When should schools start?

[Mickeypooh99]

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.

Only one of my kids takes AP classes. He didn't do a lot of summer work. Only for one class each of the last two summers. He takes a lot of AP courses. He's never complained about it. Now this year he started dual enrollment. That was a hassle because college classes started before Labor Day. So he was back to school before our district. Also his college breaks and days off are not the same as our local districts. It kind of messes up our vacation plans since he attends both schools.

 

[Princesca]

Schools should go year round. Take more breaks if necessary, but a three-month gap in learning for kids just doesn't make any sense that I can see.

Granted, when I was in school I'd have argued against that til I was blue in the face. But as a taxpaying adult, I feel differently.

 

[kimj88]

I live in Maryland as well and I hate that they are now going to start later. In Anne Arundel County, there will now be something like 9 or 10 days that used to be off during the school year that will now have to be school days. I am probably in the minority here, but my family takes most vacations during the school year. Everything is cheaper, less crowded, less miserably hot, so overall a better vacation. With 9 or 10 days being cut as school days off during the year, this will totally change our trip taking ;(

 

[aprilgail]

Only one of my kids takes AP classes. He didn't do a lot of summer work. Only for one class each of the last two summers. He takes a lot of AP courses. He's never complained about it. Now this year he started dual enrollment. That was a hassle because college classes started before Labor Day. So he was back to school before our district. Also his college breaks and days off are not the same as our local districts. It kind of messes up our vacation plans since he attends both schools.

My daughter takes AP classes and gets SO much summer homework and summer projects. I hate it- I lose half the summer with her because she is working on them. She went away to Brown university for a 3 week summer college program this year and the whole first 10 days off from school she was working on a bio summer project that was due while she would be at Brown. Then after Brown she spent the entire next 3 weeks not leaving the house to get all the rest of the summer homework and projects done- its insane.

 

[sam_gordon]

My daughter takes AP classes and gets SO much summer homework and summer projects. I hate it- I lose half the summer with her because she is working on them. She went away to Brown university for a 3 week summer college program this year and the whole first 10 days off from school she was working on a bio summer project that was due while she would be at Brown. Then after Brown she spent the entire next 3 weeks not leaving the house to get all the rest of the summer homework and projects done- its insane.

Don't you also lose half the summer because she's going to the college program?
Personally, I would consider dropping classes if it meant my child had to spend 4+ weeks not being able to leave the house because of projects.

 

[DopeyDame]

I live in Maryland too, so it's clearly a hot topic around here!

I can't say I feel strongly either way, but in general I'm glad about the change. I would much rather be at the beach and sailing on the bay when it's toasty-hot in late August then when it's still spring weather in June. My kids went back on August 22 this year - that's so early!
I'm not at all swayed by the AP argument. Two weeks really shouldn't be a make-or-break difference in a student's ability to succeed in an AP class. If it does, then they probably aren't ready to be doing college level work anyway.

I would be a fan of year-round school with longer breaks sprinkled throughout the year.

 

[DopeyDame]

My daughter takes AP classes and gets SO much summer homework and summer projects. I hate it- I lose half the summer with her because she is working on them. She went away to Brown university for a 3 week summer college program this year and the whole first 10 days off from school she was working on a bio summer project that was due while she would be at Brown. Then after Brown she spent the entire next 3 weeks not leaving the house to get all the rest of the summer homework and projects done- its insane.

I think a lot of these over-the-top summer assignments for AP classes come from the "AP for all" push. The AP program was designed to be COLLEGE level work for kids who had already mastered the appropriate high school level curriculum. Now it's morphed into a glorified honors track. So kids are coming into AP classes without the requisite background knowledge and basic skills, so schools have to teach both the high school material and the college material in one year - so they do it the only way they can, which is making the kids learn a lot of it on their own over the summer. It's not fair to the kids who truly are already prepared for the AP class and who still have to do a ton of extra work they don't really need, and it's not fair to the kids who would be better served by a high school level class and instead feel overwhelmed by all the AP work.

