Is School Starting so much earlier this year, or is it just me?

[shawthorne44]

Our school districts are very open about the fact that school is starting so early so they can finish the first semester before winter break. They need to do that so they can come back after break and immediately start prepping for the standardized testing which takes up almost the entire second half of the year. Not kidding! They spend weeks on test prep and weeks on the actual testing. One of my friends who subs says after testing she's guaranteed all the sub jobs she wants because the teachers then spend all their time doing post test grading and meetings. A parent complained to me that her children suddenly started having lots of homework in busy May after not having much for months. I pointed out that testing season was over and she realized I was right. Some of these are upper middle class neighborhoods whose goal seems to be getting the best ranking in the area. 

 

The testing is outrageous.  I'd been a brand-new teacher that started teaching High School Physics in January.  The previous teacher retired mid-year.  It did make my work very easy.   For three of my five classes all I had to do was follow the test prep material that was provided to me.  For months.  No class prep needed, no homework to grade.     

[lynn]

We started school this today. It is way to early.

[vonfirmath]

Is it a Christian school? Two weeks at Christmas is nuts.  Must wreak havoc on parent work schedules.

 

In MA we do get one week in Feb and one week in April off.  But we go to late June.

 

I'm sure it's regional and hotter states end earlier and start earlier.

 

2 weeks at Christmas is normal. That is what our kids have.  That is what I had growing up.  Next year they get ouf Dec 16.  Come back January 3. 

 

There is also a whole week off at Thanksgiving.

 

 

THey have after-school camp you can pay extra to cover most  of those days.

Edited August 3, 2016 by vonfirmath

[mom31257]

Is it a Christian school? Two weeks at Christmas is nuts.  Must wreak havoc on parent work schedules.

 

In MA we do get one week in Feb and one week in April off.  But we go to late June.

 

I'm sure it's regional and hotter states end earlier and start earlier.

 

No, it's public school. All the public schools here take 2 weeks at Christmas.

[mom31257]

The testing is outrageous.  I'd been a brand-new teacher that started teaching High School Physics in January.  The previous teacher retired mid-year.  It did make my work very easy.   For three of my five classes all I had to do was follow the test prep material that was provided to me.  For months.  No class prep needed, no homework to grade.     

 

Dh has no material provided to him. He has the set of standards and has to make up every single lesson and figure out how to get all the standards in. How could there be no homework? Did they only have to take tests? 

[lanalouwho]

 

 

Totally random. We used to always get snow the day we were supposed to come back from Christmas break and would get an extra day or two off. It was like clock work. I remember one year watching Better Off Dead while I waited for my school to pop up on the school closing ticker. I loved that movie and still associate it with snow days.

 

I LOVE that movie!

 

"It doesn't work. Nothing works. My little brother's building a rocketship in the basement- That'll probably work."

 

I have to go watch it now.

 

Sent from my HTCD200LVW using Tapatalk

[Leav97]

:rolleyes:

 

 

Every year someone somewhere says something about this lol.

 

 

IMO, this change is a good, much needed one.  We don't live in a land of harvests anymore, and our school scheduled shouldn't be dictated by such.  Of course, in a state such as mine, they considered year round schooling a few years ago but there were complaints because of 'tourist season'.   :glare:  Give me a break.

 

/snip

 

 

 

The summer off has more to do with the localized heat effect of urban centers than agriculture.  It depends on the crops being planted by here if we wanted kids out for harvests they would have October off.  Summer would be sitting around watching crops grow.

[shawthorne44]

Dh has no material provided to him. He has the set of standards and has to make up every single lesson and figure out how to get all the standards in. How could there be no homework? Did they only have to take tests? 

 

The rather large school district had experienced people preparing stuff in the central office.  All classrooms had one of those fancy smart boards and the lessons were on there.  Everything was done in class.  Although, the expectations for those classrooms was rather low.   They weren't expected to bring a textbook to class, because they never did.   They weren't even expected to always have something to write with.  So, homework ...  that is funny.    76% of the kids were illegal immigrants and around 95% were on free lunch.  The classes with the low expectations were Honors Physics and about a third of every class passed their last major test using "If you see two numbers in a word problem, multiply them together" that their teachers had taught them. The other 2/3 of the kids could have easily handled normal expectations, and actually learned something.  But, only the AP kids got what I'd consider a normal public school education.   

 

Before the intense test prep started, I caught one of the kids copying another kids math homework in my class.  I confiscated both their work.   When I later went to talk to his math teacher she said she was pleased he "cared enough about his homework to cheat"  That is a direct quote.  

[DawnM]

Yep. I pulled the boys out of public school in 2005 and the law was passed a year or two after that. School systems have always been able to apply for an exemption on the starting date, though. The mountain counties in particular usually get exemptions because of the number of bad weather days they miss and have to make up.

 

I commented on the late start date to the school secretary and she told me there was a new law this year.  I will have to find out what she meant.

