Sick Days and Other No School Days

No school days, such as teacher workshops, holidays, and school breaks, along with sick days or snow days, can present logistical challenges for divorced parents.

Scheduled No School Days

Including provisions for advance planning and notification of no school days in your parenting plan can help avoid conflict.

Common ways of dealing with no school days:

• Regular Parenting Schedule: Align no school days with the existing parenting time schedule.
• Alternate Arrangements: Specify alternate arrangements for no school days to ensure both parents share the responsibility in a predictable manner up front, like alternating each no school day or dividing them in an agreeable manner at the start of the school year

Sick Days or Snow Days (Unscheduled)

Sick days or snow days require immediate attention and flexibility, as they cannot be predicted in advance.

Common ways of dealing with sick days or snow days:

• Primary Sick Day Parent: One parent responsible for handling sick days – consistent and easy for school to handle
• On-Duty Parent Responsibility: Coverage falls with the scheduled on-duty parent – could end up with imbalance in coverage
• Alternating Responsibility: Can involve taking turns on a daily, weekly, monthly, or other agreed-upon basis

May need back-up care if parents are both unavailable on an unforeseen sick day or snow day