Rochester Public Schools Added 4 More No-School Days to the Calendar

Yesterday a note went out to all Rochester Public School families with some updates to the calendar for the remainder of this school year.  If you missed that memo, there are 4 more days that are now no-school days for Rochester, Minnesota kids.  One of the dates is rather sudden and is causing some childcare issues for families because it is in 2 weeks.

Rochester Public Schools Added 4 More No-School Days for Students This Calendar Year

If you missed the letter, here is what was sent to families through Skyward:

Greetings Rochester Public Schools Families:

We hope the Thanksgiving/Fall break this week provides some time for your family to enjoy time together celebrating the holiday or enjoying traditions, whatever they may be. I know this school year has been particularly challenging as we continue to navigate the pandemic. We also know that the pandemic is adding much more to everyone’s daily life. This is why we are making a schedule change to four Wednesday’s between now and the end of the school year where we will be asking families not to send students to school so that our staff can focus on planning to meet student needs during the pandemic and to focus on well-being.

Those days are:

• December 8, 2021
• February 9, 2022
• April 20, 2022
• May 11, 2022

We know this can create hardships for families. School Age Child Care (SACC) will be available on these days for families currently enrolled in SACC.

It’s critical we are the best we can be both individually and collectively to support our students.

Happy Thanksgiving, Kent Pekel, Interim Superintendent of Schools

Rochester parents concerned about finding childcare with just a 2-week notice

For some parents, these extra days off aren't an issue because kids are old enough to stay at home on their own or have a sibling that is old enough to help out.  That's not the situation for all families though.

Right now, families with young kids in Rochester, Minnesota are scrambling to find childcare for these additional 4 days off.  Several work environments require vacation days to be requested off far in advance which is leaving parents in a pinch.  Other situations that I read indicated a family member doesn't have any vacation days left because they already planned it out based on the school calendar that was shared prior to the school year starting.

KD with our KROC AM news team reached out to the Interim Superintendent this morning to learn more about this decision. In the response back, the Interim Superintendent shared a little bit on how they are addressing the childcare issues:

I didn’t make this decision lightly as I know it reduces time for in-person learning for students and creates challenges with childcare for some of our families. We will be offering our school-age child care program for families who participate in that program, and are also reaching out to youth-serving organizations in our community to encourage them to expand programming on those days.

Need help finding childcare?  Are you available to help watch kids on those additional no-school days?

If you are one of the families that are needing childcare and need help connecting with others, send me a message on my Facebook page - Jessica On The Radio.  I'm working on seeing what youth-serving organizations in the area are adding childcare for those days and will be posting those resources as they become available.  Give the page a follow and turn on notifications so you get the updates.

Check out these hilarious Google reviews for schools in Southeast Minnesota