School board just voted in favor of 4 day school week for next year

[lizmoshes]

@joojaa Oof what province are you? I’m in Ontario and thought it was rough for my not yet 4yo to start full day kinder last September (anyone turning 4 in the calendar year starts junior kinder, those turning 5 start senior) but I could not imagine trying to juggle 1/2 days.

 

[joojaa]

@lizmoshes AB of course we've got a provincial election coming up and I'm realllllly hoping things turn around.

We don't have jr. Kinder either. Kindergarten starts when your kid turns 5 before december or something. So my son turned 5 a couple months ago and will start this fall. He's been going to full day daycare then preschool for years so I'm more worried about the transition away from full day regular care

 

[lizmoshes]

@joojaa Haha ok, that explains it! Ford is leading us down the same path, fingers crossed things turn around over there!

 

[panictopeace]

@lizmoshes Yeah. Ford was talking about either half days, or alternative full days, but there was quite the upset and I haven't heard anything about it recently.

As a poor, single mom, I unfortunately completely rely on school or I can't work.

I have no one local who can help. And I only make minimum wage so it's not like I can pay for a babysitter.

I really hope things get better in Alberta.

 

[tapiwa]

@joojaa Jr. Kinder is an adorable name. We call it TK (Transitional Kindergarten, with plans to move to UTK, Universal Transitional Kindergarten) where I am in California. Yours is much better!

 

[polygonon]

@joojaa Same, only my kid is off EVERY Thursday. They throw in random "full day kindergarten days" to meet hour requirements. I love sending my kid to kindergarten while paying for her to attend daycare.

Grade 1 has 4.5 days per week. They are off Thursday afternoons.

 

[chelleaiken81]

@joojaa I live rural and we are two days a week (and sometimes Fridays) for kindergarten (because bussing). The community is adapted to this schedule - the Dayhome providers have created a governing body that matches kids to providers and kinders are all covered for the days they don’t have school. I can’t imagine trying to arrange part time care myself.

 

[joojaa]

@chelleaiken81 That's a pretty good relationship!

 

[monk64]

@martin777 what I am wondering is how at no point it seems this particular school board stopped to analyse this and thought “hey, what about the parents that have multiple jobs? What about single-parent households?” and fucking axed this BS before it took root proper.

 

[akags]

@monk64 Sounds like they did think about it and just decided that "parents shouldn't be relying on schools as childcare," and so it's not their problem, I guess???

Really stupid decision though.

 

[katrina2017]

@martin777 Omg I would die of happiness as a teacher bc this job is so freaking hard lately…but it would not be my fave as a parent to two disabled kids. It really only works if we ALL get this.

 

[emotionalrollercoaster]

@martin777 Shouldn't rely on school as a daycare? Yes you should! It's supposed to be a safe place for your kids to go to get a good education while you're at work!

So now they also have to teach the curriculum in 80% of the time they had before... Or are they going to add that 20% back in weeks over the summer?

 

[seventhangel7]

@emotionalrollercoaster They’re acting like kids haven’t been required to be in school for generations while cost of living hasn’t been going up.

When it’s a necessity to have a double income household and a necessity to have kids at school, it makes sense to rely on the schyto watch kids.

 

[bfdd6988]

@emotionalrollercoaster The only way I wouldn’t absolutely hate this is if they did away with the long summer break. It would be easier for some working parents to arrange 1 day of childcare per week instead of several months in a row.

 

[gewineda]

@bfdd6988 I’ve been wishing for year round school since my middle schooler was in preschool. Where we live (Texas) it’s too damn hot from May until September to really do anything. I’d much rather have smaller breaks throughout the year to be able to do fun activities.

 

[foxtrotrn]

@emotionalrollercoaster I wonder if they will have their meeting and PD time during those Fridays so instruction time will actually be the same - where I am the kids constantly have random days with subs for a class or day or random days off for PD. If all of this was pushed to a weekly scheduled afternoon then they would actually have more consistency.

Education is such a hot mess. I just went back to work full time this year and looks like I will sah or work pt next year to homeschool because it is that bad.

Sorry OP. Good luck!

 

[ckingsis07]

@pythagon I’m not relying on school as daycare. Society has said for generations now that my school age kids are required to be in school or they are truant and the state can come and get me in trouble so I expected them to be in school during those ages.

 

[christiansarefat]

@martin777 My daughter already has a 4 day school week but it helps that we have a large family. Regardless I think it's needed it is more difficult singlehood and lack of connections when our work weeks are longer than our kids

 

[prophecy777]

@martin777 A school district near me recently did this as well to attract more teachers. Like I get it, but what about the lack of available child care? Literally if my son's school district did this so many families would be screwed. There are 4 daycares in town and every single one of them has a wait list. I'm pregnant right now and thankfully work from home with no chance of returned to office and my husband works part time. It wouldn't hurt use too much but not to long ago both of us worked full time out of the home and the thought terrified me. We were barely scraping by

 

[nichola1970]

@martin777 This is so fucked. Where are all these kids going to go? And why do sports drive this? Why do they miss Fridays? I understand a lot of kids need sports too Bud really no other compromise than shortening school? And of course it’s not daycare it’s EDUCATION. Designed to latch most working hours. God damn. Not to mention kids that need food and a safe space… ugh!!!!!