We have four In-Service Days during the school years. These days are important Professional Development days when we need to have ALL of our staff (including after care staff) available and therefore we are not able to provide childcare. We recognize the difficulty that this can cause for families with other regular commitments on those days.
These days help us fulfill the mission of providing a quality education for your child. By recognizing ALL of our staff as professionals who benefit from, and deserve, professional development, we are able to provide continuing education and increased motivation for our staff resulting in unusual longevity. These In-Service Days are often tacked on to the end of vacation times and enable all the staff to meet and do classroom preparations in anticipation of children returning, and often starting new areas of study in the classroom. The full school calendar is available on the
website and in the front of the Student and Family Handbook.
We try to have our calendar coincide as closely as possible with the local public schools, so that families might have other children on the same schedule, and/or can find other options at local organizations (BEEC, Boys and Girls Club, River Gallery School, etc.) who provide care on days the public schools are off.
One day a year, we use our In-Service Day to visit other schools to get ideas for and gain perspective on our teaching and community. This visiting day needs to be in the midst of regular days of school, and therefore, by definition, is a day that other schools are in session or returning from a break. Our staff will be visiting
Woodland Hill Montessori School this Friday. It will be a wonderful opportunity for camaraderie among ALL of our staff, including aftercare teachers, Facilities Manager, Business Manager, and of course, our valued teachers. The Woodland Hill Montessori School has significant similarities to our school:
- They have been in existence 50 years (we 44 years old!).
- They have solid Montessori programs from Toddler through Middle School.
- They are on a beautiful, new campus (including a multi-purpose addition with a gym/theater) that is ending the honeymoon period of needing little maintenance.
I visited Woodland Hill Montessori this past September and their Head of School and a group of teachers have visited our school. This little partnership is a great opportunity to share ideas and feel camaraderie both among our professional staff within our school, and within the larger Montessori community.
While we recognize this seemingly random day off is an inconvenience for families, the schedule is made with the priority of providing a motivated, highly trained professional staff for your students! If you have any questions, or would like to talk with me further about our scheduling and our staff professional development, please email
me or stop by.
