Posted by Susan, a resident of the Community Center neighborhood, on Dec 29, 2012 at 7:30 am

I am grateful to the administrators at Paly for taking this stance. I want my teen to do well in school but I hope she has a robust life outside of school too, which includes family, the community, her mental and physical health. Life isn't all about grades.

Posted by palo alto mom, a resident of the Embarcadero Oaks/Leland neighborhood, on Dec 29, 2012 at 10:23 am

Parent - the teachers deserve a stress free break and so does the staff that sends inputs info, prints the report cards, etc. Let your student enjoy their work-free break.

Posted by Mom, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jan 1, 2013 at 11:20 am

This notice was sent after the vote about the one percent bonus for the teachers' outstanding effort...hmmm.

Posted by Sign, a resident of the Barron Park neighborhood, on Jan 1, 2013 at 12:08 pm

That's the spirit @Mom. There are some lovely parents here in Palo Alto. The teachers are lucky to have such supportive families.

Posted by Hays Mom, a member of the Walter Hays School community, on Jan 4, 2013 at 8:04 am

Teachers have done their grading and their grades for students are in. The schools are waiting to input the grades until after the break. The teachers want a stress-free break too without phone calls from parents about why their student got a certain grade! Why don't you all do your homework before bashing to the teachers for something you have no knowledge about!

Posted by Parent, a member of the Palo Alto High School community, on Jan 4, 2013 at 11:25 pm

@Hays Mom: Why don't you do YOUR homework before popping off?! The letter states the teachers have not completed the grades yet. If what you said is true (that all the teachers have already turned their grades in) then why are some semester grades already posted on Infinite Campus?! The schools are obviously not waiting to post the grades until after Break if some semester grades are already listed. Plus, teachers can have a stress-free break by not reading their PAUSD emails. Paly is giving the teachers a break by allowing them to calculate grades after Winter Break. But this is incurring MORE stress on students because they have to wait one month after taking final exams to view their grades. The teachers who are concerned about student stress have already posted their semester grades on Infinite Campus.

Posted by Resident, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jan 5, 2013 at 7:27 pm

They return to school on Jan 7. Does it really take 10 days to upload the grades.

I think the teachers do deserve a break just like the kids, but 10 days seems much too long to wait, particularly if a student wants to make any schedule changes.

Posted by humble opinion, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on Jan 5, 2013 at 7:51 pm

Parent

"....but how can Paly administration think it is stress-free if our students have to wait for their semester grades to be posted?"

Since you cannot re-take a final exam, or completely change the teacher's grading system to impact your grade, to our family it makes a small difference to know the good, bad, ugly, or marvelous grade by Christmas or after January 17. The grade also has no impact on the new semester. It's a reflection of the past, and we have a generally good idea the possible range the grade is in. You have had several interim reports, and other inputs.

More important for us, has been the CLEAN break. No exams to think about, good or bad, the past is past, let the new begin.

If on top of this bonus for students, teachers can also have a break, by all means, I would hope so!

Flip side. If what was holding up a clean break before in years past was the potential grading lag, I would give up on prompt grading any day. January 17 sounds good enough for me.

Posted by palo alto mom, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on Jan 7, 2013 at 10:27 am

Parent - some teachers post grades to Infinite Campus and some don't. Those who don't need to have the office put them in. The 17th is probably the day that all the grades can be in and report cards printed to mail.