Back to school....

[kdonnel]

My wife is an elementary school teacher who starts back with pre planning this Thursday the 24th of July.

Needless to say the mood is turning from glee to sadness as the reality of the end of her summer off is rapidly coming to an end.

A few years back the district added extra days to pre planning because the staff complained they didn't have time to get their rooms in order with all the mandatory meetings that were scheduled during pre planning. So they added a couple days bringing pre planning to 7 working days and more mandatory meetings! The end result is going back on a Thursday and losing out on the last weekend of their summer break.





On a different but related subject, I started thinking about this back to school season and it is the first one since we have had kids that we are not helping one or both of them get ready for some sort of school. Last year my youngest and oldest both graduated from college, one with a bachelors and one with a masters. Neither is going back this year for more education.

A 20 year back to school tradition has come to an end.

 

[PollyannaMom]

A 20 year back to school tradition has come to an end.

That was definitely a strange transition for me too!

It's a shame that your wife's school added prep time but then added more meetings to eat into it.

It's also weird for us here in Mass to be thinking about back to school at all. - We only just got out in the back half of June! Staff goes back the last week of August, but the kids not until September.

 

[#1hoosierfan]

We go back next Monday. The students start Wednesday. We only get 2 days for prep and one whole day is taken for meetings. And open house is the night before school starts…..

 

[barkley]

schools around here don't start until the very end of august or the first week of september so while I didn't see any back to school displays the last time I went to Walmart i fully expect to see them populating the store.

 

[tvguy]

Our transition has been from being parents, to being Grandparents. Our oldest Grandchild starts First grade August 14th. The biggest change over the last few years here has been to make the length of the school year longer, with more week long breaks within the school year. Thanksgiving is no long Thursday and Friday off, it is the entire week. Christmas in most districts is still two weeks but some take three weeks. Presidents day, is now President's Day week off. Easter week in most districts is still one week, but some districts take two weeks.
A elementary teacher in the district I live in is with their students 3 1/2 hours a day, four days a week. The students are there from 9 am to 2 pm. The teacher gets a 30 minute lunch break, and one hour prep time within the time the students are there. A teaching assistant takes charge of the class for "enrichment" activities like PE, Music, etc. during the Teacher prep time. Thursdays are Minimum Days, 9 am to 1 pm. The afternoon is set aside for Teacher prep time.
My neighbor just retired as a High School History teacher. In her district the Janitors Union negotiated that teachers can't have access to their classrooms until two days before school starts. So everything she needed to do in her classroom had to be done in two days.
And my adult daughter moved to Germany and went back to University. Her University school year is October to February for semester one, and March to July for the second semester. Last week was finals week, and final projects are due the end of the week. So, coordinating a time when she can come home when her niece is out of school leaves just the first week of August, and half the second week.

 

[Kooks and Bay Bay]

I have always found it strange to talk back to school in the middle of July.
Just say a back to school commercial a few days ago.
Where I live kids only got out of school the last Friday in June
They won't be going back until the day after Labor Day.

My sister and friend are teachers.
I think they both have a mandatory 3 days the week before usually Tues-Thurs.
And yes much of it is dumb meetings that usually don't even pertain to their subjects.
But they have access to the school year round so they can go in whenever if they feel like the "free time" during those days is not enough.
And you live and learn that you never complain about that kind of thing or they will just pile more things on.
If you can take a couple hours on a random Tuesday morning before heading out for lunch or the pool you're better off rather than bringing it up that you "don't have enough work time" to do it.

 

[unrequited23]

My youngest starts middle school this year. For the first time in 10 years crayons are not on my school supply shopping list.

 

[tvguy]

I have always found it strange to talk back to school in the middle of July.
Just say a back to school commercial a few days ago.
Where I live kids only got out of school the last Friday in June
They won't be going back until the day after Labor Day.

