So frustrated right now - school start date change

[clori]

I believe our school calendar's for the following year are finalized in May or possibly June. When my daughter was in kindergarten they started the day after Labor Day though kindergarten was slightly different so it seemed forever before she had her first full day. It switched to the Tuesday before Labor Day after that. She will be going into 10th grade in the fall. Now the question is will we start the Tuesday before Labor Day which is in September or at our more traditional time the last week of August.

Since dd is applying for a summer volunteer position that asks when school starts I called the superintendent's office. They don't know because they want to start the last week of August but it has to be approved by the teacher's union so they are working on it. The secretary was surprised by my question since many people have called but more so to find out the last day of school due to all the snow days and just assume school will start the last week of August.

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

OP--just curious if you discussed it with your kids and how they feel, especially the eldest. As I said earlier, the teachers and parents may think it's no big deal at all. But the kids may have an entirely different conception!

And, honestly, there's a whole lot of us who still don't have calendars for next year, so I hardly think your district's decision was last minute! Last minute would be in July!

 

[clambert1273]

Our calendar's aren't done here yet but I have a friend that is a teacher in our district so I hit her up and asked if she has heard when school will start. Now being in Virginia, we have a "law" that it starts AFTER Labor day; however, given the snow we had this year (a lot for this area) and they missed almost 10 days of school - it wouldn't be crazy for them to try and start earlier; however, she told me they still plan on starting Sep 8 (so the rumor goes). I am booking based on those dates but we are still far enough out that I can change dates if something changes.

 

[undertheradar]

Yes, we did. See my quoted post above. I think it was missed in the flurry of replies.

Since I originally posted that, we had more discussion last night and pretty much solidified it. My wife also spent the day again at the school, volunteer stuff, and was amazed at the amount of discussion over it among the staff members. Most are in agreement that with such short notice, and the flip flopping of dates, the first 4 days are going to entail pretty much nothing.

I'm still trying to understand how anyone can deal with short notice changes like this. We have always booked vacations a year out. If doing a cruise, or a timeshare stay, it's almost a must. Ah well, as my other post says, we know now they are setting in stone the pre Labor Day start dates going forward.

I hardly believe that over 5 months advance notice of the school calendar change can honestly be termed "short notice."

 

[Mickeypooh99]

Ours pretty much always comes out in late July or early August. At least we know the start date is always the day after Labor Day. If they changed that there would be a lot of people caught off gaurd. We plan vacations based on the previous scheduled and just hope there are no changes.

Our school has always for at least 20 years had a 3 day break for thanksgiving. So we have often traveled that week. This year in August we found out the kids did have school on the day before thanksgiving. We already had plane tickets to leave that day. We were lucky that I had purchased a later flight so we picked the kids up from school at the end of their day, but if I had an early flight we wouldn't have changed it.

My kids missed the entire week after thanksgiving. We have done that for many years, and have never had a problem, but I really didn't want my high school DS missing 6 days. My sister had plans to leave Tuesday afternoon as soon as the kids got out of school. She didn't change her plans so her kids ended up missing the extra day. It still wasn't a big deal. She has 4th and 11th grade kids.

 

[havaneselover]

Our calendar's aren't done here yet but I have a friend that is a teacher in our district so I hit her up and asked if she has heard when school will start. Now being in Virginia, we have a "law" that it starts AFTER Labor day; however, given the snow we had this year (a lot for this area) and they missed almost 10 days of school - it wouldn't be crazy for them to try and start earlier; however, she told me they still plan on starting Sep 8 (so the rumor goes). I am booking based on those dates but we are still far enough out that I can change dates if something changes.

I live in VA too. Henrico begged to start earlier but was told no. Goochland (right next door) gets to start earlier though--probably because it's a much smaller school system. As far as snow days, we have longer days so we can have 15 snow days and still finish on time (by getting our 990 hours of instructional time in). Not every county has that buffer I guess. The Kings Dominion law rules the state. I think MI has a similar law.

 

[Colleen27]

My kid's district just put out their 15-16 calendar yesterday. The district I teach in hasn't put theirs out yet. Not an unreasonable time to be doing district calendar.

I couldn't disagree more. Traveling requires a significant amount of pre-planning and lead time, especially if you're committed to traveling during peak school vacation times when flights and rooms in popular destinations book up well in advance, and I find it rather disrespectful that school districts don't make giving families enough notice to work with the school schedule a higher priority. Schools want every student in class every day, but by not releasing calendars until a few months in advance of the upcoming year the districts create a situation where many families have to have their vacations booked or their leave-time requests in long before they can know their kids' schedules. A little more advance notice would be immensely helpful.

