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My daughter is preparing to enter kindergarten, and I'm getting the impression that the fact that we're a two income family, and deal with the school through e-mails and hand-mailed letters is working very well.
We got a letter from the school saying we had a intake appointment for our daughter to meet her teacher in the middle of the day. That time didn't work for us, so I called to change. The latest appointment was still in the middle of the day, which still doesn't work for us. Then the person answering the phone says that she is just the appointment setter and I need to e-mail the teacher, whose e-mail address is conveniently not provided on the letter. I did manage to get it and am working to see if the teacher is available sometime that will accommodate us as being a two income family.
I've mailed in forms to them, only to get e-mails saying the forms never got turned in. Turns out, the school system takes 3 - 7 days to process letters, and they actually received it but was sitting in the mailing room. It was made clear that if I dropped it off it'd be processed much faster, but of course they are only open while my wife and I work.
Education is important to me. We both hold bachelors degrees, and I have a masters degree. We each have completed several certificate programs. We want to support the school, but they're making it hard.
I am nervous about how many middle-of-the-day appointments they will expect we attend in the future.
How does or doesn't your child's school accommodate two income families?
Surely you have personal days, lunch hours, etc that can be used.
Or, can you flex your hours so you meet up first thing in the morning or last thing in the afternoon?
What about Facetime or Skype as an option for future meetings?
Their hours are their hours. You will not be "accommodated" with evening hours.
Being a two income family does not make you special - it makes you more of the norm nowadays. Other parents manage it... you can too!
When teacher meetings were required, I always took PTO from work to go to those meetings, setting them as early as I could or as late as I could so I could still work as full a day as possible. I never expected the teacher to remain at the school until after my workhours so that we could meet for 10 minutes. That would have been an unreasonable request on my part.
Unless you have a special needs child, chances are you will not need to take a lot of time off to meet with teachers or handle school issues. I think the most I had to do when they were in elementary school was one day a year, per child, to do the "meet the teacher" meetings. The rest was done via email directly with the teacher or school administrator/secretary.
The fact that you have a BA/BS or MA is inconsequential to the subject. Just because you have a degree doesn't mean they should cater to your schedule.
Just tell your boss you need to take a couple hours off to get your child settled into school. MILLIONS of parents do the same thing at the beginning of every school year. It's not that big a deal.
Quote:
I've mailed in forms to them, only to get e-mails saying the forms never got turned in. Turns out, the school system takes 3 - 7 days to process letters, and they actually received it but was sitting in the mailing room. It was made clear that if I dropped it off it'd be processed much faster, but of course they are only open while my wife and I work.
Now that you know the forms take a long time for processing, get them in sooner, or scan them and email them to the school secretary asking for a confirmation email back that he/she received it.
I am required by my employer to use PTO in 8 hour increments. Not going to do that for a 30 minute intake appt. My wife has to use 4 hour increments, and has no PTO at the moment as she just started a new job.
Why can't you go on your lunch break? Many work places understand doctor appts and dentist appts and other things like that during lunch hour. This is just another appt that needs to be scheduled. Sounds like you're the one not wanting to accommodate your child's education, not the teacher.
Why can't you go on your lunch break? Many work places understand doctor appts and dentist appts and other things like that during lunch hour. This is just another appt that needs to be scheduled. Sounds like you're the one not wanting to accommodate your child's education, not the teacher.
Because I don't work in a traditional workplace like normal people do.
Do you expect the teachers to take time out of their own personal lives, unpaid, to accommodate you? Most families are two income families - teachers would need to be available until midnight if they were to schedule all the working parents at times that are convenient for them. They have their own families and children to tend to.
PS - your child's teacher likely either has a master's degree or is working toward one themselves.
Our school district had many accommodations and events for parents who worked during the day but only three actually involved the teachers being paid for their work time. The beginning of the school year Open House was held at night and two parent teacher conferences were held in the evenings as part of our contract.
However, our district strongly, strongly encouraged teachers to "accommodate" working parents on our own time. No extra pay, no compensatory time, nothing, nada, zip.
So when I was required to do a functional behavioral checklist and other parent forms with a parent who worked until 6 PM, who insisted that she could not come in any other time, guess who had to stay and do this in her classroom from 6:30 PM to 8 PM? Yes, me.
So when I needed to schedule monthly home visits with parents who worked until 5 PM, guess who had to schedule them from 5:30 to 6:30 PM (even though the day care center that my own children attended closed at 6 PM)? Yes, me.
And, I could easier list a dozen more.
I knew teachers who needed to schedule after working hour parent conferences numerous days around report card times. It did not matter if the teacher was a working parent who needed to pick up their child from day care at a certain time or if the teacher was part of two income family. We were required to do all that we could to accommodate working parents.
Frankly, it did not seem right.
The district also strongly encouraged teachers to attend all evening parent events (most principals even kept a check list of whether or not you attended). Again, no extra pay, no compensatory time, nothing, nada, zip, just mandatory "volunteer" attendance.
Hmmm, there was the evening Harvest Party, the evening Holiday Celebration, the evening Spring Fling, the evening Math Night, the evening Book Fair and the Saturday Fun Run.
Our school district had many accommodations and events for parents who worked during the day but only three actually involved the teachers being paid for their work time. The beginning of the school year Open House was held at night and two parent teacher conferences were held in the evenings as part of our contract.
However, our district strongly, strongly encouraged teachers to "accommodate" working parents on our own time. No extra pay, no compensatory time, nothing, nada, zip.
So when I was required to do a functional behavioral checklist and other parent forms with a parent who worked until 6 PM, who insisted that she could not come in any other time, guess who had to stay and do this in her classroom from 6:30 PM to 8 PM? Yes, me.
So when I needed to schedule monthly home visits with parents who worked until 5 PM, guess who had to schedule them from 5:30 to 6:30 PM (even though the day care center that my own children attended closed at 6 PM)? Yes, me.
And, I could easier list a dozen more.
I knew teachers who needed to schedule after working hour parent conferences numerous days around report card times. It did not matter if the teacher was a working parent who needed to pick up their child from day care at a certain time or if the teacher was part of two income family. We were required to do all that we could to accommodate working parents.
Frankly, it did not seem right.
The district also strongly encouraged teachers to attend all evening parent events (most principals even kept a check list of whether or not you attended). Again, no extra pay, no compensatory time, nothing, nada, zip, just mandatory "volunteer" attendance.
Hmmm, there was the evening Harvest Party, the evening Holiday Celebration, the evening Spring Fling, the evening Math Night, the evening Book Fair and the Saturday Fun Run.
End of rant.
Yell it for the people in the back.
G-d forbid you ask the parents to take unpaid time off for their children's education, though.
Most families at my children's school are two income families. The school will often offer early morning slots or late afternoon slots for something like what you describe. I m guessing that the intake will be a quick meeting and could probably be accomplished just prior to the start of the school day. It's doubtful that the school will have a lot of parent required functions during the workday.
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