Do charter schools really need early dismissal Wednesdays?

[Anonymous]

It’s a pain to make sure your child is picked up or has aftercare every Wednesday due to early dismissal. There has to be a better way. At least traditional public schools take one full day off periodically for whatever. Stop the early dismissal days. Each day should end the same time.

[Anonymous]

I will say I am not at a charter school that does this, so maybe I’m missing something. But we did visit several schools like this and had them on our lottery list. All of them said if you were in aftercare, aftercare just took the kids early on Wednesday. So, there wasn’t an impact on the parents, and the kids got some additional free play time with their friends each week. What is the problem with this? What am I missing?

[Anonymous]

Some schools are better at working with the OSSE rules to do the bare minimum of instructional days and hours. But there is a minimum, so if they do short Wednesdays they have to make up the time in other ways.

If you complain about this at our school you will get scolded for not understanding educator burnout.

[Anonymous]

Ours has longer days M-Th and early dismissal F and it’s amazing tbh. Half day after care is available on Fridays so coverage is very easy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will say I am not at a charter school that does this, so maybe I’m missing something. But we did visit several schools like this and had them on our lottery list. All of them said if you were in aftercare, aftercare just took the kids early on Wednesday. So, there wasn’t an impact on the parents, and the kids got some additional free play time with their friends each week. What is the problem with this? What am I missing?

If your family routine does not include aftercare, you're screwed for the half days. You drop your kid off and are right back there 3.5 hours later and lose out on the full day of school while you're working. For us, we don't want to opt in for aftercare on chaotic longer half days. The families who are in it at our charter do not seem happy with it, but resigned that it's the option available. we make do with shared afternoon playdates when possible, but it's a real pain.

[Anonymous]

I get the annoyance but they tell you this up front. It's one of the reasons we didn't consider certain schools, along with the fact that most charters do a worse job than DCPS at ensuring aftercare availability.

For us, consistent scheduling and aftercare availability was essential so we didn't consider schools that were iffy on this. The DCPS we wound up at also does a great job of almost always offering a day off camp during the random days off. Yes you have to pay but it's seamless and you can just take your kid to school as normal and they spend the day with their friends. It's worth it to have a reliable schedule and not have to take time of work all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ours has longer days M-Th and early dismissal F and it’s amazing tbh. Half day after care is available on Fridays so coverage is very easy

Oh gosh I would much prefer this to middle of the week.

[Anonymous]

Aftercare isn't a good fit for all families and kids. (For example, our kid has a disability that the aftercare teachers aren't trained/prepared to support.) It would be easier for alot of parents' work schedules if the half-days were on Fridays, but the school said that teachers tended to call out sick more when that was the case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will say I am not at a charter school that does this, so maybe I’m missing something. But we did visit several schools like this and had them on our lottery list. All of them said if you were in aftercare, aftercare just took the kids early on Wednesday. So, there wasn’t an impact on the parents, and the kids got some additional free play time with their friends each week. What is the problem with this? What am I missing?

If your family routine does not include aftercare, you're screwed for the half days. You drop your kid off and are right back there 3.5 hours later and lose out on the full day of school while you're working. For us, we don't want to opt in for aftercare on chaotic longer half days. The families who are in it at our charter do not seem happy with it, but resigned that it's the option available. we make do with shared afternoon playdates when possible, but it's a real pain.

which school is this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will say I am not at a charter school that does this, so maybe I’m missing something. But we did visit several schools like this and had them on our lottery list. All of them said if you were in aftercare, aftercare just took the kids early on Wednesday. So, there wasn’t an impact on the parents, and the kids got some additional free play time with their friends each week. What is the problem with this? What am I missing?

If your family routine does not include aftercare, you're screwed for the half days. You drop your kid off and are right back there 3.5 hours later and lose out on the full day of school while you're working. For us, we don't want to opt in for aftercare on chaotic longer half days. The families who are in it at our charter do not seem happy with it, but resigned that it's the option available. we make do with shared afternoon playdates when possible, but it's a real pain.

Except ... you chose this. So, "screwed" is a really strange way to say "we selected this to avoid certain kinds of children and now we don't like it"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Aftercare isn't a good fit for all families and kids. (For example, our kid has a disability that the aftercare teachers aren't trained/prepared to support.) It would be easier for alot of parents' work schedules if the half-days were on Fridays, but the school said that teachers tended to call out sick more when that was the case.

This speaks very poorly of the school. Teachers who routinely call out sick speaks to an unprofessional and uncommitted (or underpaid and resentful) teaching staff. And that the principal blaming the scheduling on teachers calling out sick reflects a dysfunctional, pass-the-buck culture.

I'd leave this school for several reasons, not just the early dismissal on Wednesdays. Why do people put up with this stuff?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aftercare isn't a good fit for all families and kids. (For example, our kid has a disability that the aftercare teachers aren't trained/prepared to support.) It would be easier for alot of parents' work schedules if the half-days were on Fridays, but the school said that teachers tended to call out sick more when that was the case.

This speaks very poorly of the school. Teachers who routinely call out sick speaks to an unprofessional and uncommitted (or underpaid and resentful) teaching staff. And that the principal blaming the scheduling on teachers calling out sick reflects a dysfunctional, pass-the-buck culture.

I'd leave this school for several reasons, not just the early dismissal on Wednesdays. Why do people put up with this stuff?

+1

[Anonymous]

A lot of charters don't actually provide 180 days of instruction per the law. They use accounting tricks to make partial days look like full days.

[Anonymous]

Janeese Lewis George says she wants to give teachers more professional development days, so if she's elected, expect even more time out of school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Janeese Lewis isGeorge says she wants to give teachers more professional development days, so if she's elected, expect even more time out of school.

She really is the worst