My sister and friend are teachers.
I think they both have a mandatory 3 days the week before usually Tues-Thurs.
And yes much of it is dumb meetings that usually don't even pertain to their subjects.
But they have access to the school year round so they can go in whenever if they feel like the "free time" during those days is not enough.
And you live and learn that you never complain about that kind of thing or they will just pile more things on.
If you can take a couple hours on a random Tuesday morning before heading out for lunch or the pool you're better off rather than bringing it up that you "don't have enough work time" to do it.

This is what I consider a traditional school year, which is not traditional anymore. The teachers unions are very strong here, and all the changes in schedule came with their approval. Two things that are not negotiable, the school year has to be at least 180 days......and a FULL school day has to be at least four hours for the students.

 

[hardcorestitch]

schools around here don't start until the very end of august or the first week of september so while I didn't see any back to school displays the last time I went to Walmart i fully expect to see them populating the store.

Out here in VA… my local Walmart is already in b** t* s***** mode.

 

[leebee]

Public schools in my area will start anytime between Wed, August 27 and Tuesday, September 2nd. UMaine starts on September 2nd also. I'll probably go back in-person on the 27th or so. My time is flexible, so as long as all the chemicals are ready for the labs and everything is ready for 1pm on the 2nd, I'll be fine!

 

[Simba's Mom]

I was wondering when school started-can't believe it's so soon! But this morning when I was out, I saw the school bus driving around-probably checking their route, road conditions, condition of the bus, etc. For almost 40 years, I was part of that "back to school" sadness, until I retired. To all you teachers-good luck!

 

[Meriweather]

We have 3 districts near us that started last week.
The school my grand kids go to starts July 30. They always get out the week before Memorial Day.

 

[Southernmiss]

Local schools start this week and next. The school year starts a week earlier for our local district. They are moving to a schedule with more week long breaks and finishing the end of May.

We will help our daughter move to North Carolina for grad school the first week of August. She starts Aug 11.

We've been sending a kid to school one way or the other since 1999 when our oldest started Kindergarten!

 

[tvguy]

Elk Grove District here runs 12 of their 68 schools year round. They are the 4th biggest district in California. They use a track system so at give time, 75% of the students are in school and 25% are on vacation.

 

[barkley]

My youngest starts middle school this year. For the first time in 10 years crayons are not on my school supply shopping list.

my kiddos are 31 and 28-i still have small plastic bins with new/hardly used crayons in them

Out here in VA… my local Walmart is already in b** t* s***** mode.

I was curious so I just checked to see when school starts for the Walmart I go to (it's across the state line from us) when did schools go to 4 day weeks? they start on Tuesday 9/2 so I'm guessing I'll see stuff on the shelves when I head out at the end of the week.

 

[lanejudy]

School starts the week of Aug. 25th around here. Back-to-school stuff showed up immediately after the 4th of July.

 

[AppleDumpling]

Kudos to OP’s wife and all the hard-working teachers here. I haven’t had kids in school for quite some time, so we sometimes forget the school calendar. It’s nice to be able to vacation whenever we want thoughout the year.

Here in NY, school runs from early September through late June, and won’t start the new year until after Labor Day. LOL, I’ll always remember this classic TV commercial from the 80’s for Roy Rogers.

 

[amcnj]

In towns I have lived we tend to go back after Labor Day. Though some school districts may at times start before in years when Labor Day is really late.

Teachers can start up in late August, and things like new teacher orientations a week or two before then.

The previous post of the Roy’s back to school ad made me think of the Staples “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” ad!

 

[AppleDumpling]

The previous post of the Roy’s back to school ad made me think of the Staples “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” ad!

Yes, I love that one too!

 

[Skywalker3]

Best wishes to all teachers and school workers starting up so soon!! I just looked to see when our starts....just looked, since this is first year since 2008 we wont' have a kid in the county school system here. youngest graduated high school last spring! It is a very weird feeling to be looking at the bus app for routes, school supplies, they even kicked us completely out of the skyward app they use for grades and stuff!
But , not totally out of back to school prep. Gathering stuff for DS to move to college on the 15th.