When does school start back in your area?

[debbiedana]

I'm in west suburban Chicago.

The kids started August 27th.
1 day for Labor Day
2 days for Columbus Day (Mon and Tues)
Week of Thanksgiving
Week of Christmas
Week of New Years
1 day for MLK
2 days for Presidents Day (Fri and Mon)
1 day for I Don't Know What on March 1st
Week for Spring Break - end of March
1 day for Memorial Day
Last Day is June 3rd. Yes, a Monday for an hour. Super.

The district did away with all the ridiculous half days, which is fantastic. Parents working full time HATED those. I work part time and I hated those!!! They really cut out the days off in the middle of the year and added an extra week of summer vacation. I'd rather them have a week off in September, October or April.

 

[Pixie Princess]

I live in Cobb County, GA where schools start mid-August. I live on the Cherokee County line and they start back at the beginning of August. Those starting back at the beginning are on what's called the "balanced calendar". They have fall break in Sept, Thanksgiving week, Xmas break, winter break in February, spring break in April, ending at the end of May.

Most of Cobb County wants this calendar but our school board keeps denying it. I think it's because we have two Six Flags parks in our county that would like for school to not start back until mid-September so that they can keep their employees and customers. It's irritating. I like all the breaks. It keeps kids sane.

However, b/c of the popularity of this new calendar, I've noticed that the Sept week is very busy in Florida, and so is the February break. Prices show it.

Just curious what your system has.

We are in city school system in NE GA, and are on this calendar. I am not a fan. We start back Aug. 1. Our county as well as the other city system in the county are also on this calendar, and none of us start at the same time (we start anywhere from a few days to entire week earlier) or have the same breaks except at Christmas and for the last couple of years, Spring Break (ours has traditionally been earlier than the other schools). We get out mid-May.

If there is an advantage to this calendar, it is that we do get to enjoy a week long trip to WDW in Oct. when the crowds are lower and we can participate in F&W and MNSSHP. However, we are the only school in the county that gets a full week fall break. The others get a couple of days off.

 

[delmar411]

What it is designed to do is give breaks between quarters, so exams can be given and units wrapped up, then take a break before starting up again. Summers end up being about 8 weeks long. For our family, at least, that is plenty long. DH and I have flexible vacation scheduling, but we both work full time. DD ends up spending all summer in day camps fulltime, so she is good and sick of that well before school starts. We prefer to travel in the off season, and are already planning next October's vacation. If we were able to hang by the pool on summer weekdays (I wish) we might feel differently, but this works great for us. DD is MORE than ready to go back to school and see her friends after 8 weeks.

Interestingly enough, our local school system just started the calendar this school year. They polled parents before instituting it, and an overwhelming majority..more than 80%...wanted the balanced calendar. Lawmakers keep trying to mandate an after-Labor Day start, but it just doesn't fit with a lot of today's family schedules, IMHO, and it keeps getting voted down. I work for an organization that provides summer arts programs, and I do research into school year calendars. Little by little, the area school districts are shifting to the balance calendar.

What township are you in? We're in Perry.

I'm loving the new calendar right now. Pretty much the only real change is the 2 weeks in Oct and the added week at spring break. We already got 2 weeks for winter break.

I think our only challenge this year will be spring break as it doesn't line up anywhere near the university's spring break so the kids will either go to the Y camps during the break or just hang out at the house.