Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Nobody's changing the reality that it takes awhile to clear snow around here. But is it too much to ask for a school calendar that has enough built-in snow days to reflect that reality. We shouldn't be burning through our entire allotment during one moderate snowfall.

This is the very, very least the BoE and superintendent can do. We should build-in 4 or 5 days to the calendar. And we should identify make-up days during the year that we're actually willing to use. It's ridiculous that we have make-up days identified in the calendar that we're told we can't use.

The problem is, what happens if they aren’t used, do you end the year early? Because then you end up with parents upset that they don’t have camps or childcare lined up for those days.

I don't see a problem there. You think the kids will have learned everything there is to be learned after the 180th day?

Of course not. Hold the days of school. Isn't that obvious? Hopefully some teachers will come up with some fun enrichment projects. If not, they could build in some more review/studying days towards the end of the year.

+1. It's interesting to me that for an area so educated that parents would complain about an extra day or two of school. Ouch.

I doubt the person complaining was a parent. It's usually the teachers that complain about that.

I mean, there's no perfect answer here. What would teachers rather have- more built in snow days, with the risk of having to work 1-2 days beyond 180 if not all are used, or not enough snow days so that they then lose grading/planning days?

I’ll answer that. Built in snow days. I don’t care if I have to teach beyond 180.

I would rather protect the very rare days I can get grading done during the school day. My time has value to me, and professional days suggest it has value to my employer, too.

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Anonymous wrote:So does everyone agree now that 1/29 needs to be a make-up day?

No

What's the better day?

I'm betting they choose June 6.

Parents need to contact the BoE to make sure this doesn't happen.

I don't necessarily have a problem with June 6th as a make-up day, but we're going to need more. We need to use 3 make-up days before we can even ask the state for a waiver.

Given that we all know days at the end of the year are a waste, and that none of us want to take days away from spring break, that leaves 1/29, 3/31, and 6/6.

We know we're going to need all three. And we only have a short window of time to make the call on 1/29. It's still plenty far enough away to make than an instructional day.

Agree. They should use them in order. I don't even think they'll open on Thursday, so that's 2 days to make up. Use 1/29 and 3/31 for that. Friday, if we are lucky, they will just have a delayed opening.

3/31 is Eid al-Fitr. It would be a shame to single out a group again and restrict their ability to celebrate a holiday. I know it would still be excused to miss it, but technically you just get 1 day to make up work. If you are absent and miss the work, you likely wont have time to do it all in one extra day without losing something else. If they do this, I’ll bring my child in for school late, let them sign them in, and then immediate around and pull them out 2 minutes later just to cause hassle as protest.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We shouldn’t have to make up all the days since a state of emergency was declared.

But we do. And that's reasonable, given that we know its going to snow in the winter. It was obvious that 2 built-in days wasn't going to be enough.

Under current state law, we have to use 3 make-up days before we can even ask for a waiver.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So does everyone agree now that 1/29 needs to be a make-up day?

No

What's the better day?

I'm betting they choose June 6.

Parents need to contact the BoE to make sure this doesn't happen.

I don't necessarily have a problem with June 6th as a make-up day, but we're going to need more. We need to use 3 make-up days before we can even ask the state for a waiver.

Given that we all know days at the end of the year are a waste, and that none of us want to take days away from spring break, that leaves 1/29, 3/31, and 6/6.

We know we're going to need all three. And we only have a short window of time to make the call on 1/29. It's still plenty far enough away to make than an instructional day.

Agree. They should use them in order. I don't even think they'll open on Thursday, so that's 2 days to make up. Use 1/29 and 3/31 for that. Friday, if we are lucky, they will just have a delayed opening.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nobody's changing the reality that it takes awhile to clear snow around here. But is it too much to ask for a school calendar that has enough built-in snow days to reflect that reality. We shouldn't be burning through our entire allotment during one moderate snowfall.

This is the very, very least the BoE and superintendent can do. We should build-in 4 or 5 days to the calendar. And we should identify make-up days during the year that we're actually willing to use. It's ridiculous that we have make-up days identified in the calendar that we're told we can't use.

The problem is, what happens if they aren’t used, do you end the year early? Because then you end up with parents upset that they don’t have camps or childcare lined up for those days.

I don't see a problem there. You think the kids will have learned everything there is to be learned after the 180th day?

Of course not. Hold the days of school. Isn't that obvious? Hopefully some teachers will come up with some fun enrichment projects. If not, they could build in some more review/studying days towards the end of the year.

+1. It's interesting to me that for an area so educated that parents would complain about an extra day or two of school. Ouch.

I doubt the person complaining was a parent. It's usually the teachers that complain about that.

I mean, there's no perfect answer here. What would teachers rather have- more built in snow days, with the risk of having to work 1-2 days beyond 180 if not all are used, or not enough snow days so that they then lose grading/planning days?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nobody's changing the reality that it takes awhile to clear snow around here. But is it too much to ask for a school calendar that has enough built-in snow days to reflect that reality. We shouldn't be burning through our entire allotment during one moderate snowfall.

This is the very, very least the BoE and superintendent can do. We should build-in 4 or 5 days to the calendar. And we should identify make-up days during the year that we're actually willing to use. It's ridiculous that we have make-up days identified in the calendar that we're told we can't use.

The problem is, what happens if they aren’t used, do you end the year early? Because then you end up with parents upset that they don’t have camps or childcare lined up for those days.

I don't see a problem there. You think the kids will have learned everything there is to be learned after the 180th day?

Of course not. Hold the days of school. Isn't that obvious? Hopefully some teachers will come up with some fun enrichment projects. If not, they could build in some more review/studying days towards the end of the year.

+1. It's interesting to me that for an area so educated that parents would complain about an extra day or two of school. Ouch.

I doubt the person complaining was a parent. It's usually the teachers that complain about that.