Guidance needed!

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone,

I just accepted a three month position working in an afterschool program as a child and youth care worker. It's a great job, and I really respect my boss and her philosophy to childcare.

However, I am also a full-time student in social work. I just received a syllabus for one of my upcoming classes. It has a mandatory five day face to face week of instruction during the time I am scheduled to work. I also have to attend a conference out of state in May and I have an exam scheduled during my work hours.

I know I have to approach my boss and tell her I have conflicts coming up. I am just nervous to do it. Any words of wisdom for discussing this would be appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Did your boss know you would have potential conflicts when she hired you? Whether she did or not really changes how you ought to approach this.

[Anonymous]

No, she didn't and neither did I. These conflicts have literally piled on today. I received a confirmation for my face-to-face classes, conference, and exam schedule all in the past eight hours. Oi vey.

[Anonymous]

You need to reschedule your exam so it isn't a conflict.

You need to apologize profusely (presumably she knew you were a student?) and tell her you didn't realize you were going to be required to attend a full week of face to face classes or an OOS conference (presumably that is true, otherwise you really screwed them over here) and ask what can you do to make sure the program will be set up for success during your absence.

You need to tell her all this immediately in case she has to arrange a back-up staff member or make other logistical decisions.

TBH, I worked for an after-school enrichment program for two years, and if one of our summer staff had needed to miss a full week of work we probably wouldn't have hired them. I hope this program and your boss are flexible enough to make it work for everyone, but definitely consider whether this job is something you can fully commit to. If so, approach the conversation with her from that mental place of being fully committed to doing whatever you have to do, because that alone will help the conversation go much more smoothly. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Rescheduling the exam would involve applying for an academic concession which is only granted in the case of grave illness or family tragedy. In this case, work conflict is not an acceptable excuse.

My program is flexible, fortunately. As it's mostly delivered via distance education. However, I am totally aware that childcare is less flexible because it's concrete hours in an afterschool program. I guess I'm just sad because my conflicts mean we may have to part ways.

[Anonymous]

I would talk to the professor forst and see if there's a way around the face time...like watch a video later or attend an eve/morn class or something like that. I'd also talk to you rboss asap, explain you didn't know about this ahead of time and are in the pricess of finding out if there's a way to work around your work schedule but haven't heard back yet etc.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, nope there's no way around rescheduling a final exam. I wish I was that easy to simply watch a movie or attend an extra class. There's strict university policy on academic concessions and work commitments do not fall into their guidelines of acceptable excuses.

I'm going to send her an email explaining my situation, apologizing, mentioning that I understand if this means it "won't work out", meanwhile hoping for the best!

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't reschedule a thing!! Your education comes first. I am sure there are other staff. And if not daycare jobs are a dime a dozen. I would call your boss and be honest. She will understand. Maybe offer to cover a different shift if one is available..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't reschedule a thing!! Your education comes first. I am sure there are other staff. And if not daycare jobs are a dime a dozen. I would call your boss and be honest. She will understand. Maybe offer to cover a different shift if one is available..

An after school program is not the same as daycare.

[Anonymous]

OP it sounds like you have an excuse for everything. Not sure why you posted here....

[Anonymous]

I've got to say, OP, I have taken all kinds of online and distance learning courses and this kind of stuff doesn't "literally pile on" in one day. You know about proctored exams at the beginning of the class, and I am sure if there is a face to face component, you were made aware in ample time. It seems like you really needed to take a job, this one was one you wanted to do, and now you are trying to rationalize taking time off for commitments you already were aware of. Tell your boss, you may lose the job, those are just the breaks. Next time, be honest about your availability upfront and you won't be confronted with situations like this.