Personally, I have more PTO than I can use in a year, but we definitely have dates and periods of the year where it is hard if not impossible to schedule time away. But I still say that the school year is different. Schools have long weekends, weeks off and summer break throughout the year. It seems to me that most people could coordinate work and school schedules so missing school does not happen. I know that it is more expensive to travel during school breaks, etc., but that is a completely different issue than saying schedules don't coordinate. Maybe schedules don't coordinate during the cheaper travel times.
I don't think it is all that different an issue because for most people traveling depends on both time off and affordability. I know this is the DIS, where most everyone has professional jobs with a great deal of autonomy and flexibility, but out here in the real world a lot of people work jobs that don't allow for time off at certain times of year. Marine services, construction, and agriculture are all major industries in my community and most of those people can't simply take off in the six-week peak summer window that is "safe" from changes in the school schedule. Knowing the other breaks, and knowing them far enough in advance to get savings where they can be found, is essential for many families to be able to travel at all.
Honestly, the tone I get from some of these posts is basically that people who can't afford rack rate vacations at peak season or last minute pricing should simply accept not traveling because it is unreasonable to expect the schools should have their calendar in place early enough to find deals. "Shoulder seasons" like the early part of June and late part of August are how a LOT of middle class families are able to afford travel. It isn't ridiculous to think the schools could have a bit of courtesy/understanding for that reality.
You expect the schools to have schedules 2 years out? Really?
And yes - kids do need to learn to adapt - but I find many DISers only feel this way when it pertains to pulling their kids from school to go to Disney.
I'd be happy for having the schedule one full year out - distribute the calendar for the 15/16 year at 14/15 orientation/open house, for example. That would be plenty of lead time for people to get vacation requests in, book flights, etc. without the uncertainty of having to guess at the school schedule. But not releasing the schedule until May or June, which is what our district routinely does, is absolutely not enough notice for families trying to plan summer or fall vacations that don't involve missing school or school events.
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.
I don't know why you'd find that odd, or why Laura would find it unbelievable that people actually have limitations on when they can vacation. We all know that employment policies in this country vary widely based on industry, career field, region, level of education, seniority, etc. Heck, a quarter of the American workforce doesn't get paid vacation at all, and 40% of those who do get it don't take it all often due to limitations on how and when it can be used.
Anyone with junior high or high school students that participate in Fall activities really can't travel that close to the start of the school year. Most athletic and band activities start well before school does.
But at most schools those things are relative to the school year rather than having specific dates - ie, volleyball practice starts three weeks before classes start, football "boot camp" is the last full week of summer, band camp is always the week before orientation, which in turn is the Thursday before school starts. If you don't have the start date you can't figure out when all the rest of that will be held. We're in that limbo right now and even my daughter's summer camp (in early Aug) might be problematic or might not depending on when the school year will start (post-Labor Day we're fine, pre-Labor Day she'll be missing practices that will probably keep her off the team). And we won't know which way it will go until 4-6 weeks AFTER the deadline to enroll in that camp.
There is nothing to manage, you plan vacations in the summer during a time when you know school won't be in session. Millions of families manage to do that every year. Then once you have your schedule you can plan any vacations that fall during the breaks you get. Our first break in Thanksgiving, if I get the schedule in July that is 4 months, plenty of time to plan. Only on the DIS would it be an atrocity that you can't plan your WDW an entire year out.
I don't think we're only talking about Disney here, though I would say 4 months is tight for planning a Disney trip. And while millions of families may be able to travel in July when there is no risk of school getting in the way, millions of others can't take time off in that four-to-six week "no risk" window. You're basically saying that everyone, everywhere, with school aged kids should all manage to take their vacation time in a window of weeks and that just isn't possible at all. What happens when everyone in the office wants one of the same handful of weeks off? Does the office just close to respect those vacation requests, or are some people forced to alter their plans to times when they might run into school conflicts?
