SandyBouattick t1_j8op839 wrote on February 15, 2023 at 9:19 PM

Adjusting start times makes sense for kids, but I don't know how anyone expects parents to be able to have multiple children of different ages and get their kids safely to school while holding down full time jobs. People complain that parents want schools to be convenient babysitting programs, but the reality is that we aren't in the 1950s anymore. Mom doesn't sit at home preparing meals and sewing clothes between pick up and drop off at school. Having kids is extremely expensive and forcing one parent (still most likely to be mom) to give up a career and income in order to get kids to and from schools at staggered times is rough. I don't know why this state doesn't have more free before and after care programs. There aren't too many jobs that let you start at 10:00 AM, leave at 2:00 PM, and take several days off per month for random half days and school holidays and closures.

photinakis t1_j8otpt0 wrote on February 15, 2023 at 9:48 PM

Before/afterschool care is really the key. And it's frustratingly hard in some towns and cities to figure out if they have these programs unless you already have a kid in the schools. We really make some things unnecessarily hard in this state.

SandyBouattick t1_j8ourvx wrote on February 15, 2023 at 9:54 PM

Even where they do have them, they're still expensive. The people most likely to need before and after care are the people who can't afford to have one parent stay home. The costs of before care, after care, vacation care, and summer care are outrageous. Planet Money did an episode on child care and said it's basically a broken market and people are now pushing for the "solution" of parents taking out huge loans for child care like they do for college. It's insane. To have kids these days you have to either be rich enough to pay for everything or poor enough that you don't pay for anything. The middle class just gets screwed.

Academic_Guava_4190 t1_j8pbmdt wrote on February 15, 2023 at 11:52 PM

But what isn’t taken into effect is that people have to be paid for these roles. Before anyone says teachers get enough time off I ask you to attempt to work in education where a lot of the work happens after the end of the school day at home and a lot of money is paid out of pocket for supplies.

SandyBouattick t1_j8pgiza wrote on February 16, 2023 at 12:28 AM

I'm not suggesting that teachers come in early and stay late without additional pay. I'd love to see schools or the state hire staff specifically for these roles. If teachers want the extra work for extra pay, cool. If not, there are other people available. In fact, lots of towns have before and after care already, so these people already exist and are working and being paid. I'm just saying we should try to better integrate them into the standard school offering. The cost of before and after care is high for parents, and the school day hours no longer make sense. The days seem to start between 7 and 9 and end between 2 and 3:30. If you have multiple kids, you might need to be driving back and forth multiple times. The school day seems to have been designed with a stay-at-home mom in mind. Those days are mostly gone. We should rethink the school day like we re-thought women's roles in society, and recognize that both parents are typically working full time these days.