Peaceful Revolution: Moms Take On School Calendar

The moment my now 10-year-old daughter started kindergarten, I knew that school schedules were a missing piece of the work/family puzzle. From the assemblies at 11:00 a.m. that only a handful of parents can attend to the countless days when children are off or released early from school, sometimes it's hard to believe we're living in the 21st century. Yes, most moms of school-age children are in the workforce today (a whopping 70% of us) but you wouldn't know it if you glanced at a typical school calendar. Let's use my local district here in Evanston, Illinois as an example. During this school year alone, we had 8 holidays, 3 days off for parent-teacher conferences, 2 teacher in-service half days, 5 early dismissal days (also for teacher training), plus a 2-week winter break and 1-week spring break. And, that's not even counting the 2+ months the kids have off in the summer.

As if the current schedule wasn't difficult enough for families to juggle, our district recently proposed to expand the number of early release days to carve out more time for professional development. Now, what parent wouldn't want their child's teachers to have top notch training? But, should that come at the cost of even fewer full days of instruction for students and a more chaotic schedule for parents whose work and childcare arrangements often revolve around the school day?

This was the question at the heart of a campaign spearheaded by ParentsWork, an Illinois parents' organization I started to bring about changes - in our communities, schools, workplaces and laws - to better enable us to care for our children and families. Given our Evanston roots as well as the fact that many of our founding members have children in the public schools here, taking on the calendar seemed like the perfect place to start.

So together with other concerned parents and with the support of our local PTA Council, the "Calendar Mamas" (as I like to call us) researched the issues, submitted Freedom of Information Requests, attended committee meetings, testified before the school board, wrote letters to the editor, and organized a petition drive that garnered over 300 signatures. Not only did we succeed in halting the expansion of early dismissal days in next year's calendar but perhaps even more importantly, we sparked a community dialogue about the impact of school schedules on the education and care of our children. And hopefully, this will spur additional changes not only in our schools here in Evanston but across the state and our nation.

The American school calendar is long overdue for an overhaul. Originally designed for an agrarian society, it is largely out of touch with the needs of many working families today. And, when you compare us with other countries, we're pretty low on the totem pole when it comes to the length of our school year, which could have something to do with how we stack up globally.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting that children sit behind a desk for 365 days straight or that we turn schools into round-the-clock childcare centers. Nor do I think we should stop advocating for more flexible workplaces and better after school programs. But bringing school schedules into closer alignment with parents' work realities has to be part of the mix. Whether the solution is a longer school day or a longer school year, getting there won't be easy. There will be funding issues and union contracts to contend with and it will require an unprecedented partnership between parents and teachers. But the Calendar Mamas here in Illinois are ready to take it on!

A Peaceful Revolution is a weekly blog about work/life satisfaction done in collaboration with MomsRising.org. Read a post by a leading thinker in the field every week.

Comments

[gonavy]

4 kids, 3 different school schedules, makes going to work almost pointless. I'm never going to get out of this house!

[CaveatMagnusFrater]

Summer vacation is an important time for kids. As my sons were growing up in California in a traditional system, their cousins were trapped in Los Angeles counties efficiency system. Their cousins were envious and my sons were as happy as pigs in mud. Also, seven hours a day including lunch time is plenty long enough for a child to spend in school everyday. Don't destroy a good system for kids just because we adults have it more difficult in our own lives thanks to our own rolling over and ignoring the union busters of the Republican Party who have destroyed America's middle class. Personally, I resented homework for my elementary school aged children. I had my own agenda for their education and our time in the evenings. If the school couldn't teach them during their legally mandated time, they failed, not the kids.

[BookQueen]

It drives me crazy when the school schedule is unpredictable, but I don't want to see kids' hours in school increased. I think they benefit from time off after school and from long vacations in the summer. I would hate to see what the schools would do with them in the extra hours - more test prep? Also I think it's easier to come up with child care plans for one long summer vacation than lots of little breaks during the year.

Our school district has after-school programs available whenever there are early dismissals or breaks. I think it's actually fairly easy for parents who work full-time and use the after-school care.

I know of another school district that has one short day a week so that teachers can have professional development. It makes it more predictable and everyone can put child care arrangements in place. I think it also benefits the teachers and then the kids.

And although more and more mothers work, it's also true that a lot of them work part-time. But I'm with you on making the schedule predictable and providing an after-school care option. I just don't want to take away all the good stuff.

[J_E_Mugford]

While I am a firm proponent for improving pay and working conditions for teachers, I am equally in my opposition to the time taken away from classroom instruction for "professional development" and other non-education purposes. In my son's school, every Tuesday is early dismissal for professional development and then several weeks a year are given over to standardized testing. None of these activities have an iota of positive impact on my son's education. Coupled with the fact that the Los Angeles Unified School district has mandated a reduction in focus on literature, I see that the focus of the system is purely on bureaucratic survival, not education.

[MamaBird62]

Good luck with your efforts and please report back on your progress.

[ckemp]

Ideal but expensive:

1. Year-round with 2 separate month-long breaks or more 2-3 week breaks.

2. Leave current day-length roughly the same, but spread academic work over the 10+/- months and

3. Increase significantly the hours in *every* school day for regular curricular (NOT extra-curricular!) music, art, physical activity, and planned projects/seminars etc. that integrate academic, social, and broader social issues/needs.

4. Locate professional leave time in part in school day hours, e.g. 2-3 hours work/project/development time on 2-3 days of EVERY week. Becomes possible w/ diversification of curriculum in #3.

5. Yes, this means that we pay teachers to work a *full day* when some of that work is devoted to professional development/research/retool/projects.

6. Implement a sabbatical policy for K-12 teachers (university faculty get *PAID* 1/2-full year off every 7 years, traditionally).

Which is why this costs money. But our student corps every year will be better educated, better rested, more centered, more well-rounded, and healthier in general and long-term (see related reduction in healthcare costs). Call it an investment.