get all the grades in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the point is that yes overall all the kids public/ private are in the same number of days. For working parents it is far easier to take days off here and there as opposed to a block of time.

I am the OP...the fall break and winter breaks are Th, F, M; spring break is a week and a day (go back Tues), Christmas break is two weeks and a day (again go back Tues...so ridiculous after having 2 weeks off. If teachers need planning time it should be that Mon before Christmas as the holiday falls on Friday this year) and yes a full week for Thanksgiving.

The whole thing is annoying to me and I am a bit surprised since the head of school is herself a working mother. One would think that perhaps she would give thought to parents who work.

No they aren't- public schools have more days per year than most privates.

But for us, my private school child goes to school 1.5hrs a day more than private. That is 3 more days a month than public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did I write the OP? I honestly have had the same thoughts. And how about: our Christmas break starts and ends at a diff. time from when the public schools' does, and so do many of our other holidays, so they cannot dovetail with the "camps" that so many wonderful places offer for kids, but, oh no, only when the public schools are out. I Happened to mention this to one parent and she said, "Oh, but I love how our break is at a diff. time from when the public schools' break is. . . it means all the resorts and ski places are so much less crowded when we get there." ????????????????????????? "Lady," I wanted to say to her, "You and I are living in DIFFERENT WORLDS. You in Crazytown and I in Normalville." UGH!!!!!!

That's why we chose private - because we wanted to be involved in our children's schooling.
I agree with the above sentiment of our breaks being different from the public schools!! Its so nice!

Us too. I am a working parent and we love having the off weeks to go on vacations. No complaints at all. The kids bust their butts in school. It is nice to have some breaks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So just for comparison, MCPS doesn't have school today, but the private schools are all in. Nice 4 day weekend there. Or not. I see this more with the public school calendars than with independent schools.

FWIW, it's a "Professional Day" in MCPS. The semester just ended, upper grades just finished final exams, and today is a day for teachers to get all the grades in.

Our teachers do their grades on their own time so no day off for our private at the end of terms. And our day is 40 mins. longer each day so we have extra time built in for the days we do take.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about: so many requests for volunteering, etc. take place during the day? Or, so many kids' events take place during the school day: talent show, meet-the-room-mothers coffee and bagels, etc.

Am I alone in just not giving a shit? My kid is in a private Catholic and I have never been to the class to read, or to serve lunch in the lunchroom, or check out books in the library, etc. I am not going to volunteer to organize the spring fundraiser. I wouldn't do any of this stuff if my kid was in a public either. Here's what I am able to do:

- Contribute healthy snacks for class parties and supplies the teacher has requested
- Make sure my kid completes all of his class assignments on time
- Write a check to the annual fund
- Spend money at the spring fundraiser
- Volunteer for the fall festival (which has evening and weekend hours)

This is not discrimination. It is what it is. School happens during the day; ergo they need volunteers during the day. I work, therefore I do not volunteer. [b] The school has dozens of SAHM's who do volunteer. I view this as their "work" while I am at my job. I hear you on the excessive breaks, though. I am just fortunate that I have enough family around to help.

So, the SAHMs are working for you? Do they know this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just received the calendar for next year. In addition to the normal 2 weeks at Christmas and Spring Break, we now have an entire week off for Thanksgiving, a fall break and an additional winter break. Let's not forget that the school year ends long before camps start. Oh and it is not the best idea to start the school year on a Thursday! Do schools not understand that taking multiple weeks off is not always an option? I will definitely be thinking seriously before signing my contract for next year.

What school is this?? We have been at 5 different privates and have never had more than a week off for Spring Break, never had a Winter Break and never been excused earlier than a Wednesday before Thanksgiving. You should switch schools now.

Yeah, we've had kids in 2 different private schools and that sounds really odd. In any case, public school kids get lots of days off too -- they're just scattered throughout the calendar, which makes them less appealing if you want to go visit Grandma or take a road trip (not every private school family spends every break in Bermuda or at Whistler).