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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think the discussion about the difficulties of moving the start of school back a week highlight why it is better to do what FCCPS did and have the abstract discussion of when we want school to start, rather than a yearly debate.  The fact is- [b]the year you shorten summer is always going to be kind of painful.[/b]  These are the benefits of the 2 week before labor day start day:
1. Allows more school before AP/IB exams (this reason has been discussed).
2. Kids who play fall sports already have to be back Aug 1st to start practice- the earlier start date better lines up with those schedules.
3. VA mandates that the friday before labor day and labor day be holidays.  Starting 1 week before labor day means a 4 day school week followed by a 4 day weekend, followed by a 4 day week.  Starting two weeks before labor day allows for a 5 day week, followed by a 4 day week before you hit a 4 day weekend, giving more of a chance to get into a learning stride.

The closeness of when summer school ends is a this year problem- presumably summer school shifts earlier if you start school earlier.

Of course the benefits of starting early get taken away if the response by the school system is to add lots of new holidays throughout the year keeping kids in school longer, and having more broken up weeks.[/quote]

The problem with this is that they are not proposing a one-year transitional shortened summer. The earlier start date is not resulting in an earlier release date. Personally, I'm 100% on-board with a shorter summer break (I prefer a year-round calendar); but shortening the traditional summer (may) create challenges for summer school staff recruitment, and possibly student attendance for non-essential summer classes.  Maybe APS wants to eliminate non-essential summer classes from its curriculum, wouldn't be surprised; but that doesn't help recruiting teachers who want a significant summer break.[/quote]

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