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Being a parent is rarely a predictable job, and sometimes, plans have to change pretty quickly.
Thousands of Des Moines parents suddenly found themselves having to adapt after the district canceled classes for two days following a cybersecurity threat.
Finding child care options on such short notice is just the start of parents' worries.
"Being self-employed, it's a lot easier for us. But I can't imagine some of the other parents, if you're more traditional eight-to-five. For me, I was able to pivot and just kind of work from home that day with my son there," said Jason Stuyvesant, a local parent.
District officials announced Tuesday night that classes would resume Thursday. During a press conference with local reporters, Interim Superintendent Matt Smith said he was grateful to DMPS parents for their flexibility during a difficult time.
"We absolutely recognize that this is putting a hardship and a burden on our families, and that is not something that we want to do to our to our folks in our community and we want to make sure that they know that we are doing everything that we can to get back into the building," Smith said.
However, it is not totally a return to normal.
In an update to parents, officials with the district told community members to expect an "offline learning experience," due to limited access to the school's network.
As far as students are concerned, an extra day off is nice, but too much of a good thing can be pretty draining. It might not be a complete return to business as usual, but parents say their kids are ready to get back to class.
"[My son's] been a bit bored, to be honest. You know, it's kind of fun, like a snow day at first, but when it stretches on ... he maybe reached the end of YouTube and it's like, I'm ready to go do something," Stuyvesant said.
District officials said that, pending school board approval, the first semester will now end on Friday, January 20. The second semester will then start up on January 23 and end on June 2.
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