I really hope the pendulum starts to swing back on this AP push.

 

[jetskigrl]

Our district just started back yesterday and will go until the 3rd week of June. I like this schedule because with our weather patterns, we don't really start getting good summer weather until mid-July some years. So our best month to enjoy summer fun is August.

There is a big push right now by a lot of parents to move the start date up earlier for some of the reasons listed earlier in the thread (end of 1st semester before winter break, more time for AP instruction, etc). But the biggest problem I see with that is having to add air conditioning to all our schools (none currently have A/C). I can't imagine that much learning is going to happen sitting in a non-air conditioned class during the hottest month of the year.

 

[bjscheel]

Iowa used to have a rule about starting around September 1 or maybe it was Labor Day, I don't remember because every single school applied for a waiver to start earlier. Recently a new law was passed that they can't start before 8/23, no exceptions. This is to make sure they start after the State Fair is over. I like it. It seems like a decent time to start and still possible to get out by Memorial Day.

I really like that our school went to counting hours instead of days, and built in extra, so we can have up to like 9 full snow days before we have to worry about the last day of school changing. That always used to be a worry, as I liked to go on vacation early June but we never knew when the last day would be.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

It depends on the needs of the local area. I know of a school in Texas that starts in late July or early August!

 

[AppleDumpling]

,

I'm not at all swayed by the AP argument. Two weeks really shouldn't be a make-or-break difference in a student's ability to succeed in an AP class. If it does, then they probably aren't ready to be doing college level work.

But it's not 2 weeks. It can be as much as 4 or 5 weeks. Yes, students who are capable of handling the work do and have for many years, and many manage to perform very well in class and on the exams. Just saying it's unfair that they have less time than other students, simply because of where they live.

I think a lot of these over-the-top summer assignments for AP classes come from the "AP for all" push. The AP program was designed to be COLLEGE level work for kids who had already mastered the appropriate high school level curriculum. Now it's morphed into a glorified honors track. So kids are coming into AP classes without the requisite background knowledge and basic skills, so schools have to teach both the high school material and the college material in one year - so they do it the only way they can, which is making the kids learn a lot of it on their own over the summer. It's not fair to the kids who truly are already prepared for the AP class and who still have to do a ton of extra work they don't really need, and it's not fair to the kids who would be better served by a high school level class and instead feel overwhelmed by all the AP work.

I really hope the pendulum starts to swing back on this AP push.

I agree with you to some extent. In my district, there is not open enrollment into AP courses. A student must have taken prerequisite courses, have certain grades, and get a recommendation from previous teachers. But there's also pressure on top students to take as many as they can. When I was in HS, I think there were only maybe 4 AP classes offered and you could only take them senior year. Back then, most kids who qualified only took 1 or 2, usually in their intended college major. Now kids routinely take many more than that over several years.

Because every school has different standards, the result, like you say, is that they've become less valued (as being equivalent to a true college-level course). And some colleges are not accepting them or are requiring a higher score for credit.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

But it's not 2 weeks. It can be as much as 4 to 5 weeks.

4 weeks is quite a bit of time. And that is particularly the case seeing as how the difference may result in some areas not being covered at all vs every area not being covered quite as much. And that's a real handicap on the AP test.

 

[tvguy]

Schools should go year round. Take more breaks if necessary, but a three-month gap in learning for kids just doesn't make any sense that I can see.

Granted, when I was in school I'd have argued against that til I was blue in the face. But as a taxpaying adult, I feel differently.

Year round was huge here in the early 2000's when they were building houses faster than they could build schools, it was a way to run more kids through the same number of schools. But since the bubble burst in 2008 or so, and housing construction stopped, kids just seems to vaporize. Enrollment plunged, and suddenly there was enough room for all the kids. One big problem with year round school was the lack of child care options when school was out of session. The norm here was 3 months in session, one month off. During normal summer, there is summer school and camps available. But a co-worker's kids were "on track" (in school) June, July and August, with May and September as breaks, and there were no child care options out there. So they started shifting schools back to traditional schedules. The other thing that changed is that developers now have to ensure that the new schools made necessary by their 3,000 home developments have to be constructed and complete at the same time as those homes. No more waiting until the houses are built and sold.

