So I was just sitting down to write my annual rant about why school sucks and why especially (it seems) the Vancouver School Board sucks and why this time of year fills me with more resentment than tears or whatever and then I read this. GO NAOMI!!!
I did not have tears when either kid started Kindergarten. I think I felt a bit weepy when they started Pre School…they looked all growed up with their little back packs and so on..but for Kindergarten…..for entering the mess of our school system? Not so much.
How can you get excited about school……the gradual entry thing for Kindergarteners just confuses them. My kids had done Pre School and were all ready to learn rules and schedules and not be ‘eased’ in to it meaning they didn’t know what time things started or stopped and with the insanity of the VSB, and our school…they didn’t know what class or teacher they were going to have as the first week progressed.
Very stressful for little one’s in my opinion.
My kids started school this year with last years teachers and classes, while the school figures out where they will go and what teachers they will have…this could take till next week.
So what education will they get? Nothing…..I basically get daycare for my kids while they draw and doodle all day till the school figures it all out.
That is what my taxes go towards.
And what a school year we have to look forward to too.
The 9 am start instead of 8:45 messes up our mornings. Patrick used to drop the kids off at school on the way to work. This worked GREAT with HIS 9 am start time.
Not now I guess.
Because the Vancouver School Board has had such issues with budgets the last year or so, they are introducing DISTRICT CLOSURE DATES..basically lots of time off (10 days) for the kids and teachers throughout the year.
“The Vancouver School Board has adopted a new local school calendar for the 2010-2011 school year that cancels early dismissal days and extends the instructional day to allow schools to close 10 additional days.
The local school calendar:
- Establish consistent school start and end times – see school bell times
- Provides for a two week Spring Break
- Provides for four four-day weekends throughout the school year
- Eliminates the use of the early dismissal day”
So now school starts at 9 am and finishes at 3:01 (??) with no half days like our school had on Fridays. My son is very sad about this. He loved his half day Fridays. Caity isn’t impressed either as she is now in Grade one and already a bit nervous about the full day deal as it is…gee that half day Kindergarten sure was useful.
I boggle at how working families deal with this sort of schedule. We are a one job, one car family. I stay home by choice and the fact that I would never earn enough to pay for childcare for three kids.
I haven’t heard if they sorted out the before and after school care issues at our school. I am just thankful I don’t have to worry about that. I am thankful that our only issues with school so far is their wishy washiness, waste of educational time and now that I will have to get a one year old bundled up in the stroller in order to get the kids to school.
I realize Adam is 8 and that at this age I was taking a bus alone across town to and from school. But times have changed and I really don’t think my son has it in him to get him and his sister to school. Home maaaabyeee…but I am not yet convinced of that either.
I also realize that many other parents will be dropping their kids off and not making sure they are in school safely or letting them walk with friends and siblings out of necessity too.
I honestly don’t think Adam is mature enough to handle it. He will have to prove it to me first. Despite us living in an area where the kids can take trails instead of roads to the school…I am still unsure about all this.
Does this make me too over protective or do other parents push the kids independence out of necessity and I just am fighting the inevitable here?
The best part of today was how awesome my uber individual daughter is. She stood out from the rest of her class in a bright red jacket, and purple outfit and her PINK hair!
Marilyn (A Lot of Loves) says
The Vancouver school system has irked me for years – way before I ever had kids to worry about. Now that I do have kids I’m even more irritated by this whole mess. I don’t understand it…well that’s not true. I do understand that they do all of this crap (gradual entry) to give themselves a slack-ass way of management while they tell us it’s for the kids.
They’re lying of course. It’s not for the kids. I can’t believe that they’re delusional enough to believe that gradual entry is good for the kids. It does seem completely confusing to everyone involved and that bugs me no end. I also don’t see where the learning happens what with the shorter school days or days off. It’s ridiculous.
Every school year, I’ve thought I would homeschool…and then I wonder if I really want to homeschool. The answer is not really. But then homeschooling might be best learning environment for the kids. But then I have to work even harder to get them in social activities. Ugh. This whole thing makes me even madder to be honest.
NaomiJesson says
I have friends that are Vancouver teachers and they would also agree with you. I still cannot believe the four day weekends reasoning? I am confused. If it makes you feel any better, I still do not know which classroom or teacher Jackson will have either. GAH!
I will always be paranoid of children walking home from school because I was born in the Clifford Robert Olson generation of fear. I know I would also be pretty tentative on that issue as well. It’s hard to know what to do. *HUGS*
Love her outfit & her awesome fashion sense 🙂
Jen says
Gradual entry is frustrating to me as well, but I do know several kindergarten teachers – granted, mostly in inner-city – who say that for many kids K is the first time they are leaving their parents and they do need the gradual entry – and that one week isn’t enough.
I’m actually thankful that my school doesn’t decide the classes in the summer like many of the others. They assess the kids throughout the week to make sure that they have a mix of personality and learning types in each class.
Speaking from Surrey’s perspective, 4-day weekends are usually built to add a pro-D day in after a mid-week stat holiday (i.e., Remembrance day on a Thursday) because a lot of working parents will often take the Friday off, anyway. Lastly, I’d rather see a local adjusted calendar than a school closure, which is very damaging to community.
Yeah, I work at the school board, it may not be perfect, but I can appreciate the struggles from both sides. I just find from talking to parents that people take things a little personally…it’s a balance….sigh
Lisa says
Hi there,
The main reason that the kids are with their last years’ teachers for part of or the whole first week is all related to the funding provided by the ministry of education. We get the funding for each child when we literally see their little eyes in our classes. If we sent them to their new classes on the first day of school and then a bunch of kids were no longer in the school or new kids had registered, we would be forced to re-organize and then kids would possibly given new teachers, new classrooms and new grade configurations.
As you can guess, I am a teacher (not in Vancouver). At my school we did the class placements in June and we are as anxious to meet our new classes as parents and kids are to meet their new teachers. But we have had an influx of kids over the summer and we will be growing by a class and need to make changes to our placements.
The whole Vancouver School Board thing is a big mess and you make some good points.
Lisa
Miz Dinah Gogina says
While I do remember school being from 9-3 when I lived in a rural area (maybe that was to account for school bus travel?), I don’t know any elementary schools in our area that work on this schedule. Til now, I guess! That would be a nightmare for working parents. I adjusted my start time to 8:45 so I could get my daughter off to school. I was late every morning anyway so this seemed logical, but I couldn’t start at 9:30 or I would have to work really late. Most people are not fortunate enough to be able to dictate their own schedule. And the extra days off…a childcare misery unless you have family or friends to help out. Even if you’re a SAHM it messes with your schedule. I feel for ya!