I started booking our August vacation in January and still ran into availability problems at a couple of my top-choice accommodations. That hasn't been unusual, in my experience, when traveling during peak summer-vacation season. If I waited until the school calendar comes out (could be any time between now and mid-June) most places would be booked solid. And that's just a road trip within my own state, no airfare to book and no vacation time requests to have approved.

 

[Colleen27]

The Kings Dominion law rules the state. I think MI has a similar law.

We do - public schools can't start before Labor Day unless they have a waiver, and I've never heard of a waiver being granted except to schools implementing a balanced/year-round schedule.

 

[LBIJim]

I hardly believe that over 5 months advance notice of the school calendar change can honestly be termed "short notice."

I agree there's nothing "short notice" about it. For a change from the norm, I think that's plenty of notice.

But I'm surprised by the number of schools who don't have their calendars finalized way in advance. I always thought it was the norm to have at least the next year's dates set by the beginning of the current school year, i.e. the 2015-16 calendar set by August/September 2014.

 

[PollyannaMom]

When I was a kid, we always started the Wednesday after Labor Day (but then again, we got out fairly late in June).

When DS started school, it was always the Tuesday before Labor Day (with Friday off). I was surprised, but ended up liking it because it gave them a 3-day week, then a 4-day, then regular weeks, to sort of ramp up.

Just this year, his school went to after Labor Day, but I have no idea whether it's a new permanent thing or they will be going back because of the late holiday this fall.

Our current calendar has an April 2014 print date on the bottom, so I expect the new one will be out soon.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I hardly believe that over 5 months advance notice of the school calendar change can honestly be termed "short notice."

At most jobs I've had, vacation requests had to be in by January. And if you were low man, all the "obvious" dates were gobbled up before you got your shot.

 

[chartle]

I disagree. The OP is a prime example. Many people book/plan/schedule family vacations more than 6 months in advance. Without a calendar in place, it makes it difficult to plan an "end of summer" trip. Again, why can't calendars be put out a year in advance? It's not like holidays aren't known already.

Our school always started the day after Labor day. One summer when we were planning a tentative trip for the end of summer my sons come home after the last day of school with their summer reading lists and at the bottom it said see you June X the Tuesday before Labor day. We could easily switch since we were off site and could pick any week but a few families, also going to WDW, started late. Since then its been made clear that the calendar for the up coming year is set the December before.

Many parents in our district work jobs were you have to pick your vacation a year in advance so it wasn't easy for some to switch.

 

[rotlex]

I hardly believe that over 5 months advance notice of the school calendar change can honestly be termed "short notice."

Really? Considering the calendar goes out for the next 100+ years or more, I would think it not unreasonable to think they could be out at least a year in advance. (At least for school start and end dates).

Most time shares, DVC included, need at least 11 months to get what it is you want date wose for example. Also, many employers, my own included, require advanced notice, a year or more, for any vacations planned to last more than a week. The school district frustrates me as at times they seem to live in their own little reality when it comes to these things. (Don't even get me started on the closings we have had this year for cold weather, snow storms that never happened, and a host of other things). I guess they believe everyone on the planet has the perk of getting off when these things happen, not to mention extended holidays and summers. (Sorry for that mini rant).

Either way, see my previous posts, we have made the decision after discussion with ourselves and a few teachers to just leave things as they are for this year.

 

[FINFAN]

Glad you have reached a decision and can get re?-excited~Enjoy your trip!

 

[undertheradar]

Really? Considering the calendar goes out for the next 100+ years or more, I would think it not unreasonable to think they could be out at least a year in advance. (At least for school start and end dates).

Most time shares, DVC included, need at least 11 months to get what it is you want date wose for example. Also, many employers, my own included, require advanced notice, a year or more, for any vacations planned to last more than a week. The school district frustrates me as at times they seem to live in their own little reality when it comes to these things. (Don't even get me started on the closings we have had this year for cold weather, snow storms that never happened, and a host of other things). I guess they believe everyone on the planet has the perk of getting off when these things happen, not to mention extended holidays and summers. (Sorry for that mini rant).

Either way, see my previous posts, we have made the decision after discussion with ourselves and a few teachers to just leave things as they are for this year.

