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Read the press release here.

More School Holidays Require Better Planning From Parents and Educators

By Amy Zimmer | February 9, 2016 7:17am
 A classroom at P.S. 295, an arts-focused school in the South Slope. When school is not in session during the work week, many parents in the area are forced to look at paying for mini-camps, many said.
A classroom at P.S. 295, an arts-focused school in the South Slope. When school is not in session during the work week, many parents in the area are forced to look at paying for mini-camps, many said.
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DNAinfo/Leslie Albrecht

MANHATTAN — New York City public schools blazed new territory this year with their inclusion of days off for Muslim holidays in September and for Lunar New Year on Monday.

The move was applauded by communities across the city that were proud to see their cultures celebrated and honored in their children's curriculum.

But adding holidays — especially when they're clustered around other days off — has had consequences for classroom momentum and family logistics, since these holidays aren't days off for most working parents.

February will likely seem even shorter this year with schools closed a day this week for Lunar New Year and then mid-winter recess next week. Also, with the addition of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha in September, the first three weeks of school had only three days each.

“These school days off, which the rest of the working world don’t get off, creates deeper disturbance of the family because parents may be struggling with childcare and there’s more financial stress with parents having to pay for camps or day care,” said Mark Lauterbach, a Brooklyn College professor of early childhood education and a parent of a Park Slope middle schooler.

“The midwinter break is brutal,” he added. “Unless you are privileged and can take a week off and go skiing. These things create a lot of stress on families.”

Many parents turn to mini-camps like ones offered by places such as Park Slope’s Jugamos a Cantar (costing $85 for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.), Asphalt Green on the Upper East Side or TriBeCa (costing $135 for similar hours) or Super Soccer Star’s mini-camp on Monday where for four hours kids could kick some balls in Stuy Town, the Upper East Side or Upper West Side for $100.

In the world of early childhood education, the schedule disruption can be hard on children, especially at the beginning of the year, Lauterbach noted.

“Young children thrive on routine, and disruptions in routines are really hard for young kids,” he said. “But the real issue is not so much with kids: it disrupts family life and that then disrupts kids' lives.”

For older kids, the days off have forced school leaders to think more carefully about classroom management and how they’re structuring the workload for students.  

At Staten Island Technical High School, one of the city’s elite specialized high schools, principal Mark Erlenwein said he and his teachers began planning as soon as the DOE released the calendar last spring.

“It definitely poses challenges with continuity of instruction,” Erlenwein said. “We've just adapted by planning more diligently and frequently."

Noting there would be fewer instructional days in September fueled the school’s decision to reduce the number of marking periods each term from the standard three (starting with one in October) down to two (with the first in November). That allowed for more instructional and assessment time, the principal said.

Also, Staten Island Tech began sending out the school calendar to parents every two weeks, making sure everyone was very clear on vacation days.

Erlenwein took a step further, creating a new rule that major assignments must be announced the week before long breaks and due a week after breaks “to allow for a better balance between family and education.”

He added, “Knowing that our students and their families plan for meaningful vacation time together — and deserve it — during these week-long breaks, our teachers are very mindful.”