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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I passionately disagree op.   I hope our independent school doesn't succumb to this rhetoric, which is just the [i]front for the irritated Two Working Parent lobby.

[/i]Don't ruin a genteel good thing because you're peeved that you have to pay for more camps.   [/quote]

In reading the multiple threads on this topic in the VA Public Schools Forum, since DC and MD Public Schools already begin before Labor Day, I think the general argument is not made for reasons of babysitting, as you appear to think.

It appears, actually, to be an argument primarily forwarded and motivated by the parents (both working and SAH) of high school students.  And those students are already perfectly capable of staying home by themselves, without the need of a babysitter or day camp.  (The parents of elementary and middle school students, by contrast, seem to wholeheartedly agree with you on the vacation enjoyment of those late days of August and early September spent on a beach.)

The general consensus of the parent of high school students, however, seems to be that whether or not your school offers an AP curriculum, many students are effectively preparing to take a number of APs, SAT Subject Tests, ACT, SAT, and IBs at years end.  Many of those exams have national fixed test dates in late mid-to-late May and early June.  Having more teaching and learning days in the driveable weather of mid-August, allows both teachers and students to cover more of any given curriculum before the end-of-year standardized exams, which are still after all important for college admissions.  Having those snow days made up for in mid-to-late June does not help with those exams.

One poster has suggested that lower and middle schools continue to begin [i]after[/i] Labor Day, since parents of younger students such as yourself, still wish to enjoy "a genteel good thing" in those lounging days of late summer.  And that upper schools begin [i]before[/i] Labor Day to benefit those students at a time when they most need a sustained and strong academic push.  Many high school students who play a fall sport or participate in a fall extracurricular are back before Labor Day in any case for practices, rehearsals, and meetings.  I can think of many private schools in other parts of the country which either already beggin before Labor Day, or else implement the split start suggested above.[/quote]

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