ALL districts must meet these same requirements and are not doing it with delayed openings and inconveniencing the parents with the financial hardship of finding childcare five times a year. Two full day in-service for teachers with two hour training slots. Teachers already had two days before school even started and have one on Columbus day. The State requires 20 hours = 100 hours within 5 years.

The assumption in Chatham has always been that one parent can afford to stay home.

Agree that 5 delayed openings is a ridiculous way to deal with state mandated training. Full days would have been more efficient and would have allowed parents to make child care arrangements. That being said, schools shouldn't be viewed as daycare, either - parents need to make arrangements to have their kids taken care of, whether it means hiring a babysitter, one parent taking a vacation day, or some other arrangement.

I, too, was shocked when I first looked at the school calendar and saw these repeat delayed openings. This issue won't affect me as much as most others, but it still strikes me as a poorly thought out, half-baked approach to providing more training.

I am glad Ms. McGuire is able to inform us about this issue from a parent AND teacher's perspective. I think it is an understatement from Patch to say that this will only affect some. For instance, the Kindergarten program (which is already tremendously weak in my opinion) alternates on these days so that only AM or PM attends.

The Board of Education publishes the School District calendar over a year in advance! As a parent in the district, I note all the applicable dates in my personal calendar prior to the beginning of school so that my husband and I have all delayed openings, vacations, etc covered and planned for. The BOE spends alot of time to create a calendar that has the required 180 days plus snow days, state mandated training days, AND they solicit feedback from the parents. Most parents don't prefer to have their children miss more days of school, which interferes with the learning and retention of information, nor do they want their children in school until the end of June. Thus the delayed openings were created. The school calendars are posted online at www.chatham-nj.org. And if you are interested in assisting the BOE with the creation of future school calendars, please feel free to attend the BOE meetings. The meeting dates are also posted on the www.chatham-nj.org website.

One word....DUMB

We wouldn't be adding five days, we would add one day. This would not bring us to July 1st. This is how it has been in years past. Students had a day off in March, which was a great time to give them a break! One day is easier to cover than five. I am so glad it works out for you, because between my family and friends when childcare was discussed we got nothing. In addition, you are not a single mom.

PS I don't think you are hearing frustration as much as being infuriated.

When I hear about this from a friend I was completely taken back. I did not see this on the sample calendars so I wasn't looking for a change. All I can say is, "Thank you Mrs. McGuire". Getting child care available has been a blessing for us. I was completely panicked! Now I can relax knowing my children are safe and my job will not be upset with me missing so much time. I don't have anyone else to rely on this year. Many of my friends are back to work. I am very grateful. I truly hope this is not the new trend. God Bless you.

Calendars are released at least a year in advance. If you look at the school district's website, the 2012-2013 calendar is already available, and has been for some time.

Transparency and full disclosure. Not fine print. When something is changed, such as the dress code, it was very well communicated. This was hidden because of the outrage it might cause. Aren't we in the 21st century and can't this be an online training session the teachers can take either just before school, during a break or just after? Or here is a novel idea. The 3 months they are off in the summer might be a good time for the training.

Kudos to you Jerry! My sentiments exactly. I could not have said it better myself! Unfortunately, teacher training cannot be done online or in the summer, but I am surprised they have not had the Bullying and Harassing training or Suicide Prevention on one of the two days before school started. What trainings were moreimportant than the Bullying and Harassing or the Suicide Prevention? Teachers can also take professional days. The Learning Resource Center in Morristown offers teacher trainings for $11.

I may be considered naive, but since when is it the schools job to provide child care. I don't think my tax dollars should be concerned about anyone's baby sitting needs. I am concerned that teachers are well prepared. Five two hour periods should not be so impossible to cover. I hope you have a plan for when your child is ill, or do you send him to school anyway because you can't get some one to care for him? What will you do on snow days? Jobs do provide workers with annual leave if that is the only solution. Why not think outside of the box and try the senior citizen center--perhaps someone would love to be a grand parent for a few hours. I have worked full time in NYC with two kids and guess what, their care was my responsibility. With two people working, ten hours of baby sitting expense a year should not be such a financial hardship. Further, why should more money and time be spent on flyers when you have the calendar and should look at it. Why is it always someone else who is wrong when someone does not meet his/her responsibility to read the info.? Why should folks have to be spoon fed? Sure, we are all very busy. Yes, jobs are important and one needs to hold on tight, but children are a parent's responsibility and their care is not the schools responsibility. I am sure that some thought went into the calendar. Really how much notice does someone need? Would you really line up a babysitter in April for Oct.? Be proactive. Get involved in the planning.

