Conflicting elementary and middle school calendars

[mill4023]

I've been looking at the schools in the neighborhood we are thinking of moving to. It looks like the elementary school is on a year-round schedule, while the middle school is on a traditional schedule. Next year, our son will be in middle school and we'll have 2 girls in elementary. It seems really odd to me that they wouldn't try to keep the schedules the same. It seems like it will be a major pain to plan family vacations. I know there is quite a bit of overlap, but it would be so much easier if the schedules match.

Anyone else have to deal with this situation? Should I consider seeing if I can send our girls to a different elementary so the schedules will match?

 

[slimplaw]

We had the same situation when DD was in 4th and 5th grade and DS was in 7th and 8th grade. However DD's participation in year round was voluntary as her school actually ran both calendars. It worked out for us. She still had the same Christmas and Spring break. She did have some time off in the summer when the rest of us also had time off. We had minor inconveniences with the 2 calendars.

 

[froglady]

We had the same situation when DD was in 4th and 5th grade and DS was in 7th and 8th grade. However DD's participation in year round was voluntary as her school actually ran both calendars. It worked out for us. She still had the same Christmas and Spring break. She did have some time off in the summer when the rest of us also had time off. We had minor inconveniences with the 2 calendars.

The local public school system stopped year round schools for this reason. It was too hard for families to plan vacations, camps, childcare, etc.

 

[aprilgail2]

That is nuts!! All I think about is planning summer camps and childcare for the kids the summer and few weeks they have off now..to have kids on different schedules would be a nightmare. Plus I would be pulling one or the other out all the time for vacations if they didn't have the same weeks off!!

 

[MoniqueU]

Welcome to my world. I have 2 girls on a year round in elementary and one in Jr high on a traditional. It is a ROYAL PIA to plan vacations. And add to that you only get 10 days of absences before they start turning you in to CPS and the DA for prosecution here. That is excused or unexcused absences they don't care. Supposedly at the end of this year my girls are going to a modified traditional. A way they can still get extra money from the state for being a year round school but they have a more traditional summer off. It can't come soon enough for me. IT is my understanding that they did a vote to see if everyone wanted to go year round years ago and year round was voted DOWN and they went against opinion. I guess they must of had to do that because of the number of houses being built? Well my opinion is if you can't keep up with the infrastructure as a city stop issuing building permits. But thats a whole other rant.

 

[aprilgail2]

And add to that you only get 10 days of absences before they start turning you in to CPS and the DA for prosecution here. That is excused or unexcused absences they don't care

TEN days??? Wow, I would be turned in every year LOL!!! Last year she missed over 30 and this year its only March and she is at 9 already! Our schools policy is that htey have the OPTION to hold you back if they miss 30 days of school and are not up to where they should be in class.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Yes in Missouri where we came from there was a district that did that. I would not move into it because my dd's are 5 years apart.
Right now my youngest is in 3rd and my older one is a freshman in hs.
I only have so much time left with the oldest that I want to make our family time count. Just something to think about.

 

[mill4023]

DW is home with the kids, so at least we wouldn't have the childcare issue.
After looking at the schedules, I think I actually prefer the year-round schedule. It would be nice to have certain weeks off that aren't peak travel seasons. But now that DS will be in middle school, I don't think we'll want to take him out of school for vacations. I'll have to look again in detail and see exactly what overlap there is. I think it was 1 week of spring break, 1 week around christmas, and about 6 weeks in the summer that both schools had vacation. So it's not that bad, it's just that you don't get the 3 months of summer break you'd have if they were both traditional calendars.

I'd think about other neighborhoods, but this particular neighborhood has our dream house at a price we can afford. Plus, the elementary school looks like it is one of the best in the area. I'd hate to pass both those things up just because of the calendar inconvenience.

 

[Toby'sFriend]

yeah -- I've been there and might be there again. My oldest is going to be a Junior in High School next year and he is talking about enrolling in a dual enrollment program with our local Public School and Community College.

That would put my kids on different schedules again which is a real PITA.

 

[barkley]

my best friend and her dh work for the same school district both of their sons attend in-NONE of them are on the same schedual! one is year round, one is traditional, and both parents work modified to be available to the different schools that operate on the different scheduals. even when both boys were in year round they never ended up on the same schedual.

 

[Tink33]

We had this problem when my DD was in year-round elementary school and my DS was in traditional Middle School. The first year that Middle School went with a traditional calender, my kids only had 10 days off at the same time. One week at Christmas and one week during the summer. The other 50 weeks, someone was in school. It was not bad at all.

Now that my two are in HS and MS, they have more time off in common.

 

[yeartolate]

TEN days??? Wow, I would be turned in every year LOL!!! Last year she missed over 30 and this year its only March and she is at 9 already! Our schools policy is that htey have the OPTION to hold you back if they miss 30 days of school and are not up to where they should be in class.

30 days?

Is that all illness?