Free Republic

In Hawaii, school's out for recession By MARK NIESSE Associated Press Writer HONOLULU -- At a time when President Barack Obama is pushing for more time in the classroom, his home state has created the nation's shortest school year under a new union contract that closes schools on most Fridays for the remainder of the academic calendar. The deal whacks 17 days from the school year for budget-cutting reasons and has education advocates incensed that Hawaii is drastically cutting the academic calendar at a time when it already ranks near the bottom in national educational achievement.

It’s too hot to go back to school! Up in the Midwest, school doesn’t start for another two weeks and, for the most part, it’s cooler up there than it is in Georgia. Why in the world do students in the heat-oppressed, sweat-drenched, unbearably humid, and monumentally muggy South, find themselves standing in lines waiting for the school bus before the first seven days of August have passed? If memory serves correctly, folks in my ancient generation usually got out of school just before Memorial Day and returned to school following Labor Day. There was a time when “Summer Vacation”...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Gov. Tom Vilsack thinks students need to go to school longer each year and said he is formulating a plan for lawmakers to consider next year. Many of the details are still being worked out, but he said the plan would be ambitious. He said he would have little patience with those in the closely divided Legislature who claim election-year pressures in avoiding such a debate. "Next year will not be an easy year," said Vilsack. "There's an election next year and a lot of people are running for things. That would be a convenient...

MARYSVILLE, Wash. (AP) - The students in Marysville got an extra seven weeks of summer while their teachers walked the picket lines in the state's longest school strike. Now, it looks like they'll be paying for it with their vacations through mid-July. The state requires schools to be in session for at least 180 days. With seven weeks lost to the strike, the Marysville schools administration and teachers on Thursday proposed a new class schedule that would extend the school year to July 16, add classes on two Saturdays and cut back the winter holiday and spring break vacations. The...

Vacation is gone before it gets here By Diane Brooks Times Snohomish County bureau MARYSVILLE — A whimper escaped from 12-year-old Joey Fredenburg when he heard the news yesterday: Summer vacation won't start until July 17. "This is a total change, going from normal summers, to a really long summer, and now it's going to be a half-as-long summer," said the Cedarcrest School seventh-grader. A whopping 15 vacation days — including six around Christmas and New Year's Day and two for spring break in May — are included on a proposed calendar for the remaining school year. Bargaining teams for...