Yes, really. We won't get our school calendar for 15-16 until mid-to late July of 2015. Others have posted receiving school year calendars later, as well. You used your wife's volunteering at school and conversing with the teachers, as support for your plan to miss the initial days of school. Those of us who have middle or high school students, provided the information that it is not always in the best interest of the student to miss the opening week/weeks of school.

Your vacation, your dime. Understand that you posted a vent but not sure why you are surprised that many other families would reschedule vacation rather than miss school.

 

[rotlex]

Yes, really. We won't get our school calendar for 15-16 until mid-to late July of 2015. Others have posted receiving school year calendars later, as well. You used your wife's volunteering at school and conversing with the teachers, as support for your plan to miss the initial days of school. Those of us who have middle or high school students, provided the information that it is not always in the best interest of the student to miss the opening week/weeks of school.

Your vacation, your dime. Understand that you posted a vent but not sure why you are surprised that many other families would reschedule vacation rather than miss school.

\

I guess I'm not really surprised that people would reschedule vacations, and again, stating that it is simply interesting to see the varying opinions on such situations. I think, in a simplistic way, I look back at my own school years, and even ask myself that in the grand scheme of things, would missing a few school days really have made such a massive difference in my 47 years on the planet? Probably not.

It's funny though, since posting this, we learned that a neighbor, 3 houses down from us, is facing a similar issue. They have had a family reunion planned for the last two weeks of August this year with 50+ extended family members. Two years in the making, and now this for them too. They are going to Florida as well, but not the Disney area. I guess it's good to know were not alone by any means.

Thanks again all for the good conversation.

 

[nugov2]

I think the most important thing is that all districts are different and what may be important or the policy at one school may not be at another school. Our Calendar is always approved in January for the next school year. Our school orientation is 2 weeks before school starts. You see your desk, either drop off supplies or pick up your kit etc. Open house(ours is curriculum night) is the first day or second day of school, but there is no presentation it is just walking around the school and officially meeting the teacher and you can sign up to be on committees. We actually had a soccer clinic for my dd the day of hers and chose to go to that instead of curriculum night and my younger two boys had theirs the day before. I had been in the school long enough and already on everything I wanted to be on, so I just emailed her teacher and explained we wouldn't be there. It was no biggie to miss it and most of the kids who play football miss for the same reason. I know it isn't the same as missing the first few days, but I think each person kinda knows what is ok and what isn't in their school and it is really hard to compare one district to another or one state to another when it comes to issues like missing school.

 

[Jaime4004]

Wish we could, but the bounce back\offer is only good starting on the days we are already scheduled for. I also already have all of my dining reservations setup\scheduled, which means now I'd have to redo all of them, and probably not get half of what we wanted.

My real frustration here is that over the past five years the school district keeps flopping starting before or after Labor Day. Pick one already! When I was a kid, it didn't matter WHEN Labor Day was, you didn't start school until after it. Why this sudden change all over the place.

Ah well, I'm foreseeing huge discussions at the dinner table this evening regarding this.

Didn't read all the replies, so this might already have been stated. But in our district, if Labor day is Sept 1,2 or 3, they start after, if it's the 4th or later, they start the week before. For the past several years, they've started after but for several years before that, they started before. So we do not have the final schedule yet (never comes out til March/April) but I know they'll start the last week of Aug this year, so we're going the week before. It is annoying though to not be able to plan other dates in advance though because they get it out so late. I had to reschedule a cruise once because they moved our April vacation to the week after.
The first week of school is probably the only week I wouldn't take mine out. I feel like they'll be too lost when they go back and everyone's in a routine...

 

[scrapquitler]

Our school calendar is generally finalized and released at the Board of Education meeting in February, so the calendar for 2015-16 was just released about two weeks ago. We are usually pretty confident about when school will start...generally always the Tuesday or Wednesday before Labor Day. The last two years however, we started after Labor Day because of several different huge construction projects at several of the school buildings.

Next year I think we may get the calendar earlier, since the state is forcing the districts to move toward a common regional calendar (and I'm hearing a lot of complaints about that) that will dictate the start date, the Christmas Break and the Spring Break to be the same for all districts within each group. We don't like change or being told what to do by the state. LOL.

 

[wvjules]

At most jobs I've had, vacation requests had to be in by January. And if you were low man, all the "obvious" dates were gobbled up before you got your shot.

I read this a lot on here. I find it odd that I have never had a job where I had to put in my requests for the year by January.