School on Aug. 8 ? Are they insane? (Dave Barry)

Maimi Herald ^ | Aug. 04, 2005 | DAVE BARRY

[nuconvert]

new from Dave Barry, Pong

[madprof98]

Schools in the Atlanta metro area are also starting this early. When you get behind the rhetoric, the reason seems to be the teachers' unions. To get raises, the teachers have to attend summer classes in the state college system, and the new public-school schedule is designed around the college schedule. It has nothing at all to do with the needs of children.

[Vor Lady]

Hey Dave,

You could try home schooling! I'm starting my new school year Aug 15, but that is only so we can take the entire month of December off.

[ladyjane]

Florida

[Moose4]

Same thing in South Carolina, I think one of the suburban counties around Columbia started around 6 August last year. Although, down there, I don't know if it's for the standardized testing or if they've just always done it that way.

}:-)4

[calex59]

Kids in CA are starting on Aug 10th this year. The answer to the question of why is money. The simple truth is that schools get fed money for every day that a child is in attendance. Start earlier and you have more money at the end of the school year.

In this area of CA, the northeastern part, in the mountains, the reason given for the early starts are snow days. While there are at least two days worth of closures of schools here every year for snow days, I have yet to see a year when we were shut down for two weeks for snow, so that reason falls flat. MONEY is the real reason, with control thrown in as a close second. Homeschool and push for vouchers.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Dave Barry nails it. Any school system that starts on Aug 8th parents should pull their kids out of the schools then.

I don't know why schools don't start the Tuesday after Labor Day and end the Thursday before Memorial Day.

[mware]

I think someone told me they get out of school around mid-May. Someone told me they also have a couple of week long vacations during the school year.

Our school starts up the day after Labor Day, we have a week off for Christmas and for what they call Spring Break, (I call it Easter Break) we have Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Monday off.

[mtbopfuyn]

While I never understood not starting school on any day other than the Tuesday after Labor Day, I have to disagree with Barry on one point. Why in the world would any parent drag their kids off on vacation in the middle of a hot scorching August?

[Lancey Howard]

Excellent!
My nephews, in the Dallas school system, always stared in the middle of August. That will never happen in my family. Summer is for OFF from school. Some private school could probably make a lot of money by advertising that summer is for vacation.

[SoftballMominVA]

Do your children go longer than the standard 180 day school year?

The kids in our county start earlier but still go just 180 days and end up finishing much earlier than surrounding counties. There is currently a push to start Aug 1 and end at Memorial Day. It's a thought.

[nuconvert]

School starts in Sept. right after Labor Day and ends in June. Period.

[SouthernFreebird]

We used to start that early, this year we won't start until the 18th due to us being sick and tired of not having summer vacation time and our kids sweltering in the classrooms. The teachers didn't like losing some of those work days one bit.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

My son starts tomorrow.

[tertiary01]

I don't want to hear how the school districts need money when they condone a schedule that almost guarantees that all the classrooms will need extra air conditioning. PG and E should just love the new school year schedules. Also for those schools that still have PE I'm sure that will be a waste of time until the temps go down.

[garyhope]

I remember as a kid eagerly awaiting the end of Spring and the beginning of Summer. Summer started May 30th when school ended for the year. It was like getting out of jail or prison. It was an end to torture. And thank God or the school "authorities" that it didn't start back up until after Labor day.

Why does school go on forever now?

I'm not convinced that kids need 12 years of school either.

I'd be satisfied if some of the dummies out there could simply do simple math, could write and speak somewhat coherently, remember to take their hats off indoors, not put their feet on the furniture, wash, brush their teeth, comb their hair and say "please" and "thank you". That would be a major improvement in public "education".

We need more plumbers, electricians, gardeners, farmers and clerks, etc., not "sales associates" or "partners".

[nuconvert]

Well, I saw kids in school here last week!

It is nuts!

[saquin]

School starts in Sept. right after Labor Day and ends in June. Period.

That's the way it still is here in the Northeast, for the most part. I live on Long Island and grew up here. School has always ended around the 3rd week of June and started right after Labor Day. That's the way it still is. I couldn't imagine it being any other way.

[nuconvert]

3 cheers for school year schedule sanity in the Northeast!