Reply to Revisit Pre-Labor Day Start For 2016/2017 or 2017/2018 Academic Calendars

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]DC Public Schools began classes on Monday, August 24, 2015 this academic year.  Montgomery County Public Schools began classes on Monday, August 31, 2015 this academic year.  St Albans School began registration on Monday, August 31, 2015 this academic year.  There is currently a discussion within one of the threads on the Forum for VA Public Schools that suggest that Fairfax County Public Schools will probably seek and obtain a waiver from the State in order to begin classes the Monday before Labor Day for the upcoming 2016-2017 Academic Year.

In spite of those examples of pre-Labor Day school starts, and numerous others around the country, most of the top, progressive, and may I add, very expensive Independents in this area began classes no earlier than Tuesday, September 8, 2015 this year, and in some cases a day or two later.  [b]It is time to revisit the traditional post-Labor Day start and to debate, or at least consider, a pre-Labor Day start to the schools.

[/b]This region, like places all over the World, is subject the very real effects of climate change.  Storms of the Decade, or Storms of the Century, instead now occur with more regularity. [i]"[R]ecent research has shown that increasing surface temperatures and reductions in Arctic sea ice may produce atmospheric circulation patterns that are favorable for winter storm development in the eastern United States"[/i]    (https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/news/climate-change-and-extreme-snow-us).

Climate changes are causing people everywhere to revisit the way they have traditionally planned, acted, built, and indeed lived.  Take areas from southern Florida to New England, where coastal communities are now considering whether it is any longer feasible to build, or rebuild after storm surges, in areas that have been populated for centuries.  Or look at this week's example of the effects of El Niño on the longtime residents of  clifftop houses and buildings in Pacifica, CA, who are being forced to evacuate and move for good.

Increasingly snowy winters in this area mean that we can no longer avoid one or two weeks off of school for snow days in January and February, and in fact, we can anticipate that they will happen increasingly and more regularly.  In a perfect world our local governments would take are of us; planning for these changes and investing in the resources, the equipment, and the manpower to effectively deal with these changed circumstances, as they have done for decades in New England or the Midwest.  But in a real world full of other legislative funding priorities, and the glacial pace of political change, we know that is not going to happen.

Yes, we absolutely love and enjoy our traditional late August Beach or European vacations, when the earlier school starts elsewhere make everything less crowded and less expensive.  But things change, and we must change with them.  Californians love their backyard pools, and year-round, water-intensive grass and vibrant flowers.  But they are nevertheless having to limit their water consumption, fill in some of those backyard pools, and switch to drought-resistant plantings.  Residents of Miami are having to consider the viability of historic, ocean side neighborhoods like Coral Gables or Coconut Grove, among others.

This year we have been very lucky in that our big snowstorm has been followed by a cooperative week of relatively mild temperatures that have assisted greatly in a quick meltoff.  But what if this weekend's 24" had been followed by more common arctic temperatures?  In that case,  we would not have had our students back in school until next week.  The future will bring more of disruptive winters, and perhaps other (Remember the Derecho? Or Hurricane Isabel?) weather events, with the power to cancel schools for long periods of time.  It is therefore time that we weigh, consider, and probably implement an earlier start to the academic calendar during the more temperate weeks of mid or late August.  It is the right thing to do.[/quote]

Um yeah. I was wondering about that.

I made a mistake in the original post, obviously.[/quote][/quote]

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