Kinder reg

[ett]

What I don't understand is why they can't have regular class schedule during the day and conferences after school and in the evenings. That's how it worked when I was a kid. And my mom, who was a teacher, had to go back in the evenings to hold parent-teacher conferences.

The conference schedule depends on each individual teacher, but generally they have before school hours and after school hours, and then usually at least one day the after school hours would run later into early evening.

[infocrazy]

That's going to be how things go for lots of things. Conferences... Our school has a few early AM slots for conferences but otherwise it is usually a juggling act. And some schools, like mine, have snow days, early dismissals, 2 hour delay days... plus occasional presentations mid day. Just a warning. It's probably the only good thing about not having a job for me right now- the ability to make all of that stuff work!

Not to mention the class parties at 1030 or 2...presentation events at 1... for the Christmas parties my 3 kids in school all had their Xmas parties on different days even they all went to the same day before break...230, 1030, and 1115 time slots. So annoying.

[mskitty]

Agreed!!!! Not everyone has family or friends or who can handle "middle of the day" scheduling issues with school kids. I had to seriously keep my snark in check when the principal suggested that an 8 am IEP meeting would have been much more convenient than the 1 pm one. If I would have been offered one, I would have taken it!!!!

One week notice is not sufficient for working professionals who have to attempt rearranging their schedules.... don't get me started on that one!

[Simon]

I would also be irritated and would either complain "up the chain" or address the actual team doing the assessments to see if its really necessary vs. an effort to do early screening for kids who might have more obvious issues that weren't caught in a preK. IME, when our district sets times, things will run noon to 6 pm or something, but the individual schools often set incompatible hours.

[AnnieW625]

Dd2's kindergarten eval is next month (as we have to pay first month's tuition/deposit in March), but I hear you that everything is during the day. Ugh. Dh and I end up taking vacation time to take care of all of this stuff.

[Green_Tea]

What I don't understand is why they can't have regular class schedule during the day and conferences after school and in the evenings. That's how it worked when I was a kid. And my mom, who was a teacher, had to go back in the evenings to hold parent-teacher conferences.

Lots of teachers are working parents, too.

[hellokitty]

Kindy reg is ALWAYS during biz hours. I have never heard of anything different. So, while I understand your unhappiness, this is the norm and as someone else mentioned, teachers are working parents too, so by expecting evening kindy reg, you are also expecting the teachers and staff to sacrifice their family time. It's a one time thing per child, so try not to get too wrapped up in it.

[KrisM]

Very frustrating!

It all varies so much. Our registration for kindergarten was in the evening. No placement tests were required.

Our conferences are 3 days - 2 are after school hours 5-8 or so, and one is election day and schools are off. Those conferences are 8am-2pm.

Class parties are during the day and ours tend to be at the same time. I had all 3 kids have their Christmas party 12:30-1:30 on the same day. We've had things overlap at night as well. Last year, the 4th grade concert was the same night as 2nd grade portfolio night. So, we rushed portfolio night to get DS1 to his concert on time. I did not understand that scheduling!

[twowhat?]

My thoughts exactly, this is just the beginning. School is much harder to balance than daycare.

It really, truly is. Even when you live in a neighborhood where most families have two working parents.

I have already gone through the entire school calendar and planned all my PTO to take for early release days, school holidays, etc, etc. It eats up ALL my PTO (and I get a bucket of PTO that I can use however I like that isn't split up into sick days vs vacation days!).

This year will be the first year we will deal with summers. NOT looking forward to it. Daycare was so much easier!

[egoldber]

planned all my PTO to take for early release days, school holidays, etc, etc. It eats up ALL my PTO (and I get a bucket of PTO that I can use however I like that isn't split up into sick days vs vacation days!).

Do you not have after care? Don't they cover these days? Are there one day camp options? Those are very popular here.

The thing that always gets me is snow days!