When did it become a fad to promote back to school early?

[mom2rtk]

Because not every district follows the same schedule yours does.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Many of the southern states go back to school well before other parts of the country. Chunks of Georgia start in July, my friends in Alabama started August 1st, and our local district started last week. Plus most budget minded families start shopping well in advance for the best deals. I grew up in an area that went back to school after Labor Day, but my mom started looking for deals in July…and she was not alone. Summer sidewalk sales in our area were specifically targeted to attract budget conscious back to school shoppers… and this was over 40 years ago. Add in all of the states that offer tax free weekends around this time and it makes perfect sense to see back to school advertising.

 

[sk!mom]

Texas schools are out mid to late May and go back early to mid August. I went back for inservice last Tuesday and kids start this Thursday. Many schools around me have all ready been back for a week or so.

 

[MillauFr]

I love that you are already drinking pumpkin spice! I’m a teacher in MA so I’m just curious when do kids get out beginning of May?

Amateur. I already have the Christmas lights up.

 

[TippyThomas]

I celebrated New Years yesterday.

 

[Smugpugmug]

I love that you are already drinking pumpkin spice! I’m a teacher in MA so I’m just curious when do kids get out beginning of May?

I drink pumpkin spice coffee year round. I'm not bound by the concept of "seasons".

 

[Meriweather]

Grand kids went back to school Aug. 2, they get out the Thursday before Memorial Day.
But not all school districts are the same. Some go back mid July to the end of May with longer breaks for fall and spring.

The school stuff is all on sale and being cleared out and Halloween is going up

 

[kdonnel]

School has been back in session long enough that both my wife and daughter have their first cold from the disgustingly germy kids.

 

[tvguy]

So when do they get out for summer vacay?

Summer break started in the district I live in June 4 and school resumes Thursday August 15. In about 2000 they moved the start of school forward by two weeks. The reason for that was final exams for the fall semester used to be 2 weeks into January, after Christmas break. Schools felt it was better to have finals before Christmas break, so they don't have to spent time reviewing material after a two week Christmas break.
One of the districts in the foothills here is warning parents not to schedule any vacations until after a certain date well after the scheduled last day of school. The district is in an area where electricity may be shutoff to reduce the risk of wildfires. The issue is, the district is already at the minimum 180 day school year, so with no pad built into the schedule, they may have to extend the school year to meet the minimum.

 

[tvguy]

Grand kids went back to school Aug. 2, they get out the Thursday before Memorial Day.
But not all school districts are the same. Some go back mid July to the end of May with longer breaks for fall and spring.

The school stuff is all on sale and being cleared out and Halloween is going up

LOL. Some of the overstocked Halloween candy was already on the close out shelf at the grocery store today!

 

[Genie+]

The closer it is to a holiday the higher the chance a customer already bought what they need for a specific season. The earlier a store makes sales the better for them.

 

[barkley]

in our region there's at most a 3 week difference between individual districts ending the school year. our kids always got out the first week of june while others (generaly those that called snow days with the first flake that appeared resulting in using up all their banked days and having to extend the year) being out by the last week of june.

that said-i happened to be in a walmart in the middle of june and was very surpised to see that the 'quick shop' seasonal area near the front of the store only had one row dedicated to 4th of july decor with all the rest stuffed to the brim with back to school. i was at the same walmart a week or so ago and they pulled back some of the back to school in there for summer/bbq stuff but that's b/c the aisle that runs almost the entire depth of the store adjacent to to it has dozens of endcaps and mid aisle displays of back to school that already was begining to look pretty picked through. i just checked-school in our district starts 8/28 with the biggest district starting the day after labor day.

 

[kdonnel]

So when do they get out for summer vacay?

This school year's calendar for my wife:

Day 1 for teachers July 25th
Day 1 for students August 1st

Last day for students May 21st
Last day for teachers May 23rd

Teachers get about 8.5 weeks of summer break while students get about 9.5 weeks.

 

[cvjw]

I love that you are already drinking pumpkin spice! I’m a teacher in MA so I’m just curious when do kids get out beginning of May?

In my county in metro atlanta, kids go back to school end of July, beginning of August. They then get a week off in September for fall break, a week at thanksgiving, 2 weeks at Christmas, a week in February for winter break, and a week in April for spring break. School then is out for summer right before Memorial Day. It is a great schedule for travel during the year!

 

[ddluvsdisney]

In my county in metro atlanta, kids go back to school end of July, beginning of August. They then get a week off in September for fall break, a week at thanksgiving, 2 weeks at Christmas, a week in February for winter break, and a week in April for spring break. School then is out for summer right before Memorial Day. It is a great schedule for travel during the year!

Wow!! That is a great schedule! I wish mine was like that.

 

[Earningmywings]

So when do they get out for summer vacay?

The week before Memorial Day sometime between Wednesday and Friday.

 

[RangerPooh]

School start week and end weeks vary county to county, state to state. When we were in WA our kids started school the last week of August and remained until mid June. Here in TN our kids are already back to school and get out the third week of May.

With such a variation in start dates stores have to promote to all. Here, school has already resumed, summer has been on clearance for weeks, and Halloween is moving in

Unless there’s a common start/end date you’ll continue to see the promotion earlier than you’d like.

 

[Magical2017]

I think some people want to get supplies early and take advantage of sale prices.

I wish it was regional with store displays and ads. We don't go back until the end of August (got out in mid-June). I get that some go back in early August but I don't want to see anything back-to-school related until the beginning of August.

 

[tvguy]

In my county in metro atlanta, kids go back to school end of July, beginning of August. They then get a week off in September for fall break, a week at thanksgiving, 2 weeks at Christmas, a week in February for winter break, and a week in April for spring break. School then is out for summer right before Memorial Day. It is a great schedule for travel during the year!

Yes, all those weeks off were not something I had as a kid. They don't have a week off in September here, but they take a week now for Thanksgiving instead of just Thursday and Friday. They take a week off for Presidents Day instead of just one day like when I was in school. One of the districts with a large number of students from Mexico takes three weeks at Christmas and two weeks at Easter because a lot of students go back to Mexico to visit family for those religious holidays, and parents would not come back so the schools just threw in the towel and scheduled the extra week off.

Elk Grove Unified School district here is the 5th largest school district in California and some of their schools are still year round. Four tracks, 3 in session always, 1 always out. No summer break.

 

[barkley]

One of the districts with a large number of students from Mexico takes three weeks at Christmas and two weeks at Easter because a lot of students go back to Mexico to visit family for those religious holidays, and parents would not come back so the schools just threw in the towel and scheduled the extra week off.

the district i attended in northern california did this several years back with at least christmas and i recall reading the hometown news from afar about the MAJOR fallout with parents. the district was justifying saying they were losing funds b/c of all the unexcused absences following christmas break while parents complained that the district should enforce attendance rules/laws rather than shift the cost to them by virtue of the VERY COSTLY extra childcare it created (many parents with young kids banked their leave all year to provide f/t care with their existing time off and only had providers that did before/after care so finding 2 weeks of full time care was a horrific challenge).