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Mid Winter vacation soooo expensive!!!
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amother
Emerald


 

Post Mon, Feb 10 2020, 8:25 pm
amother [ Turquoise ] wrote:
I get so tired of this refrain. School is not childcare, we all agree on that. BUT school is the set establishment where kids spend their days. Our lives, as is most of the world too, is structured around this system. So constantly interrupting the flow of it, creates unnecessary hardships. Unless you're a SAHM, which so many of us don't have the pleasure of being.

If the school would take things in consideration, and shows some restraints in scheduling off-days, then perhaps it wouldn't be so unsettling. But our schools generally takes advantage of both the secular system and the Jewish Calendar, all for themselves. There's RH, YK, Sukkos, chanukah vacation, 3 days for Purim, 2-3 weeks for Pesach, Shavuos, and Lag B'omer (new trend). Now add in mid-winter vacation and president's week & selective Holiday Days. Now, that's not enough. Let's throw in every Erev YT, and Isru Chag too, and how about a Teacher's workshop day too? Oh, lets not forget about Asara B'Teves.

The schools are very well aware of how many parents are struggling financially, and they're also very well aware that the climate has changed. Majority of the mothers are working nowadays. Why can't they moderate the days off, in a way that gives the mothers some breathing room? Especially since they're the ones encouraging the girls to be the breadwinners and/or are very familiar with the high cost of a Jewish life.

Or at the very least - at least coordinate the mid-winter vacation with other schools in town.


Realize that teachers are people too. If they have school president's day, half the teachers will call out because they don't have babysitting/ daycare for their own kids. Unlike your job, where you're given vacation days to use at your descretion, teachers are only really given the days the whole school is off-otherwise they get docked and have to write sub plans anyway. The schools struggle to find those subs, so if it's a day even more than 5-10 teachers will be out, its not worth having school. They can't force teachers to come in, because what should we do with our kids who's non-jewish daycare is closed?
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amother
Turquoise


 

Post Mon, Feb 10 2020, 8:36 pm
amother [ Emerald ] wrote:
Realize that teachers are people too. If they have school president's day, half the teachers will call out because they don't have babysitting/ daycare for their own kids. Unlike your job, where you're given vacation days to use at your descretion, teachers are only really given the days the whole school is off-otherwise they get docked and have to write sub plans anyway. The schools struggle to find those subs, so if it's a day even more than 5-10 teachers will be out, its not worth having school. They can't force teachers to come in, because what should we do with our kids who's non-jewish daycare is closed?


Honestly, I fail to understand your point. You're saying that teachers cant go to work because their kids are off, but they expect all other working parents to be able to go to work when their kids are off?

And vacation days are used up by the Yomim Tovim themselves.
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amother
Silver


 

Post Mon, Feb 10 2020, 8:47 pm
amother [ Emerald ] wrote:
Realize that teachers are people too. If they have school president's day, half the teachers will call out because they don't have babysitting/ daycare for their own kids. Unlike your job, where you're given vacation days to use at your descretion, teachers are only really given the days the whole school is off-otherwise they get docked and have to write sub plans anyway. The schools struggle to find those subs, so if it's a day even more than 5-10 teachers will be out, its not worth having school. They can't force teachers to come in, because what should we do with our kids who's non-jewish daycare is closed?


Umm, I don't have enough paid vacation to get myself through Yom Tov. Forget Chol Hamoed or anything else. I work in healthcare and it goes on regardless of what happens, my office has 5 legal holidays when we are closed and even then someone needs to be on call in case of emergency. I struggle greatly to find babysitting coverage when my kids are off, the only solution is to have full time on-home help which I can't afford to do when all my kids are in day school. During midwinter break I had to find coverage for almost 2 weeks and it cost me money that I struggled to pay. If everyone had school then babysitters would be open.
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amother
Emerald


 

Post Mon, Feb 10 2020, 8:51 pm
amother [ Silver ] wrote:
Umm, I don't have enough paid vacation to get myself through Yom Tov. Forget Chol Hamoed or anything else. I work in healthcare and it goes on regardless of what happens, my office has 5 legal holidays when we are closed and even then someone needs to be on call in case of emergency. I struggle greatly to find babysitting coverage when my kids are off, the only solution is to have full time on-home help which I can't afford to do when all my kids are in day school. During midwinter break I had to find coverage for almost 2 weeks and it cost me money that I struggled to pay. If everyone had school then babysitters would be open.


Do you guys all live in places where daycares are on Jewish schedules? Our daycares are on regular Public school schedules with legal holidays off, so besides that parents are staying home for their little ones anyway, the teachers are not able to come in. Schools can't run without their teachers, and most of the teachers do have very young children in those daycares. If we had school presidents day I would take the day off, as would half the other teachers on each grade level.
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amother
Emerald


 

Post Mon, Feb 10 2020, 8:53 pm
amother [ Turquoise ] wrote:
Honestly, I fail to understand your point. You're saying that teachers cant go to work because their kids are off, but they expect all other working parents to be able to go to work when their kids are off?

