I’m a special educator in a neighboring district and I often have to take almost a week off of school in May to cover child care at home. OUSD needs to get the calendar in line with other local districts so there aren’t weeks at a time when summer camps are unavailable. Fix the calendar, please.
Given there is no explanation provided for a school year that returns after a 3-day weekend for a single last-day, I endorse the calendar that ends before Memorial Day weekend.
More importantly, I request for the calendar to be settled sooner so that families may plan PTO, and activities sooner.
Minor Points that just reflect poorly:
1. This request for comment is difficult to understand. The text does not explain trade offs or considerations from A to B, let alone boil down the question (ex. End on a Friday vs end on a Tuesday)
2. Both calendars list the same file ID number "24-0227" when clearly (2) files cannot be the same.
I appreciate the efforts and understand the complexities and difficulties in managing a lot of moving parts / opinions. And, this proposal is even worse. Setting the last day of school the Tuesday after a Monday holiday? That makes very little sense and is quite frustrating. While a decision shouldn't be delayed further, please PLEASE consider the bigger picture: set a reasonable calendar within a reasonable time frame - one that is guided by logic and community need and not software. Thank you!
Please do not delay any further on voting on the calendar. Please!!! In future years, our family would prefer the school year start later and that the Board would decide the calendar at least 6 months sooner. But for now, just take care of 24-25 already. Vote for school to begin 8/6/24. No family wants school to start on a Thursday or the last day to be the day after Memorial Day.
I appreciate the Board's work on trying to find a calendar for school year 24-25 that meets all needs, however as a working parent I am deeply disappointed with the calendars being proposed. Having partial weeks that start earlier and end earlier than all local school districts means we don't have options for summer camps for the beginning and end of summer. This causes extreme challenges and hardships for many parents of young kids in the districts. Not to mention that our kids miss out on what feels like a month of summertime with the early August start. As a long-time Oaklander, but new parent to OUSD with a kindergartner, this feels like an opportunity for the current Board members to step up and do something that may not feel easy, in service of the needs of the families in our district. Please continue to explore an annual schedule that aligns with other districts, and pushes the school year start to a more reasonable timeline in late August/early September.
I would like to mirror the position that Sarah Rothe has already posted. This is a huge stressor for many parents in the Oakland unified school district, that it doesn’t match other neighboring or even country wide school districts, nor summer camps. Most (especially affordable) Summer camps do not start this early, and like Sarah already said, it leaves parents who have young children in a huge deficit of trying to balance work and childcare.
In addition, many of the classrooms structures are not set up to be able to handle the heat that comes with August weather in Oakland. My children had to sit all day in sweltering classrooms that had no air conditioning and a few fans to blow around the already hot air. This is not safe nor acceptable for the health of any of our children or teachers. It’s a public safety concern that shouldn’t be ignored. Even starting school in late August would make a huge difference in the comfort and safety of our children and our teachers.
I appreciate the school board hearing parent concerns and pushing the district to see if they could start the school year later. However, hearing at last board meeting that the limiting factor is the payroll software was incredibly frustrating to me, as a parent, and staff. I elect to get 12 paychecks a year despite being a 10 month employee , and there are 11 month employees. So there shouldn’t be a problem, no? Or ditch escape!
We shouldn’t base our student calendars on payroll logistics! This new calendar *still* has working parents of younger kids scrambling for childcare for most of Memorial Day week when other neighboring schools are still in session, and camps are not available. For this year, fine. It might be too late to keep pushing it around. But going forward can we PLEASE align with Berkeley, Piedmont, Alameda, etc. for 2025-2026 and onwards? And decide our calendar sometime between Halloween and Thanksgiving break? Thanks again for your hard work.
I’m a special educator in a neighboring district and I often have to take almost a week off of school in May to cover child care at home. OUSD needs to get the calendar in line with other local districts so there aren’t weeks at a time when summer camps are unavailable. Fix the calendar, please.
Given there is no explanation provided for a school year that returns after a 3-day weekend for a single last-day, I endorse the calendar that ends before Memorial Day weekend.
More importantly, I request for the calendar to be settled sooner so that families may plan PTO, and activities sooner.
Minor Points that just reflect poorly:
1. This request for comment is difficult to understand. The text does not explain trade offs or considerations from A to B, let alone boil down the question (ex. End on a Friday vs end on a Tuesday)
2. Both calendars list the same file ID number "24-0227" when clearly (2) files cannot be the same.
I appreciate the efforts and understand the complexities and difficulties in managing a lot of moving parts / opinions. And, this proposal is even worse. Setting the last day of school the Tuesday after a Monday holiday? That makes very little sense and is quite frustrating. While a decision shouldn't be delayed further, please PLEASE consider the bigger picture: set a reasonable calendar within a reasonable time frame - one that is guided by logic and community need and not software. Thank you!
Please do not delay any further on voting on the calendar. Please!!! In future years, our family would prefer the school year start later and that the Board would decide the calendar at least 6 months sooner. But for now, just take care of 24-25 already. Vote for school to begin 8/6/24. No family wants school to start on a Thursday or the last day to be the day after Memorial Day.
I appreciate the Board's work on trying to find a calendar for school year 24-25 that meets all needs, however as a working parent I am deeply disappointed with the calendars being proposed. Having partial weeks that start earlier and end earlier than all local school districts means we don't have options for summer camps for the beginning and end of summer. This causes extreme challenges and hardships for many parents of young kids in the districts. Not to mention that our kids miss out on what feels like a month of summertime with the early August start. As a long-time Oaklander, but new parent to OUSD with a kindergartner, this feels like an opportunity for the current Board members to step up and do something that may not feel easy, in service of the needs of the families in our district. Please continue to explore an annual schedule that aligns with other districts, and pushes the school year start to a more reasonable timeline in late August/early September.
I would like to mirror the position that Sarah Rothe has already posted. This is a huge stressor for many parents in the Oakland unified school district, that it doesn’t match other neighboring or even country wide school districts, nor summer camps. Most (especially affordable) Summer camps do not start this early, and like Sarah already said, it leaves parents who have young children in a huge deficit of trying to balance work and childcare.
In addition, many of the classrooms structures are not set up to be able to handle the heat that comes with August weather in Oakland. My children had to sit all day in sweltering classrooms that had no air conditioning and a few fans to blow around the already hot air. This is not safe nor acceptable for the health of any of our children or teachers. It’s a public safety concern that shouldn’t be ignored. Even starting school in late August would make a huge difference in the comfort and safety of our children and our teachers.
I appreciate the school board hearing parent concerns and pushing the district to see if they could start the school year later. However, hearing at last board meeting that the limiting factor is the payroll software was incredibly frustrating to me, as a parent, and staff. I elect to get 12 paychecks a year despite being a 10 month employee , and there are 11 month employees. So there shouldn’t be a problem, no? Or ditch escape!
We shouldn’t base our student calendars on payroll logistics! This new calendar *still* has working parents of younger kids scrambling for childcare for most of Memorial Day week when other neighboring schools are still in session, and camps are not available. For this year, fine. It might be too late to keep pushing it around. But going forward can we PLEASE align with Berkeley, Piedmont, Alameda, etc. for 2025-2026 and onwards? And decide our calendar sometime between Halloween and Thanksgiving break? Thanks again for your hard work.