Will 10 More Days REALLY Help?
The new calendars for the Chicago Public School year has come out and I noticed something a little bit irritating. There will be 10 more days of school next year.
*let’s allow that to sink in for a moment*
Four of those days, I’m not too upset about – basically, there will be attendance on Columbus Day, Pulaski Day, and the two parent/teacher conference days.
Six of them I do kind of have a problem with. Let’s start with the single day that most irritates me. The last day of school. For as long as I’ve known, the last day of school has always been one hour long. I felt that it was stupid, but whatever. Now, to start out next year, we’ll be having the last day of school on a MONDAY and it will be full length. That’s 8 am until 3:30 pm folks. May not seem to be a big issue (and it probably isn’t, but my cheese has been moved and I’m not happy.)
The next five days that we’re losing are one week of our spring break. We happen to be on the E track for the CPS system, and usually we get two weeks of break for Fall & Spring breaks, and three weeks for Winter with a six week break for Summer. Now that changes to one week for Spring, two for Fall, three for Winter and seven for Summer. The whole point of the E track was to break up the amount of time off throughout the school year, and not leave the children out for too long in the summer. I’d much rather have six weeks of summer break and start a week earlier in August, because, well, that’s what I signed up for. :-\
Lots of teachers are upset because they won’t be getting extra pay for these extra days that they are working or the extra hours either. I know that teachers do get a bad rap because some of them seem to complain a LOT about things that we may find trivial. However, being inside the school as much as I am, I know that the teachers that are present in the school that the cellist attends are fully involved and some of them are even there at six in the morning actually WORKING! Some are resident mentors and must stay after school an extra two hours with their resident teachers. It’s going to be some real creative scheduling when it comes to fitting everything in.
Mostly, I’m writing this post to just decompress. When we were introduced to the E track, I wasn’t happy. However, I LOVE it now. We get to vacation during off peak times, without the crowds, but still when attractions are open. We’ll most definitely see what comes of this now, won’t we?
Any of you parents of Chicago Public School students? What are your thoughts on the new calendar?
photo credit © Christian Bridgwater | Dreamstime.com
Category: New Posts
We’re suburbanites. We live in an economically and ethnically diverse area. What we see consistently is income = better education. This isn’t about income making for better schools. It is about parents with a higher education and better income understanding what their children need to succeed in today’s global economy. Our school district spends a lot of money on parenting seminars to help parents understand why we do what we do and how it will help their children in the long term. We spend a lot of money helping parents learn English because if the parents cannot speak English it limits their involvement in the schools. We spend a lot of money on after school program to bring children up to grade level if they are struggling. Many children are in it for only one year. Those who are in it year after year are those with parents who struggle to understand the system. Notice a trend? It’s more about the parents than the kids sometimes. You can keep the kids in school year round but unless the parents buy into the importance of education it doesn’t matter.
Why on earth is the last day of school only an hour long? Does it even count for state funding purposes? What is even the point. Tomorrow is the last day of school for our 3rd grader and she has to go for ONE HOUR. It’s completely ridiculous.
I am going to look up more about this E track thing, getting time off school during non-peak season dates sounds great for value-oriented-vacation families