Kids returning to school before Labour Day!!

[Tiger926]

From what I've read the March 1st deadline is only important if the school board wants to modify the school year (start before Sept. 1, go after June 30, shorten Christmas or March break). Our school board isn't going to post a calendar until after March 31.

Our school board communicated nothing until parents started calling them because they had read newspaper articles. I get the feeling that if the newspapers hadn't started writing articles they wouldn't have told us anything until much later in the year. I know you're trying to help but really the Ministry of Ed and the school boards knew there was going to be a problem last year. That they did nothing to communicate the potential issue is the problem. As I said before my guess is that the school days before Labour Day will be wasted because so many kids will miss them. Teachers are going to have to deal with poor decision making by the boards and a the MoE.

I'm confused by your post. I already said I feel badly for parents as most parents don't know how how school year calendars work, and that the Ministry of ED does not do a good job of communicating to parents. Heck, they don't do a good job of communicating with me as a teacher, and they are my employer!

I'm not trying to make anyone feel badly at all as this is probably very stressful for many parents, but as a teacher, there is not much I can do except educate parents on how school calendars work. The problem with all of this is that as a teacher, it is seriously going to affect how my class runs and that is not good at all. The students who are there should not be penalized for those who are not there, but the students who are not there, are going to need extra help as well. It's not a good situation all around. The thing is though, that just because most years you start school after Labour Day, it doesn't mean that's the way it is always going to be, so the Ministry of ED, could have done a better job in communicating to parents, but you all need to understand, that some boards still are without contracts and such, so this could possibly be one reason why there were problems? The government gave us extra PA Days in different years of our contract, plus with the addition of Family Day, there might be problems as we are discussing.

I haven't heard anything with my board at all - I will check tomorrow, but I think we are on schedule for the day after Labour Day as per usual.

Good luck, Tiger

 

[SmileDisney]

There has not been any media attention or information from our area school boards. I am thankful for this forum otherwise I would not have known about this issue and gone ahead and made more bookings!

We have been planning a week before Labour Day trip since we received a 40% off pin code back in the fall. (This will be our 5th trip.) All my planning is on hold until we can get some more info. Very frustrating!!!

I emailed our board (Limestone District School Board - Kingston), this is their very vague reply:

"Thank you for your enquiry. The Limestone DSB, and other regional school boards are currently reviewing the school year calendar for next year.

Consultation should be completed shortly, and information shared with schools, and families. Information will also be posted on the website."

I hope we get more info soon!

 

[BraMax]

I know here in my school district in Alberta our kids first full day of school is September 2. This past school year our kids missed the first 3.5 days of school and to be honest I probably won't do it again. They are in grades 1 and 3. What I found for them was they missed the initial bonding of the class and the routine. It took them both a couple of weeks to catch up. Don't get me wrong I will never critize anyone for their kids missing school because it is up to the parents and they no what is best for their own children.

What I did love was how empty Disneyland was after the local kids were back in school

 

[cey]

First of all, I sympathize with all of you who have already booked your trips based on the traditional basis of school starting after Labour Day. It really is very distressing that the school boards couldn't share this info sooner! But unfortunately, it comes down to personal decisions. If you and your children decide to vacation and start the school year late, you should expect to have to make certain committments on your return. First of all, it is not the responsibility of Teachers to deal with the "poor decision" made by the MOE. They are affected like everyone else and also have to cut short their holiday plans. Every parent and child in this situation should come up with a solution that will minimize the effect of missing educational days. If your child has friends in their classes, they can inquire about making copies of their notes. Also consider getting a tutor for your child, if you are concerned about them falling behind. This can also be turned into a golden opportunity to help them develop study habits which will serve them well in the future. Also be up front with the school that you are going on vacation and make arrangements to complete assignments while the child is away. You don't want another child to announce to the class that johnnie is at WDW and that is why he isn't there for a test. Teachers need to know that info before hand. The one thing you have to be aware of is, that the time any teacher spends in class getting your child up to speed, takes instructional time away from the rest of the class. It is great if you have a teacher who is willing to spend extra time with your child, but don't expect it as a given. It really isn't their responsibility to do so when you have made the decision for your child to miss school. Sorry, this may upset some people, but it is really up to the parent and child to bring themselves up to speed.

