When should schools start?

[nene0182]

We start the Monday before Labor Day and end the first Thursday in June typically. They get two days off at Thanksgiving, a week at Christmas, one day off for Easter and three four day weekends during the school year. We also don't have a spring break.

 

[sam_gordon]

Wait, I want to change my answer...

"It depends on how many projects the kids need to do."

 

[disney4us2002]

I'm also in Maryland, Southern Maryland, and we are one of the last hold outs for starting after Labor Day. My kids are out of school so I don't have a dog in this fight but I wish this law had passed when my boys were in school as vacationing in mid to late August is always sooooo much less expensive. This year school started the week before Labor Day but it used to be two weeks before. School goes too long nowadays. When the boys were younger we used to take Disney trips by the 10th of June but now the last day of school is closer to the 20th. That's nuts to me. I believe the plan at the school board is to cut out some of the closed days and teacher in-service days. They don't really need 2 weeks at Christmas and 10 days at Easter. Jeesh....

Edited to ask about several posters mentioning semesters, as in two. That sounds more like a college schedule. We have 4 marking periods. Do many schools operate with only 2 reporting semesters?

 

[aprilchem]

Our schools start the day after Labor Day. I would prefer year-round schools with several longer breaks in between semesters. As far as I know, in my state you only get that schedule if your school district is really struggling.

 

[MrsDuck]

I teach high school in South Florida. Teachers went back the 2nd week of August and the kids came August 15. It's VERY early; we are done the first week of June.

I would love year round school.

 

[danjoan14]

In RI, the schools can start in each district whenever they want. One of the districts started on August 25th. Our town started on August 31st. This is always a sore issues with me. When starting school in August, you're taking away from family vacation times. We would always take the last two weeks of August into Labor Day weekend. We haven't been able to do that in the last few years because of the starting time in August. I believe the State should come up with a master schedule for every district to follow. Starting date, vacation days, and ending date should all be the same for every district in the State. The last day could change based on cancellations due to weather conditions. When I went to school, we always returned the day after Labor Day. I think that should be the first day. This way everyone can plan their summer without losing any weeks in August.

 

[DawnM]

I much prefer a year round schedule of some sort. Either a 9 weeks on- 3 weeks off, or a 6 weeks on- 2 weeks off type of schedule.

I hate going 9.5 months straight.

 

[DawnM]

Standard has always been the Wednesday or Thursday after Labor Day until about June 21.

My thoughts: Schools should go year round, about 190 to 200 days, with a week's break thrown in at various times.

If seasonal, start late September until mid July.

Well, I guess if people want to pay more taxes.

We do have a few schools here called "extended year" schools who do have 200 days. Those teachers get an additional month's pay.

 

[buzznina]

Panhandle Florida starts 2nd week of August and school ends right before Memorial day. I like this schedule because they can get more accomplished before the big winter break and the fact that they are out of school before Memorial day

 

[lsyorke]

NJ starts the day after Labor Day, and gets out around the 3rd week of June. Most schools don't have air conditioning so I can't even imagine going back in August!

 

[Colleen27]

I like the post-Labor Day start and mid-June release. That lines up well with our good weather here and the holiday weekend, with all its special events/festivals, just feels like a natural end point for summer vacation. My girls attend private schools that start earlier and it really feels like an interruption to be going back to school during the 3rd or 4th week of August, and as often as not it is so hot that there's a lot of wasted time in the first week or two anyway (tho that's happening this week too, even though it is after Labor Day - when the temps are in the 90s like they have been, classroom temps often hit 100+ and the kids get extra recess, free reading in the air conditioned library, etc. as a break from the heat)

 

[DawnM]

Students started Aug. 29th here this year.

 

[msjprincess]

I'm also in Maryland, Southern Maryland, and we are one of the last hold outs for starting after Labor Day. My kids are out of school so I don't have a dog in this fight but I wish this law had passed when my boys were in school as vacationing in mid to late August is always sooooo much less expensive. This year school started the week before Labor Day but it used to be two weeks before. School goes too long nowadays. When the boys were younger we used to take Disney trips by the 10th of June but now the last day of school is closer to the 20th. That's nuts to me. I believe the plan at the school board is to cut out some of the closed days and teacher in-service days. They don't really need 2 weeks at Christmas and 10 days at Easter. Jeesh....

Edited to ask about several posters mentioning semesters, as in two. That sounds more like a college schedule. We have 4 marking periods. Do many schools operate with only 2 reporting semesters?

MTE. We always go on vacation at the end of August. It's cheaper and crowds are lower.

We have both. We have 2 semesters and each semester has 2 marking periods.

 

[Chelley00]

Here in central Indiana, most schools are done the week before Memorial day and go back during the first week or so of August.
.

We started back July 26.

 

[AppleDumpling]

I'm in NY, so like many here, it's Sept after Labor Day through late June. It's fine, it's what we're used to, and makes sense to have off for the hottest part of the summer, July and August. Most schools in the area don't have air-conditioned classrooms. And lots of families here traditionally take vacation during the last week or two of August.

The kids gets lots of time off throughout the year, including at least a week (often more) for Christmas and Spring breaks, plus "Winter recess" in Feb, the week of President's Day (which started in the 70's during the energy crisis to save on heating.)

We also get numerous holidays including some that other regions may not have, like Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Election Day, and MLK Day. Plus, because we have a large Jewish population, we often get 2 or 3 more days for religious holidays in the fall, if they fall on weekdays. And because Spring break is scheduled to coincide with both Easter and Passover, it changes every year and is often longer or sometimes broken into 2 separate shorter breaks. Last year, NYC public schools also added a couple of Muslim holidays.

 

[pryncess527]

I think schools should adopt year round calendars, because all the research I have read shows pretty clearly there are academic benefits, which I think outweigh any arguments I've seen against the concept.
Year round doesn't mean no breaks, but it does mean no huge summer break.

 

[pryncess527]

Edited to ask about several posters mentioning semesters, as in two. That sounds more like a college schedule. We have 4 marking periods. Do many schools operate with only 2 reporting semesters?

We had semesters in my HS in Georgia in the 90's. We got a mid-term and final grade report each semester, so did get official reports of grades 4 times a year, but only the end of the semester grades were part of our "official" transcript.

 

[Minnesota!]

We start the day after Labor Day and are out the first week of June.

 

[AppleDumpling]

We go back after Labor day- it actually stinks that some districts start earlier because AP exams have to be in May for the districts that have early summer break- it means the kids that start school in August have a month of instruction more for the AP exams than the kids that start after labor day, not really fair.

I agree. It has always seemed to me like an unfair disadvantage for the students taking AP courses. In order to complete the curriculum by early May, they must do a significant amount of reading and homework over the summer.

It seems like there should be a second round of AP exams given in June to accomodate students in the northeast and other regions with the Sept-June school year. Just like the SAT and ACT are offered on different dates, I don't see why this couldn't be as well.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

We start the day after after Labor Day and are out the first or second week of June. We like that schedule. I always feel like the kids who go back sooner are missing out on part of summer. I do realize it depends on where you live. I might feel different if we had a longer time frame of summer like weather in Michigan. I just ignore all those back to school ads that start so early!

I never really thought about some of the points raised here. Being finished with the semester before Christmas would be nice. Also having more instructional time before AP exams. My kids haven't complained so I guess they are ok with it.