Spring break scheduling conflicts

Monday is the first day of a one week spring break in the Santa Barbara Unified School District. But other districts including the Oxnard School District have just started a two-week break. And the Port Hueneme School District doesn’t start its two-week break until the Monday after Easter.

The time off can be fun for family vacations, but it can be a lot to juggling for parents without the same time off.

Jen Brown is the mother of a 7-year-old Roosevelt elementary school student.
Brown works from home as a lawyer for an East Coast company. So this week, Brown is trying to find fun things for her daughter to do without interrupting her legal work. She calls it a challenge. It’s also a challenge for parents who didn’t plan ahead.

The Santa Barbara Police Activities League and teen center has paired teens with younger kids to go to on field trips to the beach, the Santa Barbara Zoo and Sky High in Camarillo.

But SB PAL doesn’t have enough vans to take more than a few dozen kids.

Parents are calling and begging PAL to include their children. but there is a waiting list to join them.

Another parent is sharing the extra child care with a friend.

Rather than going on a big vacation, Cari Menchaca and her children are doing the kind of things tourists do in Santa Barbara.

That includes visiting the Natural History Museum and riding the trolley up and down State Street.

Nick Vail changed his careers to real estate to be more flexible. Vail works at Sterling Properties and is thankful the company has given him this week off to go to the park and a swimming people with his daughter Arina, who is full of energy and autistic.
Vail said he just hopes he can keep up with her.