 

[Sheribo]

... but it is really up to the parent and child to bring themselves up to speed.

So true. As I have said before, doing the assignments are a given but the kids miss the instruction on how to do it. When my kids were little, I was able to help them but now that they are in high school, I'm not able to help them with Advanced Functions! We will not be pulling them out of school again.

However, if I were caught in the non-refundable trip scenario, we would hire a tutor to catch them up and have a wonderful trip just the same.

I'm just so upset at how this was handled. My husband and kids will now go to Hilton Head without me. I have to be back in the school one week before the kids.

 

[chimo2u]

As a teacher, I admit that most school boards and the Ministry of Ed do not do a good enough job of communicating to parents that no school calendars are final until after March 1st of that current year. Anything posted before this, is just tentative. Our board does have tentative on our website, but as I've mentioned to them many times, so many parents don't even go on the computer, much less read websites.

I feel badly for parents, and I totally understand that work and family schedules are such that vacationing right before school is necessary, but when booking this late in the summer, you probably already figured that you could be affecting school if indeed there was an emergency of some sort. If flights can't be changed or vacations rebooked, I would suggest that you let your school know in August that your kids are going to be missing 9 days (which is 2 weeks of school) - especially highschool. As a highschool teacher, we get rolling the very first day of school, so missing 2 weeks in grade 11 is a lot of time to miss.

Hopefully, it will all work out, but I would hope that all of you who have been affected by this are letting other families know that school calendars are not finalized until after March 1st in case they should struggle with the same vacation issues in the future.

Tiger

Hi Tiger I won't be waiting until August to let them know, I'll be down there tomorrow morning. I misquoted saying 9 days, in actuality it is 8 days.... but you are right....it works out to 2 weeks (shorter weeks) nevertheless. I am not going to stress over this anymore, I am sure that when the kids go back Mon. Sept 14, things will fall into place as they do every year. I don't think missing the first 8 days is going to put them in a position of not passing and failing the year. I will be looking into ways we can minimize the impact, and I think it is even more important for my oldest son (who is going into gr. 11) to take the summer school course (thinking of doing a science) he was going to take now. This will get one of his core courses over with in the summer, thus freeing up his work load in Sept. a bit. It will all work out in the end, and 10 years from now this will have been a distant memory (the struggle with calanders and scheduling/ missing 8 days) and the memory that will be most special is the time spent with family.

 

[mickeywho?]

Are any of you with the Halton Catholic Board? I'm looking over their proposed calendar and wonder if I'm really reading it right?!
1st day of school Tuesday Sept 1, class on Wed Sept 2, class of Thur Sept 3, board holiday Fri Sept 4 (making the first week of school only 3 days)
no class Mon Sept 7, back to class Sept 8 etc etc (making the second week of school 4 days)
Not sure how much work will actually get done that first week! Of course, for those of you going away this will mean less missed class days. Got to feel sorry for the teachers though - no choice but to be there in what may end up being half-empty classes. You'll have to reintroduce everything again the second week. Ugh!

 

[Sheribo]

Are any of you with the Halton Catholic Board? I'm looking over their proposed calendar and wonder if I'm really reading it right?!
1st day of school Tuesday Sept 1, class on Wed Sept 2, class of Thur Sept 3, board holiday Fri Sept 4 (making the first week of school only 3 days)
no class Mon Sept 7, back to class Sept 8 etc etc (making the second week of school 4 days)

Haven't heard that one yet. The Upper Canada District School Board proposed calendar has a PD day on Sept. 1 so they actually start on the Wednesday. My board (Ottawa) hasn't settled on one yet.

 

[dancin Disney style]

Are any of you with the Halton Catholic Board? I'm looking over their proposed calendar and wonder if I'm really reading it right?!
1st day of school Tuesday Sept 1, class on Wed Sept 2, class of Thur Sept 3, board holiday Fri Sept 4 (making the first week of school only 3 days)
no class Mon Sept 7, back to class Sept 8 etc etc (making the second week of school 4 days)
Not sure how much work will actually get done that first week! Of course, for those of you going away this will mean less missed class days. Got to feel sorry for the teachers though - no choice but to be there in what may end up being half-empty classes. You'll have to reintroduce everything again the second week. Ugh!

