School districts nationwide have abruptly canceled school days, often with very little notice, throughout November, citing teacher burnout and leaving parents scrambling to make childcare arrangements.
From Michigan to Maryland, North Carolina to Washington, school districts nationwide are canceling school days under a mix of causes, chief among them being “staff fatigue” and shortages, NPR reported.
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The announced closings have often come with minimal notice. School districts in Washington state notified parents two to three days before they canceled classes the Friday after Veterans Day because of staff shortages.
Ann Arbor public schools in Michigan gave parents five days’ notice that Thanksgiving break would begin on Monday instead of Wednesday, giving students and staff a whole week off for the holiday, also citing staff shortages.
The majority of staffing shortages are due to teachers taking extra days off, often because of concerns of “burnout,” leaving many parents indignant.
The NPR report cited a Maryland mother who works in healthcare who called the closures “a slap in the face to all of those essential workers” after a Montgomery County school district gave her two weeks’ notice that the half school day before Thanksgiving had been canceled.
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Erika Sanzi, director of outreach for Parents Defending Education, told the Washington Examiner it was understandable that teachers have “found the past 18 months more stressful than usual.”
“So have parents, many of whom don’t get paid if they don’t show up to work and now have to scramble to find last-minute arrangements because schools have decided they no longer need to open five days a week,” Sanzi said. “If the education establishment no longer considers public schools an essential service, they should say that and give parents their tax dollars to spend on a school that actually opens its doors Monday through Friday.”