And vacation days are used up by the Yomim Tovim themselves.


I'm saying the situation clearly stinks for you, but staying open isn't as simple as "tell the teachers to come"
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amother
Silver


 

Post Mon, Feb 10 2020, 8:55 pm
amother [ Emerald ] wrote:
Do you guys all live in places where daycares are on Jewish schedules? Our daycares are on regular Public school schedules with legal holidays off, so besides that parents are staying home for their little ones anyway, the teachers are not able to come in. Schools can't run without their teachers, and most of the teachers do have very young children in those daycares. If we had school presidents day I would take the day off, as would half the other teachers on each grade level.


I live in NY, and send to schools where I venture to guess no one is sending to secular daycares. I'm off on Xmas and New Year's and my kids are in school. Sometimes Thanksgiving too. The worst is when the school has a half day or more on Thanksgiving itself, but is off the next day, because I'm off on Thanksgiving day but I have a full day of work on Black Friday.
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amother
Turquoise


 

Post Mon, Feb 10 2020, 8:56 pm
amother [ Emerald ] wrote:
I'm saying the situation clearly stinks for you, but staying open isn't as simple as "tell the teachers to come"


I don't get it. Why can't teachers come up with the same solution as other working parents do? Have the husbands stay home, pay for babysitters, ask favors from family members, etc. Why are the teachers expecting the parents to do something they themselves do not want to do?
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tigerwife




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Feb 10 2020, 9:00 pm
I hear. I didn’t actually mean that the high schoolers should be babysitting; at my stage, I need to pay extra for winter break camp so that I can go to work when schools are off. If my kids were in high school, mid winter would be free since they wouldn’t need to be babysat. Of course, if I was “forced” to fly them to Cancun because it would be embarrassing for them to return after break without a tan, then that would be a different story.
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Knowledgeable




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Feb 10 2020, 9:00 pm
amother [ OP ] wrote:
Good for you that it's only over a weekend. Two of my children had three full days off and another one had a full week off. And both these vacations didn't overlap at all.


Would it be possible for you to work from home at those times? If yes, then you can get some entertainment for them to do at home and when your done with your hrs of work, take them out somewhere...
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Ema of 5




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Feb 10 2020, 9:01 pm
amother [ Silver ] wrote:
I live in NY, and send to schools where I venture to guess no one is sending to secular daycares. I'm off on Xmas and New Year's and my kids are in school. Sometimes Thanksgiving too. The worst is when the school has a half day or more on Thanksgiving itself, but is off the next day, because I'm off on Thanksgiving day but I have a full day of work on Black Friday.

Yea, I totally don’t get that. I can hear not wanting to give off for thanksgiving, but why give off Friday? Let the people who are going away for the weekend go away. Why does my kid have to have off because of it?
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amother
Brown


 

Post Mon, Feb 10 2020, 9:05 pm
amother [ Turquoise ] wrote:
I don't get it. Why can't teachers come up with the same solution as other working parents do? Have the husbands stay home, pay for babysitters, ask favors from family members, etc. Why are the teachers expecting the parents to do something they themselves do not want to do?

Guess what? Teachers have no say in the school calendar. They get the calendar probably the same time the parents do.
Talk to the administration or school board if you are unhappy. They are the ones who decide it.
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amother
Emerald


 

Post Mon, Feb 10 2020, 9:24 pm
amother [ Turquoise ] wrote:
I don't get it. Why can't teachers come up with the same solution as other working parents do? Have the husbands stay home, pay for babysitters, ask favors from family members, etc. Why are the teachers expecting the parents to do something they themselves do not want to do?


I can only speak for myself here, but my husbands in Klei kodesh and doesn’t get those days off. I would just take the day off like you do, but the schools can’t function under that plan. The schools make the schedule based on the circumstances and 10 teacher saying “I have to take that day off “ makes it not worth it for them to open.
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amother
Brown


 

Post Mon, Feb 10 2020, 9:29 pm
Teacher don't notify the board months before that they need a certain day off. Again, they have nothing to do with the calendar which is probably made a full year ahead, just not released till the summer before.
And, if you are a teacher there are some non negotiable days where you are not allowed to take off. (Barring extreme illness or the like, where I work I would need to bring a doctor's note to prove it.)
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saw50st8




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Feb 11 2020, 7:11 am
I really appreciate midwinter break because I think it's a good break for my kids. Invariably every year, I have (at least) one child who needs a reset and winter break provides that.

I found it more worthwhile to take off then to pay a babysitter for 4 kids so we budget for that. I'm grateful that I have reached the point in my career that I can take off but it certainly was challenging earlier in my career.
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