There was an article in Fridays 'Beaver' about the Catholic and public boards colaborating on the research to set the calendar. It saved both boards money. However, it didn't say anything about the first week being only 3 days. If that is true there will be a lot of absent kids. I think the majority of people will not feel the need to change any plans that they may have.

 

[mickeywho?]

If that is true there will be a lot of absent kids. I think the majority of people will not feel the need to change any plans that they may have.

That's what I was thinking...
Here's the link for any of you interested http://www.hcdsb.org/news/2009 02/2009-2010SchlYrCalendarApproved.pdf

We'll be there the first week - we're just going camping on weekends this summer. But I'm thinking enough kids will be absent that it really will be a wasted week - for the kids there as well as the teachers. Oh well...

*from the Halton District website
Although students and staff will return to school on Tuesday, September 1, a week earlier than normal, the 2009-10 calendar still provides a nine-week summer break. As well, the first week of school will be shortened to three instructional days planned for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. A board-designated holiday has been scheduled for Friday, September 4.
http://www.hdsb.ca/Newsroom/Pages/SchoolyearcalendarapprovedbyHaltonBoardfor2009-2010.aspx

Looks like we're all in the same boat. Of course they'll say it's because of shared buses and they are saving loads of money this way....

 

[cslittle999]

I'm confused by your post. I already said I feel badly for parents as most parents don't know how how school year calendars work, and that the Ministry of ED does not do a good job of communicating to parents. Heck, they don't do a good job of communicating with me as a teacher, and they are my employer!

I'm not trying to make anyone feel badly at all as this is probably very stressful for many parents, but as a teacher, there is not much I can do except educate parents on how school calendars work. The problem with all of this is that as a teacher, it is seriously going to affect how my class runs and that is not good at all. The students who are there should not be penalized for those who are not there, but the students who are not there, are going to need extra help as well. It's not a good situation all around. The thing is though, that just because most years you start school after Labour Day, it doesn't mean that's the way it is always going to be, so the Ministry of ED, could have done a better job in communicating to parents, but you all need to understand, that some boards still are without contracts and such, so this could possibly be one reason why there were problems? The government gave us extra PA Days in different years of our contract, plus with the addition of Family Day, there might be problems as we are discussing.

I haven't heard anything with my board at all - I will check tomorrow, but I think we are on schedule for the day after Labour Day as per usual.

Good luck, Tiger

I guess I was trying to accomplish two things.

First, explaining that March 1 is only a deadline if the school board wants to change the school year in a very specific way and so far no one has done that so it is very likely that school boards won't communicate the official school year until later. As I said Upper Grand isn't going to share their calendar until March 31.

Second, that this is a school board/MoE communication problem and not a parent education one. To the best of my knowledge (and I'm willing to be corrected) there has never been a school year start before Labour Day so why would any parent think that it is possible. The last time Labour Day was this late in the year school still started after it. Both the school boards and the MoE knew that there was going to be a problem this year since the last teacher contract granting the extra PD days. Family Day just exaggerated the problem. That neither group shared information with parents (or teachers for that matter) makes this their problem. It sure feels like the school boards and the MoE didn't think starting early was that big a deal.

I feel for the teachers. They are going to have to deal with a poor administrative decision making.

 

[Tiger926]

Hi Tiger I won't be waiting until August to let them know, I'll be down there tomorrow morning. I misquoted saying 9 days, in actuality it is 8 days.... but you are right....it works out to 2 weeks (shorter weeks) nevertheless. I am not going to stress over this anymore, I am sure that when the kids go back Mon. Sept 14, things will fall into place as they do every year. I don't think missing the first 8 days is going to put them in a position of not passing and failing the year. I will be looking into ways we can minimize the impact, and I think it is even more important for my oldest son (who is going into gr. 11) to take the summer school course (thinking of doing a science) he was going to take now. This will get one of his core courses over with in the summer, thus freeing up his work load in Sept. a bit. It will all work out in the end, and 10 years from now this will have been a distant memory (the struggle with calanders and scheduling/ missing 8 days) and the memory that will be most special is the time spent with family.

