Snow days have messed up our AKV plans

[HsvTeacher]

As a teacher, I would say take the kids out of school. Those last few days are crazy, and we don't get a lot accomplished academically. In fact, we don't take any grades on assignments, because we have to close out our records for the year. I really don't think your kids would miss much.

 

[mlacreta]

We're in NH too and have missed alot of days..school added in a holiday to make up here and there but then we end up with another snow day! I'm surprised they don't take out a vaca week...do the kids really need feb AND April break?! I think they should just combine them to one week in between! Oh well..too late now. I think I'd keep my vaca plans if they were already made though. But I'm not a good person to weigh in....we bought DVC with the plan to go for two weeks every three years in Sept. and have no second thoughts about the kids missing those days from school! This year they will miss closer to three weeks....I'm sure that won't be a great way to start off the year with good teacher relations but I think it is worth it for the quality family time! But I'm sure where ever anyone stays on site at a DVC resort will be great anyway even if it's not quite what you planned!!!

I feel your pain! We had BCV booked for the w/o 6/20 and had to change it. Only availability was in OKW (or SSR). I'm stil not over my BCV!

We opted to stick around for the last day of school. DD is graduating middle school and really wanted to be there for the last day. Also, it will be "Move Up Day" for my kindergartener--she'll meet her new teacher, etc. Not earth-shattering, to be sure...unless you're 6!

It turned out to be a good move, because we've since had another snow day so they would be missing 2 days. And it's still March, so there's potential for yet another day. I'm surprised NH schools don't have days built in throughout the school year--we got slammed during that ice storm back in Dec., and some districts are really hurting for days.

 

[Anal Annie]

Our county "builds in" 4 days in the school calendar for inclement weather closures etc. Then on our county website, you can pull the school year calendar a year ahead of time which gives the scheduled end date then gives the "if closed for __ # of days" and they list another 5 days that is possible that they can extended the school year by. Usually we start back the week before Labor Day...our teachers have SO-O many grading & planning days that we don't get out until mid-June if there's no extensions. But they always have those 5 contingent days listed which could possibly extend school into June 20-something. For example in 2010, our school is scheduled to end on June 16. BUT it COULD be extended up until until June 23. I learned a long time ago to never book anything before that "possible" end date. Even if it's not snow, it could be closures due to power outages after a storm or something. (That happened here a few years ago in Sept - after hurricane Isabel went thru...they cancelled school for several days because of power outages and then when it snowed later in the winter they had to add the extra days in June.) We have our winter break over the Christmas / NY holidays and then a week at Easter for spring break...we do not get any of those extra weeks like some NE schools...so there's not a lot of things they could do to make up any other days except take away a couple of those "professional days" that the teachers have worked into their contracts. No offense to those of you that are teachers...but our teachers here in my county seriously get a lot of "planning" days. I think that is evident by the fact that we go from the last week of August thru to the middle of June and they only get the 2 holiday weeks. It's ridiculous. But whatever. It is what it is.

Anyway, while this does not help you NOW, if there's no other availability just talk to the school and tell them you already had plans made and then check your school's contingency calendar for the next year before you plan anything!! (Did you have flights booked?? That would really seal the deal for me not to change anything!)

 

[jco_direwolf]

'm surprised they don't take out a vaca week...do the kids really need feb AND April break?! I think they should just combine them to one week in between!

Of course that is the same issue as running the year long. There are some places where the adults have to put in for vacation 10+ months before to make sure you have coverage. So messing with the school year calendar can really mess things up for not only the kids but the adults too.

My wife is a nurse, and due to the fact that vacations and coverage is based on seniority. It takes YEARS to get to the point when you can take off any regular holidays, and forget about summer vacations.

So when you over run your school year and have to "change" the schedule. It can be a huge issue. I would think school systems would understand, and plan according.

johno

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

We're in NH too and have missed alot of days..school added in a holiday to make up here and there but then we end up with another snow day! I'm surprised they don't take out a vaca week...do the kids really need feb AND April break?! I think they should just combine them to one week in between! Oh well..too late now. I think I'd keep my vaca plans if they were already made though. But I'm not a good person to weigh in....we bought DVC with the plan to go for two weeks every three years in Sept. and have no second thoughts about the kids missing those days from school! This year they will miss closer to three weeks....I'm sure that won't be a great way to start off the year with good teacher relations but I think it is worth it for the quality family time! But I'm sure where ever anyone stays on site at a DVC resort will be great anyway even if it's not quite what you planned!!!

