Anon Early dismissal from school- logistics? Advice?

[Anonymous (e03f)]

Just to throw a different opinion in, when my older daughter was still a gymnast she was 30 min late to practice for 3 years (6th-8th grade), even if she could have gotten out early we had no way to pick her up that early and get her to the gym. It wasn't ideal, but she made it work.

Yes. Mine was late every single practice during the school year from K through 5th grade (pre team to level 7). Practice started at 4:00. She got out at 3:45, but by the time I picked her up in carpool and drove her to practice it was at least 4:20. She warmed up by herself and then joined in when she was ready. No way was I checking her out earlier every day and missing school. Also our principal was not the most accommodating and wouldn't have allowed it anyway. Many of the other parents at other local schools did (and were allowed to), but it wasn't happening at her school. She was fine.

 

[TheXcelMom]

My daughter is in 6th and goes to a private middle school in southern california. Traffic is the same issue. I approached both as if I didn't expect anyone to know anything about the next year, because no one does.
We were switching gyms just as we started the application process, and said "We don't know where she'll wind up, gym-wise, but she may have to leave 15 minutes early, 2 or 3 times a week."
When we chose a gym, I said, "We live 50 minutes away and may be 15 minutes late every practice."
Both places were pretty easy going about it.
It works out that she leaves school at the bell and show up at the gym on time. But the important thing was getting everyone's feedback and being flexible if we need to be at any given point.
Good luck!

 

[Anonymous (491e)]

Our little gymnast is also in Elementary school, and has to leave school 15 minutes early twice a week to make it to training on time. As we joined our club after the school year had commenced, we approached the teacher directly. In our case those 15 minutes consist of free/clean up time. We were fortunate in that our teacher was extremely supportive, and has facilitated the early dismissal. Our daughter is excused from class and and waits at the office until we enter the school and sign her out. We do have approximately a one hour drive to the club, and made them aware that if road conditions/ traffic are bad we may be late to class. There have been times where she has not been able to leave early due to school performances or special events. In those cases, we communicate directly with the coach and let them know we will not arrive on time. Thus far, this has worked out well, as both the gym and school have been willing to accommodate. I did ask the teacher whether we needed to put anything in writing to the school principal, and was told it wasn’t necessary, as long we kept her apprised of any changes. As we approach the next school year, our plan is to approach the teacher directly. We don’t find out who that will be until the end of the term, so we are optimistic they will be willing to continue the same arrangement. We do try and communicate how appreciative we are on a regular basis, and I think both the school and club seem to recognize we are trying to minimize any disruption to class or training. It was a relief to know we weren’t missing any core instruction, so we didn’t feel we were making any compromises on her education.

Hopefully this helps!

 

[Katie]

As a gym owner. I would be okay with a kid coming late to gym if they couldn’t get there as long as they were warmed up safely.

If they kiss a bit of our early conditioning they could stay late after training and complete it instead, so they don’t really miss anything.

Driving through school traffic can be very slow, and if they go to school far away, I know they do their best to get there when they can.

Having said that though, some schools in the US seem to have very long days, with very few breaks. I couldn’t. Believe the 4:30 finish!

Australian kids spend about 4 1/2 hours a day in the classroom and about 1 1/2 hours a day on breaks (lunch and recess), all the way through to 12th Grade.

It makes me wonder how much a kid is actually learning at the end of the school day in the US, with such long days. How many kids can still focus after spending so many hours in the classroom.

Yeah it’s really bad. Some kids have little to no recess as young as kindergarten. I love the book there’s no such thing as bad weather. It really explains the differences between long and short school days and the trouble long ones cause!