That's just silly. Yes, we start earlier but we get out before Memorial Day. The school year is the same length!
My kids get two weeks off for Christmas and a week for Spring Break. There are also numerous "teacher planning" and conference days as well as Labor, Veteran's MLK, President's Day, the usual. Last year, many schools in Florida missed days for hurricane closures. My kids actually had to go to school two extra days to make up for them and we never even got a direct hit.
I'd much rather vacation in June and July than in August, when it is hot as Hades. I simply can't believe that schools in Miami-Dade don't have air conditioning as the rest of the schools in Florida apparently do!
And September in Florida is just as hot as August. It doesn't cool off here until October at the very earliest.
This is all much ado about nothing, IMHO!
Gator Girl, you are a breath of fresh air. All these people criticizing starting school here in Florida on August 8th and ending it the third week of May don't know have a clue. We have to air condition from at least April through November, so how does a shift of two or three weeks make the slightest difference?
Most parents have their kids in some kind of day care while they work. There are just not all that many stay-at-home moms any more. It is actually cheaper for the average family to have their kids in school and just pay for before and after care than all day care.
The school year is 180 days. Last year we had so many days off for hurricanes that we thought we were going to lose the spring break or have to say longer, possibly into the first week of June.
Glad it didn't happen.
Also, as you know, FCAT has done wonders for public education in Florida. Suddenly the kids are actually learning to read and write and there is accountability. Schools get report cards that are published in the local newspapers and reported on the nightly news. It is a big deal.
Before FCAT, we had kids graduating who could not read their diplomas and entire schools were sending out illiterate students. That is a rare occurrence now.
Thanks to Frank Brogan, former Education Secretary who was the impetus behind the FCAT, and Jeb Bush, who fully supported it and got it implemented, we now are no longer the 48th or 49th school system in terms of educational quality and achievement in the nation. We have made great strides and continue to improve each year as the test gets a bit harder each year and the bar is raised, not lowered.
All in all, although no one likes the FCAT, it has been a blessing to the children of Florida.