Obtaining Custody for Preschool

My question involves a child custody case from the State of: California
I have a 4 year old that I would like to enroll into preschool. I live in Orange County and Father lives in Merced County. We have been echanging week on week off for years. For the past several months father agreed to enrolling our child in preschool. He asked that I type an agreement, however now that the stip & order is done, he is refusing to sign it.

I called the Couthouse in Merced to schedule mediation. I was told I must file an OSC firts, but that will take 4-6 weeks to secure a court date. School starts in a little over three weeks. Could I fila an Ex-Parte OSC for an order shortening time? If not, what can I do to ensure that my child gets enrolled in school?

Ex-Partes are for emergencies. You have no emergency.

The major problem is there is a 300 mile difference between us. I do not have any issues with visitation whatsoever. From what I was told, the stip & order provides more visitation to the father than what the court would probably order. My concern is that he will not allow me to enroll the child in preschool. Keeping him out of school for an extra year is not in his best interest. Father has acknowledged this on several occasions, but does not want to sign.

Preschool is not mandatory. There is no harm in keeping a child out of preschool. They learn nothing more in preschool than you can teach them on your own, nor does the State of California require it. Father does not have to sign a stip and order he doesn't agree with. Your option is to have the issue litigated, and again, this isn't an emergent situation that requires an ex parte hearing.

He's 4. Pre-school is not a requirement, and I'm not sure you could convince the court that this is a pressing issue at all - period.

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Quoting Dogmatique

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He's 4. Pre-school is not a requirement, and I'm not sure you could convince the court that this is a pressing issue at all - period.

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There isn't a court in all of CA that would call a 4 year old missing preschool a pressing issue, and IMO, it's a tremendous waste of valuable court time.

By preschool are we talking about some form of child care? About some form of pre-kindergarten program in the public schools? About something else?

Dad's objection is what? That you are in fact proposing that the week-by-week parenting time end (or that it is rendered unworkable) in association with the child's enrollment in the preschool program?

Thank you for all the advice. I know pre-school is not a state requirement, however it was recommended in our original mediation order.

It is a pre-kindergarten program in a public school. I believe Dad's objection pertains to the summer vacation. He wants the entire summer break with no visitation to me whatsoever. I think it would be difficult for our son, and myself, not to have any physical contact with his Mother and half-sister for that long. He's only going to be 5 years old by then. I offered him either two or three consecutive weeks to him and one to me. It would be up to the Father to choose or offer any other suggestions. Honestly, I would probably agree. Although I am not comfortable with not seeing our son for three weeks at a time, I want them to maintain a relationship. So far that is the only objection I know about.

We have been exchanging custody for almost three years and it has worked so far. Our son is strapped in a car seat for almost 6 hours every Sunday in order to exchange. I was hoping that we could resolve this already, as we have been talking about this for months. If we can't, then obviously we will continue with the present arrangement