[JFSinIL]

Our district starts about the 17th...they wanted to start even earlier but folks protested mightily. Goal of district is to have fall semester finished before Christmas vacation, and spring term ending before Memorial Day. They took away the Thanksgiving week off too to do this. I still remember growing up in S. Calif. we started mid-Sept. and ended mid-June, to me that will always seem normal.

 

Oh, and our schools here (Northern Illinois) do NOT have A/C (administrative offices sure do!!!) so there will be some hot, humid, awful days in August and early Sept in those classrooms.

Edited August 3, 2016 by JFSinIL

[Pawz4me]

I commented on the late start date to the school secretary and she told me there was a new law this year.  I will have to find out what she meant.

 

It's possible they just tweaked the law some? I don't keep up with it now--youngest DS is technically in public high school but attends on the community college's schedule.

 

Here's a history that says the first law mandating a start date no earlier than August 25 went into effect on July 1, 2005. So my memory was only a little bit off (which is usually NOT the case! :lol:).

 

ETA: In reading that more closely it really looks like in 2013 they changed the wording. Instead of saying the school starting date can be no earlier than August 25 the latest wording on that is "not earlier than the Monday closest to August 26" and "no later than the Friday closest to June 11." So it's very possible a newer version has tinkered with the wording (and dates) a little more. But in any event -- a law mandating school starting no earlier or at least sometime very close to August 25 has been around for awhile.

Edited August 3, 2016 by Pawz4me

[Ali in OR]

We always start the Wednesday after Labor Day. Every few years (when Labor Day is particularly late I think), the district polls parents to ask if we should start a week earlier, but so far it's always been a late start. I have one friend who points out that we have better weather in September than June and likes this system. But I discovered the big downside this last spring. As my dd was preparing for the AP Bio test and going to extra sessions to learn the material, I realized that all of those early start schools have 3-4 weeks more to learn the material. It's a national test--same test date for everyone. Our district is really short changing students by starting so late. And as a state we don't fund schools sufficiently. I think we have something like 170 school days where I hear so many other states have 180. And those 6 days with 2-hour early release for staff development count as full days, even though the classes are so short that not much happens. I wish these decisions would be made by asking, "What's best for the kids' education?" Big advantage of home schooling--you get to answer that question for yourself. Sometimes you schedule those much-needed breaks, but for the most part you schedule a lot more learning time than the public schools around here.

[JessReplanted]

We started today.

I think the public school starts the third week of August, but I'm not sure.

We are in TX, and August is misery, and we are stuck inside anyway.

If we lived up north we would start school in September.

[FriedClams]

Local public schools - August 5

Local private school - August 15

[PeacefulChaos]

Ah!!

 

Now I've been reminded (on this thread lol) of what the logical reason for starting in August is!  Semesters!!

 

I kept thinking as I was typing my other post that there was some reason that it was preferable to have a public school schedule that is similar to that of colleges (and most colleges, to my knowledge anyway, don't wait to start in September... it's more like mid-August, give or take a week) - I just couldn't remember what it was, other than that it was nice for everything to happen at once lol!!

 

 

But yes.  Semesters.  I think it is weird to prefer for the first semester to have one week left after Christmas break.  In junior high and high school (especially high school), many classes are only a semester long, and even if they aren't, there are always tests at the end of the semester.  So it doesn't make sense to me not to just finish it all out before the break, as opposed to having a week or two break and having to come back for one last week of one class with a final.  That seems ridiculous.

 

 

 

I really did think that the original PS schedule had to do with harvests.  I can't think of anything here, other than apples and pumpkins... squash, I guess? ... that are harvested only/mostly in October.  Our farm stands are busy in the summer and slow down when their crops do, when it starts getting colder.  Not that they aren't getting a few things through September, but not much... 

[TravelingChris]

Our local ps started on Aug. 1st.  They will get out before Memorial Day.  There will be a fall break, Christmas break and spring break.  There will also be some three day weekends.  I think all the schools here have A/C. 

[Caclcoca]

Our local schools started today.  Schools here take two weeks off at Christmas.  When I was a kid, we always had two weeks at Christmas too. 

[mom31257]

The rather large school district had experienced people preparing stuff in the central office. All classrooms had one of those fancy smart boards and the lessons were on there. Everything was done in class. Although, the expectations for those classrooms was rather low. They weren't expected to bring a textbook to class, because they never did. They weren't even expected to always have something to write with. So, homework ... that is funny. 76% of the kids were illegal immigrants and around 95% were on free lunch. The classes with the low expectations were Honors Physics and about a third of every class passed their last major test using "If you see two numbers in a word problem, multiply them together" that their teachers had taught them. The other 2/3 of the kids could have easily handled normal expectations, and actually learned something. But, only the AP kids got what I'd consider a normal public school education.

 

Before the intense test prep started, I caught one of the kids copying another kids math homework in my class. I confiscated both their work. When I later went to talk to his math teacher she said she was pleased he "cared enough about his homework to cheat" That is a direct quote.

 

😳😒😥

Edited August 4, 2016 by mom31257