Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School should not start until after Labor Day and end the first week of June.

One week at Christmas. Good Friday and Easter Monday off rather than a full week of Spring Break. Cut down on the teacher work days.

If Snow Days built into the schedule are not used, end the year earlier.

The 2 week winter break is often followed by snow days in January/Feb. which means kids lose out on a lot of learning during that time. Last winter was mild, but I remember a few years ago the kids missed a ton of days in January.

My DW and I are both teachers and would be willing to give up some of the student holiday/teacher workdays. Instead of full days some VA districts schedule 3 hour early release days and the teachers have the rest of the afternoon.

I like this calendar. It has a post Labor Day start, three full days at Thanksgiving, 2 weeks around Christmas, a week for spring break, two 3 hour early release dates at the end of the year AND the are done on June 15.

http://mychesterfieldschools.com/wp-content/uploads/calendar_files/CCPS2017-18_calendar.pdf

Anonymous wrote:You now have the last days of August clipped off of summer and the kids are still going to school through, at least, mid June.

They start one week earlier and get out one week earlier.

Anonymous wrote:

If Snow Days built into the schedule are not used, end the year earlier.

It has been explained that this can't be done because 180 days have to remain scheduled on the calendar. With a 180 schedule once a day is used they switch to counting hours.

They could shorten the days at the end of the year with the excess of hours. Heck, the high schools do it anyhow.

Anonymous wrote:School should not start until after Labor Day and end the first week of June.

One week at Christmas. Good Friday and Easter Monday off rather than a full week of Spring Break. Cut down on the teacher work days.

If Snow Days built into the schedule are not used, end the year earlier.

The 2 week winter break is often followed by snow days in January/Feb. which means kids lose out on a lot of learning during that time. Last winter was mild, but I remember a few years ago the kids missed a ton of days in January.

My DW and I are both teachers and would be willing to give up some of the student holiday/teacher workdays. Instead of full days some VA districts schedule 3 hour early release days and the teachers have the rest of the afternoon.

I don't care when the start/end dates are. I love the long winter break and various long weekends. It gives an opportunity to travel at a less traditional/crowded time. We are a dual working family so summers are endless summer camps or trips to the grandparents anyway. It doesn't matter to me when it starts or ends.

I would also be all for trying a year-round school calendar. I could see it working really well through 8th grade, but I'm not sure about how it would work for high school. Guessing that's usually the reason districts don't attempt it (from an educational standpoint and ignoring the parental pressure).

In other news, across the river in MD, they are being forced back to starts after Labor Day. I grew up in MD and sometime in the late 80s, our school system switched to starting the week before Labor Day. I was in middle school, so old enough to understand the change. I don't remember anyone making a huge fuss about it being too early. It also didn't bother me all that much.

I personally wish we could do a modified calendar because research shows it is best for learning. But if people are bitching this much about one week, heaven forbid we switch to a completely different calendar configuration.

That said, I hate the current super long winter break. Especially because of snow days and all the other long weekends already on the calendar in the surrounding couple months. It is all so disruptive to the students.

I prefer after Labor Day because vacation the last week of August was convenient as vacation rates are reduced that week especially in the South since school starts mid-August in the Florida are.

Doesn't matter to us.

PP generally agree, They missed a ton before last year to get the pre-labor day start waiver. I doubt will see many snow days unless they are needed to maintain the waiver. As a kid I HATED pre-Labor Day starts. Once I was back to school I just wanted to stay awhile, sonkids would settle in. It was like have 2 first days of school in less than a week. It was a waste of time like what happens at the end of the school year. I agree with eliminating the death by a thousand cuts approach to mid year days off -- except for the upcoming year because they had to rob summer this year. As a kid we had started with 3 days before Labor Day and still had a 2 week-winter break, a 1-week spring break, and managed to get out in early June -- both on a traditional school calendar and on a year round calendar. Personally, I thought before high school, a year round calendar was perfect -- 3 weeks off every 9 weeks and minimum 4 weeks for summer, plus the aforementioned breaks. Sometimes that meant break time was a week longer for spring/winter. Our schools were on a track system to deal with overcrowding, so breaks varied generally by neighborhood.

School should not start until after Labor Day and end the first week of June.

One week at Christmas. Good Friday and Easter Monday off rather than a full week of Spring Break. Cut down on the teacher work days.

If Snow Days built into the schedule are not used, end the year earlier.

The 2 week winter break is often followed by snow days in January/Feb. which means kids lose out on a lot of learning during that time. Last winter was mild, but I remember a few years ago the kids missed a ton of days in January.

Anonymous wrote:I would be fine if they went all year around.

Me too!

But I'm fine with the schedule now. I grew up in NY, and we always started after Labor Day and ended at the end of June. (My HS graduation date was June 26!) You get used to whatever schedule comes around.

You now have the last days of August clipped off of summer and the kids are still going to school through, at least, mid June.

No, Labor day to memorial day. A week for Christmas and skip all the special days off and enjoy the summer.

I'm fine with starting the last week in August, but I also wish the winter holiday was only one week. It's really rough for working parents.

I would be fine if they went all year around.