 

[BLAZEY]

We do the day after Labour Day until the end of June here, has be that way since my mother was in school here. My DD7 started grade 2 this past Tuesdayin Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

 

[design_mom]

I heard that there was a bill introduced in Ohio to make it mandatory to start school after Labor Day. On a local news site's web page, there was a poll and it seems a lot of people are in favor of it. But I'm not sure why.

Even when I was young, school started in August (usually the 20-something of August) and got out the second week of June. A couple of years ago, my kids' district switched to a mid-August (started on Aug 17 this year) through late-May schedule. This allows them to complete one semester's worth of work before Winter Break. All the schools in our district are air conditioned. We're not in a tourist area that relies on teens working through Labor Day, etc. It kind of stinks to go back to school in mid-August, but it sure is nice to get out in May and it's nice that the kids don't have to worry about finals/projects during Winter Break. As far as I know, it's working for our district, so I don't see why the state needs to legislate it.

 

[Praying Colonel]

It depends on the needs of the local area. I know of a school in Texas that starts in late July or early August!

I agree. As a parent I think I would have preferred more of a year-round schedule with longer breaks throughout the year, but ultimately I think it should be up to each individual school district, with input from teachers and parents.

 

[pryncess527]

. As far as I know, it's working for our district, so I don't see why the state needs to legislate it.

The desire to legislate this is typically driven by the hotel/entertainment industry. Atlanta tried to go to year-round schools awhile back and Six Flags/White Water almost single-handledly funded the effort to block it.

One big problem with year round school was the lack of child care options when school was out of session. The norm here was 3 months in session, one month off. During normal summer, there is summer school and camps available. But a co-worker's kids were "on track" (in school) June, July and August, with May and September as breaks, and there were no child care options out there.

There can be growing pains during the adjustment, for sure -- but in my limited experience where districts have been successful, the market was more than happy to fill the need for child care during the new breaks, and camps that took advantage of other seasons began to develop. I've never heard of one where they rotated student to maximize use of space though, that seems like a scheduling nightmare.

 

[lilia78]

Schools here always start after Labour Day and go until the last week of June. That schedule works really well with the length of our summer season.

Definitely like that we start back after Labour Day and go til the end of June.

I live in the province between ronandannette (Annette is my middle name btw) and kimblebee. We used to go back the Tuesday after Labour Day but because it was so late the last couple of years special legislation was passed and the kids went back on September 1st. I must prefer going after Labour Day. We are done the school year on June 28th.

For days off we get Thanksgiving Monday, about two weeks at Christmas, January 30th, a week in February, a week at Easter and Victoria Day. There are a few days here and there for teacher in services and parent teacher interview as well.

 

[nikkistevej]

Also a Marylander- I live in Baltimore County. I believe it also should start after Labor Day. On a side note- my daughter is in 8th grade at one of the non-air conditioned schools. They have these new mandates- that if the heat index is over 90 by 11am- the non-AC schools are out. This is the 4th day she has been out because of heat. These schools are a very hot topic right now in Md. because of the lack of AC. We went up for back to school night- and it was 97 degrees in the classroom(and that was 7:30 in the evening), so going after Labor Day may alleviate some of those days where they are out. Who knows though?

 

[AppleDumpling]

Some of you mention semesters and having finals before Christmas (like a college schedule). Here the majority of classes are full year. Only a handful are half-year (one semester) courses. Mid-terms, and finals for those few half-year classes, take place in January and the first semester ends in late January (MS and HS).

It's interesting that schools operate so differently in different states. For those who have moved to another state, was it a difficult transition for your kids (or you) to make?