extended school year ruining your cruise?

[xcomet]

Anyone have to cancel or change their cruise itinerary,because of the additional instruction days added to the school year due to the huge amount of snow the east received this year?

[#1TravelMom]

YES!!! I totally had to change everything. I even allowed several snow days in my plan, but we had 14 delays and snow days this year - the most since 1984. Anyway, I paid to change the flights and chose another cruise - must more expensive because it's further in to July.

 

Here's the kicker - our school policy has some "loophole". The school board voted this week that they will rescind their previous order that the kids finish on June 12 and have reverted back to the original last day of school - June 6. No clue how they can just "skip" a week of school. Anyway - no way to switch everything back - final payment has passed.

[2talltim]

We have plans for myrtle beach the day after school, it's simple my kids won't be there. They do nothing but watch movies and have parties on make up days anyways.

[OCruisers]

Yes, it certainly has been for my daughter's family in CT. :(

LuLu

[fishywood]

Not to be unsympathetic--we have to deal with hurricane make-up days here, obviously not nearly as many as your snow days--but how does being "forced to reschedule" equate with "ruining your cruise"? Ruining your cruise budget with change fees, yes--but once you finally make it on board will you really still be worrying about any obstacles encountered before?

[Dreacrusingaway]

We got lucky. They used every snow day but only added one additional day so the last day is May 22 and we leave on the 25th. The kids have been staying in school an extra 30 min since early March to make up for the time. Two more weeks of longer days. But they had to make up every hour missed. The state said districts could waive the days and most did, but mine NEVER waives days and they made every hour up. As a parent, I'm happy they got the instructional time back while not messing up our cruise dates.

 

 

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[njmomof2]

We are not sailing end of school year, but our schedule was extended to make up the extra days we lost to the snow. We usually finish much later than most areas outside the Metropolitan NY/NJ/CT area, so our original last day was June 24th. We are now going until June 27th.

 

My main issue is this...what exactly do they think they are going to cover on June 26th that has anything to do with the days we lost in February? Those days are gone and so is the opportunity to make up those lessons.

 

Generally, the kids will be sitting in the classes, maybe having a party, watching a movie, but certainly not working hard on lessons missed months ago. Especially when the kids are taking standardized tests this week (for my 6th grader) and all of that work needed to be learned before today. There are no standardized tests the last week of the school year, so the days are simply placeholders needed because we MUST have a 180 day school year.

 

My older son (finishing sophomore in HS) will miss the last 2 days, as he's working at a summer camp this year, and they have orientation those last 2 week days before the camp starts. If he doesn't go, he loses the job. So no school for him.

[momofmeg]

Our county did not have to make them up as the governor declared them a state of emergency. My daughter did in her work, but it was easy as her boss, the school principal, let them now count the extra time they used on their own working. She is at work before 7 am getting things together for the day. Normally that is on her "time" not work time. I thought that was very kind of the principal to allow her teachers to do that. It shows she values them and their time.

[momofmeg]

We have plans for myrtle beach the day after school, it's simple my kids won't be there. They do nothing but watch movies and have parties on make up days anyways.

 

Yes, that is true for kids in elementary but middle and high school they have final exams that they are required to take in order to go to the next grade or graduate.

 

However, most school systems do not wait until the last minute to notify parents-so people have time to reschedule.

[2talltim]

Yes, that is true for kids in elementary but middle and high school they have final exams that they are required to take in order to go to the next grade or graduate.

 

However, most school systems do not wait until the last minute to notify parents-so people have time to reschedule.

 

At our school exam schedules are set in stone so they still take them when they would have normally. Plus graduation date is set in stone, no changes there either. Normally our seniors are of 5 days before the rest of the students are. Last year my kids had to make up 4 days and my daughter was a freshman in high school, the last 3 days of school her backpack was full of DVD's and snacks...LoL

[Warm Breezes]

We didn't have any issues with vacations but I just wanted to say that I find the adding of 2 additional days to our school year for snow days to be a joke. Our high school kids are on a trimester system. All of the days missed were in the 2nd trimester. That trimester is over and the grades given...those snow days can not be made up in the classes that were missed. The days were added on in the 3rd trimester. There was no time missed in these classes but they now have 2 extra days:rolleyes:. Makes no sense to me.

[ksqueak]

Anyone have to cancel or change their cruise itinerary,because of the additional instruction days added to the school year due to the huge amount of snow the east received this year?

 

 

We didn't make a change (taking my niece on a trip) but did decide that if they did extend the school year she would learn more with me hands on than any book! Plus as someone said, they don't work too hard on make up days.

[CheckersMidwest]

We always miss several days of school for snow. We have built in make up days. We almost always lose spring break that surrounds Easter and then add the rest on the end. We had 10 snow days this year.

 

Our seniors were done last Friday, everyone else now gets out May 23. That's a week later than we normally go. In our state, if you miss a specific amount , the rest are 'forgiven' and do not have to be made up.

 

Once, I planned a trip to leave the very next day and it was fine. But now, I don't book any earlier than the Saturday after we expect to get out.

[Velvetwater]

Anyone have to cancel or change their cruise itinerary,because of the additional instruction days added to the school year due to the huge amount of snow the east received this year?

 

Oh gosh.

 

Over here in the UK snow days do not change the school year at all by law. Even when we had weeks of snow days decades ago summer was still 6 weeks.We had no snow this year...which the kids missed.