Yeah, just south of us, they had to petition for a shorter school year. They got hit real bad due to that massive ice storm.

This is our first NH winter--we're from upstate NY--and we weren't sure what to expect. In NY, they would build 5 snow days into the schedule. If that wasn't enough, they would take a couple days like Good Friday. If there were extra, they'd add the Friday before Memorial Day as a day off.

I used to be able to take the kids out of school, but I can't anymore. Even worse, DD13 starts HS and runs XC--she has XC camp the w/o 8/10, then practice starts the next week. so, my "available weeks for vacation" is evaporating rapidly!

 

[mlacreta]

Yeah, just south of us, they had to petition for a shorter school year. They got hit real bad due to that massive ice storm.

This is our first NH winter--we're from upstate NY--and we weren't sure what to expect. In NY, they would build 5 snow days into the schedule. If that wasn't enough, they would take a couple days like Good Friday. If there were extra, they'd add the Friday before Memorial Day as a day off.

I used to be able to take the kids out of school, but I can't anymore. Even worse, DD13 starts HS and runs XC--she has XC camp the w/o 8/10, then practice starts the next week. so, my "available weeks for vacation" is evaporating rapidly!

What an experience for your first winter here!!! They really aren't normally this bad!! Our schools also had 5 days or so that are tentative at the end of the year for makes ups and in the past we have never needed them all let alone having to find more now!!! Hopefully this was just a one time bad storm that no one was prepared for!!!! But with all the climate change going on...who knows! It'll certainly be interesting to see if the schools decide to have a plan in place for next year in case it happens again! And it still hasn't stopped snowing!!!!!

 

[hellerjw]

It may be a long shot but you may be able to start a "concerned taxpayers petition" to the school district/county to excuse those snow days for economic reasons.

We live in the most densely populated county in SC, which covers an area of approx. 800 sq. miles. However, the entire county is covered by a single school district. Because the upper part of the county includes the SC mountains/border with NC, the district often has to close schools for the entire county due to weather conditions that only affect 30-40% of the people. I also believe SC is the only state that still maintains its own private bus fleet (all other states have outsourced it to 3rd parties) and the cost of running buses for a day in the county is somewhere close to $100,000. This doesn't include other cost savings from not having to prepare lunches, electricity use, etc. There is already a proposal for the district to forgive the 2 recent snow days we had in lieu of the cost savings they generated.

With the economic conditions of late an appeal to the cost saving benefits of snow days may hold more weight than in the past.

 

[Starr W.]

It may be a long shot but you may be able to start a "concerned taxpayers petition" to the school district/county to excuse those snow days for economic reasons.

We live in the most densely populated county in SC, which covers an area of approx. 800 sq. miles. However, the entire county is covered by a single school district. Because the upper part of the county includes the SC mountains/border with NC, the district often has to close schools for the entire county due to weather conditions that only affect 30-40% of the people. I also believe SC is the only state that still maintains its own private bus fleet (all other states have outsourced it to 3rd parties) and the cost of running buses for a day in the county is somewhere close to $100,000. This doesn't include other cost savings from not having to prepare lunches, electricity use, etc. There is already a proposal for the district to forgive the 2 recent snow days we had in lieu of the cost savings they generated.

With the economic conditions of late an appeal to the cost saving benefits of snow days may hold more weight than in the past.

Here in OH, the # of days required for an "official" school year is determined by the state not the local districts. Before my kids were in school, we went through a period where days didn't need to be made up(to a certain amount, if your distrit was over that you needed to make up those days). In comes another Gov. and the following year, no free pass all days missed pass the "calamity days" allowed by the state(5).

If you do not meet the # of official days by a certain date(I think it's now somewhere around June 20), you don't get all your state funds.

 

[Lady_Gracey999]

Pshaw! Take those kids to Disney! I would go a week earlier if I could. I am going in fact the second week in June!