First of all, I want to say that I do not hide behind a pseudonym, because when I speak I acknowledge that these are my words. I am very glad to hear that the child care situation has been rectified and I thank Chatham Patch for allowing me to bring this to the community’s attention when unable to reach a resolution with Dr. LaSusa. Whether or not we saw the change last year, it would not have made a difference in the situation. I hope that in the future the district will look into a more effective way of communicating and collaborative with the parents.
One thing that I strongly believe we must acknowledge is the fact that the teachers did not play a part in creating the calendar. I have come across some outstanding professionals during my child's education (and they know who they are) and for their hard work and dedication I am forever grateful.
Baron, thank you for the invitation. I am also a University Professor and have seminars scheduled. This part of my career is extremely important, because it allows me to reach out to future educators and develop their understandings of an effective inclusive classroom by providing them with the knowledge of 504, IDEA laws and regs. I help my students learn how to develop effective strategies and advocate for all children and their families so that they can go forward and provide the same quality education and maintain the same high standards that I hold in teaching and have experienced in Chatham.

Is there a good reason why 2-hour training sessions can't be conducted after school? 3:30-5:30 or 4:00-6:00 wouldn't impact the school day and doesn't seem like a terrible inconvenience for teachers and staff.

It seems the people that are angry about this article are the ones that are not effected by childcare issues and indicate that "it is not their problem and school is not childcare." This is not a very nice attitude, because then we see how are children are developing to be self-center individuals. Instead of reaching out to their fellow parents and offering assistance I hear criticisms and no one knows what someone is going through unless you have been in their shoes. Good child care is almost virtually impossible to find for the type of hours that the school is looking for and it is easier to get a sitter if children were given half days. Putting your job at risk can create a financial hardship for anyone and I am glad to see that LaPuma was able to quite her job and be a stay at home mom so she no longer has to worry about child care assistance. Reaching out to strangers at a senior citizen center is not something I would recommend. That is like stopping someone on the street and asking if they could watch your child. Also, paperless, e-mails and newsletters from the school is a great way to contact parents with no cost(so get creative LaPuma) and yes they do spend the money on flyers asking for donations.
I questions, if we did not meet the benchmarks for NCLB should we even risk losing any instructional time? It may be a "flawed law" but it still is a law.
Mrs. McGuire makes a lot of sense and your tax dollars are not paying for WF.

It is true that the calendar is posted well in advance, however, the district doesn't always stick to what's on the calendar. As I posted above, there have been instances where the delayed opening was announced the day before (and again, not weather related). Yesterday, a delayed opening was announced for 9th graders on October 12. That delayed opening is NOT on the published district calendar.

Obviously that's a minor inconvenience compared to delayed openings in elementary schools, because 9th graders don't need childcare, but some do need rides to school, and since it's only for 9th graders it messes up carpool arrangements with older students.

After reading LaPuma's statement that "people don't plan in April for October" or Anonymous stating "the calendar is out for 2012 -2013", I realized how this confusion occurred. I print the calendar in December for the following year. My husband plans his vacation time around days I do not have off that match the calendar. If it was modified in the spring I was unaware and working off an old calendar. Again, there should have been notification of a modification. I do think that next year the issue that instructional time is taken away from the students should be addressed.
LaPuma, when I stated about a "financial hardship" I was talking about working parents in general. One mother told me she was able to take the five half days off, but would be docked in pay because it was a new job.
I don't think people realize the networking of phone calls, e-mails and texts circulating because of the lack of childcare. I also want you to know that I have NEVER sent my child to school sick and did miss 16 days of work last year due to her excessive illnesses. She is my number one priority. Snow days and holidays, when I am home, I have a house full of children of many working parents and take them sledding. In addition, I sit for children on the weekend of working parents and when they have off during the week they in turn assist me. We are creative, but our resources ran dry without work family. I would NEVER EVER leave my child with a stranger.

Perhaps they should consider early dismissal rather than a delayed opening. Early dismissals are easier on parents for a couple of reasons:

1. In an early dismissal, the older kids are dismissed first. So high school and middle school students are available to watch younger siblings or neighbors. In a delayed opening, they still go into school first and are not available to help.

2. It is generally easier to find afternoon babysitters than morning babysitters.

Another option that I forgot to mention before is to keep the kids in school and bring in substitute teachers to run the classes while the teachers rotate through the training. Summit did this on Friday and each sub was able to cover for two teachers while the teachers took turns going to the training.

We have done this too. It worked out very well and the students remained on task because they knew the teachers were right in the buildings. We even had teachers on their preps cover one another. It is an excellent option. Win win for all.