 

But you are right...the last week of school (which is always late July over here) is parties/dvds and tidying the classroom type stuff. :)

Edited May 5, 2014 by Velvetwater

[tartanexile81]

 

But you are right...the last week of school (which is always late July over here) is parties/dvds and tidying the classroom type stuff. :)

 

Not in any school I've ever worked in. It would drive me mad if the class was in party mode for a whole week. :D

[navybankerteacher]

As a substitute teacher for a number of years I was saddened to see (and frustrated to have to participate in) the pointless exercise of year-end make-up days. Yes, there were extra days tacked on - but very little of value took place.

 

Essentially it was simply a mechanism for the school district to get the state aid which is calculated on the basis of the number of student days - with little regard for what actually took place.

[christmas]

My son does online school so thankfully we don't have to worry about this!

[Langoustine]

As a substitute teacher for a number of years I was saddened to see (and frustrated to have to participate in) the pointless exercise of year-end make-up days. Yes, there were extra days tacked on - but very little of value took place.

 

Essentially it was simply a mechanism for the school district to get the state aid which is calculated on the basis of the number of student days - with little regard for what actually took place.

 

Yep--that's how it worked when I was in high school in Florida 50 years ago, and everyone--teachers and students--knew it was a joke and treated the extra days (in our case, making up for hurricane closings, not snow) accordingly.

[luvscruising2007]

It's all about the money.

 

The last week of school is always a joke, whether it is from extended days or originally scheduled days. They watch movies, have field day and in some districts are excused after half a day.

 

It seems to me the best plan is to allow a week or 2 after school ends before you schedule a vacation.

[momofmeg]

It's all about the money.

 

The last week of school is always a joke, whether it is from extended days or originally scheduled days. They watch movies, have field day and in some districts are excused after half a day.

 

It seems to me the best plan is to allow a week or 2 after school ends before you schedule a vacation.

 

Yes, my daughter says that too no learning goes on just play the last couple of weeks in elementary, also the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is useless as the kids are too hyped up to try and teach them much.

 

Our county school system has built in make up days too-5-but this years went way over that-but since the governor declared throe days a state of emergency they were not required to make them up.

[navybankerteacher]

Yes, that is true for kids in elementary but middle and high school they have final exams that they are required to take in order to go to the next grade or graduate.

 

However, most school systems do not wait until the last minute to notify parents-so people have time to reschedule.

 

In the four school districts with which I am familiar the exam dates are fixed - they are not impacted by the addition of "make-up"days - which come AFTER the exams and are thus demonstrably useless - nothing useful gets done - other than accruing student-days to earn the district state aid.

[Dreacrusingaway]

I guess it depends on the district. Like I said, our state said they did not have to be made up, but our district did it anyway. They also pushed back testing by almost 2 weeks. I have found that the time between testing and the end of the year a LOT of learning goes on. The teachers no longer have to focus on what is on the test, they can teach things they know are important that are not on the test. Like writing in cursive, or different literature or the states and capitals. My kids are engaged and learning until very late in the year. Yes the last day or two are more for parties, but they learn lots between testing and the end of the year. A good teacher and find tons of things to do to engage her students for a few weeks. If they are sitting around watching movies, the teacher needs to shift directions and get creative.

[momofmeg]

I guess it depends on the district. Like I said, our state said they did not have to be made up, but our district did it anyway. They also pushed back testing by almost 2 weeks. I have found that the time between testing and the end of the year a LOT of learning goes on. The teachers no longer have to focus on what is on the test, they can teach things they know are important that are not on the test. Like writing in cursive, or different literature or the states and capitals. My kids are engaged and learning until very late in the year. Yes the last day or two are more for parties, but they learn lots between testing and the end of the year. A good teacher and find tons of things to do to engage her students for a few weeks. If they are sitting around watching movies, the teacher needs to shift directions and get creative.

 

I live in Douglas county and this is the county my daughter also works in the school system. As I said, she had to make up the missed time but her students didn't. Since she has a wonderful principal who allowed her teachers to count the time they had been giving anyway, (over normal work hours) she has no days to make up either.

[Dreacrusingaway]

I live in Douglas county and this is the county my daughter also works in the school system. As I said, she had to make up the missed time but her students didn't. Since she has a wonderful principal who allowed her teachers to count the time they had been giving anyway, (over normal work hours) she has no days to make up either.

 

 

I'm in Gwinnett and the superintendent feels that 180 days is not enough. They did not waive a single hour for students or staff.

 

 

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[momofmeg]

In the four school districts with which I am familiar the exam dates are fixed - they are not impacted by the addition of "make-up"days - which come AFTER the exams and are thus demonstrably useless - nothing useful gets done - other than accruing student-days to earn the district state aid.

 

As you see even school districts in different counties in my state (Georgia) do things differently. Every county school district has their own rules. Now my daughter works in an elementary school here, so I am thinking back to when she was in middle and high school (she graduated in 2002 I think) over 10 years ago, so for all I know, it is different in this county too; but back when she was in high school they had exams the last few days of school before summer and also mid year the last few days of the winter semester.

 

She would take one set of courses the first semester and then her teachers/courses changed the second semester except for Homeroom. After MLK Day (they would also get the Friday before off) when they returned to school, they had different classes. Now I understand it is after Christmas when the new semester starts for them, as our county school starts in early August now instead of 10 days or so before Labor Day as they did in the past. My understanding is they did this so the older kids got a longer break after they finished one semester before startling another. The kids in middle school and high school still have final exams the last few days of school here before summer break.

 

What I liked when I was in school, was if we had a 92 or above average we could exempt the exams. I loved missing the last few days of school lol! That was over 40 years ago and a different county though, so I have no idea if they still have those rules but those of us who had good grades loved that.