You can let the office know tomorrow, but at this point, we don't know what our schedules are anyway, so they won't know what classes your kids are taking, nor who their teachers are going to be. We don't have to have our schedules set until the last day of the school year (contract rules), so you will more than likely have to go into the school in August, as I originally suggested.

I wish you luck and hope you have a great trip! Tiger

 

[Sheribo]

To the best of my knowledge (and I'm willing to be corrected) there has never been a school year start before Labour Day

1998 was the last time. Apparently this problem arises every 10 years or so. Unfortunately, a lot of people didn't have kids in school 11 years ago so it's easy to understand why parents don't recall. I have 3 teens so I remember. It was quite an upset back then as well.

 

[Ham Ham]

My oldest was in JK in 1998 and she went back the day after labour day.

 

[Sheribo]

My oldest was in JK in 1998 and she went back the day after labour day.

Totally possible for 2 reasons. Some school boards may have decided it was too much trouble and made up the time elsewhere. Or many school boards stagger the entry of JK students. Parents often have a 15-20 minute 'meet the teacher' type visit and then the kids start school in smaller groups. I'm not saying all schools do that but the boards that I have worked for have done that for the past 20 years. Oops! Showing m age now.

I too had a daughter in JK at that time. Her interview was the Thursday before labour day and she started on the Tuesday after Labour Day. My boys, who were in grades 1 & 4, started on Tuesday, September 1st.

 

[Ham Ham]

Totally possible for 2 reasons. Some school boards may have decided it was too much trouble and made up the time elsewhere. Or many school boards stagger the entry of JK students. Parents often have a 15-20 minute 'meet the teacher' type visit and then the kids start school in smaller groups. I'm not saying all schools do that but the boards that I have worked for have done that for the past 20 years. Oops! Showing m age now.

I too had a daughter in JK at that time. Her interview was the Thursday before labour day and she started on the Tuesday. My boys, who were in grades 1 & 4, started on Tuesday, September 4th.

If Tuesday was 4th it would be the day after Labour Day. September 4th in 1998 was on a Friday

 

[cslittle999]

1998 was the last time. Apparently this problem arises every 10 years or so. Unfortunately, a lot of people didn't have kids in school 11 years ago so it's easy to understand why parents don't recall. I have 3 teens so I remember. It was quite an upset back then as well.

Interesting. I wonder how many school boards actually started before Labour Day then.

 

[seashoreCM]

How many of you parents want to home school your kids for a few weeks before late August vacation so when the kids return to school 1 or 2 weeks late they are approximately up to date?

How many of you kids are willing to spend the first half of August studying?

How many of you kids following the rules and schedule are willing to sit down and make up new tests with different questions to give to your classmates who came to school 2 weeks late and taking tests after you did? If I were a teacher I would otherwise just give the latecomers the same tests. (Actually the latecomers will be having so much fun at Disney that they won't have obtained sneak peeks at the test questionss.)

Disney hints: http://www.cockam.com/disney.htm

 

[cslittle999]

How many of you parents want to home school your kids for a few weeks before late August vacation so when the kids return to school 1 or 2 weeks late they are approximately up to date?

How many of you kids are willing to spend the first half of August studying?

How many of you kids following the rules and schedule are willing to sit down and make up new tests with different questions to give to your classmates who came to school 2 weeks late and taking tests after you did? If I were a teacher I would otherwise just give the latecomers the same tests. (Actually the latecomers will be having so much fun at Disney that they won't have obtained sneak peeks at the test questionss.)

Disney hints: http://www.cockam.com/disney.htm

A little bit of hyperbole? Considering we're talking about at most the first four days of school this seems a little extreme (okay the one poster might miss eight days but it is still the start of school).

 

[3princesshome]

At least if you are parents of school aged children you have an option of whether to have your kids miss school or not. My DH is a teacher and we had booked for Aug 23-Sep 6 - flights already booked too. Since he, as a teacher, has no option to skip school, we are now faced with additional change fees plus additional costs in fares because we originally booked on a seat sale - at least an extra $1000 and possibly more since we are a family of five. Hardly seems fair when it was not a "risky" move to booke the last two weeks of summer - he's been a teacher for 18 years and NEVER has school started before Labour Day.