August Start for Private Schools (to build in a snow day reserve)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, because we don't agree with you we are complacent and don't really care about education? Has it ever occurred to you that other points of view can actually be well-reasoned, but simply different?

Not because you don't agree with the original poster, but because so much of this thread focuses on how we parents do not want to adopt anything that may inconvenience our vacations -- even if it may benefit our children's education. It is really such a reflexive, NIMBY, anti-intellectual position, and I can get that sort of argument, but with better weather, in California.

Sock puppet?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love this idea! I am going to market "Snow Days Make You Stupid" T-shirts to capitalize on the growing protest movement.

I will certainly buy your t-shirt and place it next to my "who says people in L.A. don't read books" T.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a believer that students benefit most from having a continuous, three-month long, uninterrupted block of school days from mid-August through late-November before the Thanksgiving holidays, Christmas/Winter Break, and numerous weather delays and snow days start to break up the continuity of their academic year, and possibly affect overall teaching and learning. And honestly pushing those missed days into late June is unhelpful, as I think the students start to mentally check out on June 1st, when those glorious summer days distract from learning.

Since this year's very late Labor Day will push the first day of classes into the (in my opinion) inexcusably late second week of September, will any of the area private schools put their students first and consider changing to a mid-or-late August start instead? That will certainly make all of next winter's snow days and delayed starts (and there will be many) more palatable. I would like to see the schools put their students first, and by announcing it now in April, it will give staff and families time to plan accordingly.

How about you respectfully acknowledge that this is the HOS decision, not yours. Unless of course, you wouldn't mind finding the HOS at your firm tomorrow talking to your partners about how your billable hours don't add up and that someone should really " take a look"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a believer that students benefit most from having a continuous, three-month long, uninterrupted block of school days from mid-August through late-November before the Thanksgiving holidays, Christmas/Winter Break, and numerous weather delays and snow days start to break up the continuity of their academic year, and possibly affect overall teaching and learning. And honestly pushing those missed days into late June is unhelpful, as I think the students start to mentally check out on June 1st, when those glorious summer days distract from learning.

Since this year's very late Labor Day will push the first day of classes into the (in my opinion) inexcusably late second week of September, will any of the area private schools put their students first and consider changing to a mid-or-late August start instead? That will certainly make all of next winter's snow days and delayed starts (and there will be many) more palatable. I would like to see the schools put their students first, and by announcing it now in April, it will give staff and families time to plan accordingly.

How about you respectfully acknowledge that this is the HOS decision, not yours. Unless of course, you wouldn't mind finding the HOS at your firm tomorrow talking to your partners about how your billable hours don't add up and that someone should really " take a look"

Did the OP say they are a law firm partner? Figures! :wink:

[Anonymous]

I don't understand why the original poster thinks there are no snow days built into the schedule?

[Anonymous]

Additional days, especially in the fall, would benefit students in AP classes, and to a lesser extent, those who take SAT subject tests. Depends on your priorities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Additional days, especially in the fall, would benefit students in AP classes, and to a lesser extent, those who take SAT subject tests. Depends on your priorities.

I agree with you. As the parent of younger children I preferred the late start, but now as the parent of high school students, including one who is a senior, I see the value of starting the school year earlier in August.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why the original poster thinks there are no snow days built into the schedule?

I think it's because s/he looked at start/end dates at a couple of schools in warmer areas and found they were roughly the same as start/dates around here. I was curious so I looked at the calendar for the one school s/he cited, Harvard-Westlake, and found that it's a little more complicated than that:

Harvard-Westlake takes 10 days of spring break. Sidwell takes 6. MS at Harvard-Westlake ends one day before MS at Sidwell. Sidwell 8th graders spend 25 more minutes per week in school than middle schoolers at Harvard-Westlake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Additional days, especially in the fall, would benefit students in AP classes, and to a lesser extent, those who take SAT subject tests. Depends on your priorities.

I agree with you. As the parent of younger children I preferred the late start, but now as the parent of high school students, including one who is a senior, I see the value of starting the school year earlier in August.

Kids have different needs at different levels, that's certainly true. But for families with several kids, a different school calendar for each kid could prove a logistical nightmare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Additional days, especially in the fall, would benefit students in AP classes, and to a lesser extent, those who take SAT subject tests. Depends on your priorities.

I agree with you. As the parent of younger children I preferred the late start, but now as the parent of high school students, including one who is a senior, I see the value of starting the school year earlier in August.

Kids have different needs at different levels, that's certainly true. But for families with several kids, a different school calendar for each kid could prove a logistical nightmare.

There have been times when my children have all attended the same school on the same calendar, and times when they have not. It was not difficult to adjust and adapt to the different schools and schedules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a believer that students benefit most from having a continuous, three-month long, uninterrupted block of school days from mid-August through late-November before the Thanksgiving holidays, Christmas/Winter Break, and numerous weather delays and snow days start to break up the continuity of their academic year, and possibly affect overall teaching and learning. And honestly pushing those missed days into late June is unhelpful, as I think the students start to mentally check out on June 1st, when those glorious summer days distract from learning.

Since this year's very late Labor Day will push the first day of classes into the (in my opinion) inexcusably late second week of September, will any of the area private schools put their students first and consider changing to a mid-or-late August start instead? That will certainly make all of next winter's snow days and delayed starts (and there will be many) more palatable. I would like to see the schools put their students first, and by announcing it now in April, it will give staff and families time to plan accordingly.

How about you respectfully acknowledge that this is the HOS decision, not yours. Unless of course, you wouldn't mind finding the HOS at your firm tomorrow talking to your partners about how your billable hours don't add up and that someone should really " take a look"

Just a friendly comment, and not meant to be too critical.

Previous poster, I understand the point you are trying to make, but your analogy does not hold up well from a lawyer's perspective. You are probably not an attorney, and that's a good thing, because otherwise you might have offered the more analogous example of a law firm's client asking to review, and questioning, an attorney's billable hours. That actually happens a lot.

In this case the parent is analogous to the law firm's client, the school is analogous to the law firm, and the examining the number of in-school days is analogous to the review of an attorney's billable hours.

There, we do have too many attorneys in this town. :wink: :D

[Anonymous]

Do any of the local private schools have a ski week followed later by a spring break? Maybe H-W combines those vacations into a long spring break?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do any of the local private schools have a ski week followed later by a spring break? Maybe H-W combines those vacations into a long spring break?

I have not heard of this locally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What private schools, even those that start after Labor Day, are in session in late-June? Most privates can afford to miss a ton of snow days without extending their calendar because the kids are in school longer each day. No way would I support an August start date.

+1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do any of the local private schools have a ski week followed later by a spring break? Maybe H-W combines those vacations into a long spring break?

I have not heard of this locally.

Sometimes it is a February break week, followed by a spring break later.