privates exempt from snow day limits?

[Anonymous]

I am for longer school years. 10 additional days would be fine and would not prevent teachers from taking a well deserved break. The argument that private schools do not need a longer year ignores the trend toward longer years here and around the world.

[Anonymous]

What constitutes a school day though?

my area MCPS is in class for 6 hrs. 15 mins.
the nearest parochial school is 6 hrs. 45 mins
and the nearest private is 7 hrs. 5 mins.

There's nearly a full hour difference there and that adds up over the course of a year. Basically if the private school kid went for 180 days they would have roughly 27 extra days of classroom time over the public school.

All things considered, that basically evens out the perceived "lack of days" that the privates have in their calendars

[Anonymous]

Our private is 7 hrs 20 mins ... thanks 19:32 for this clear perspective on this issue! Now, as to whether 180 days is enough across the board, people will continue to argue that point. I think you point out that privates with fewer days balance out with public with more days, though!

[Anonymous]

Ours is almost 8 hours long every day, not including sports meets.

[Anonymous]

What I find interesting is that private school parents tend to be overly concerned about their children's education, wanting the absolute best elementary school in order to get them on the "Harvard" track. The private school threads on this site reflect a certain high level of anxiety among private school parents. That same anxiety (or focus, concern, or interest) might suggest that these same parents would conclude that a longer school year would benefit their kids. 10 days a year is not much more. And the trend is there.

[Anonymous]

I would favor some added days to compensate. I don't think it makes a tremendous difference, but even when the kids go back tomorrow, they will take some time to settle down, get back into the rhythm of school. In a month or so they take off again for spring break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:but even when the kids go back tomorrow, they will take some time to settle down, get back into the rhythm of school.

I agree - and it's so much more difficult since it was an unplanned break. For Spring Break teachers can at least plan to be at a point in a unit where it's good to break and work in wrapping up lessons and review lessons.

[Anonymous]

There are two issues being discussed here. One: should the school year be longer for everyone in the U.S. On that, I definitely think the school year should be lengthened in general, for all the reasons stated above. But the other issue is, given the current school calendar system in the U.S., whether private schools need the same number of days, and on that note, I would say not. In addition ot the freedom from the need to prep and give standardized tests, privates generally have smaller classes and more motivated, better-behaved students overall (speaking in generalities; I'm sure there are exceptions), which directly translates to less wasted classroom time. Privates can therefore cover the same amount of material in less time.