To which I can only say: GOOD.
Having a start date in the middle of August is ridiculous. There are some schools in the Quad Cities starting Aug. 12, halfway through the State Fair. Even North Tama starts the 15th. (And remember, teachers may have to be there earlier.) This year might be a slight aberration because Christmas and New Year’s are Wednesdays, but the issue has kept growing.
Some districts use professional development time during the week, so kids are getting in late or out early every week. Until the law changed this spring, the state has always dictated school time in days instead of hours, so it theoretically didn’t take time away, but it’s still a disruption. See, for example, Ankeny’s schedule (PDF), which has late starts every Wednesday.
Here are some additional arguments against early school:
- It’s hot. It’s hotter and more humid in Iowa in August than in June. Many schools built even into the 1970s don’t have air conditioning. That means the students come in, sweat, and then get to go home early anyway because of heat. No district without uniform air conditioning should be in session before the 25th. (Relatedly, football games shouldn’t be any earlier than the Friday before Labor Day, but the expanded playoff schedule won’t allow for that anymore.)
- It cramps vacation time. Yeah, I said it. It’s true. Many summer activities, whether it be camps of any sort, swimming lessons, or county fairs, have dates or schedules that start toward the beginning of June and end in late July. August is when those activities have ceased. School starts don’t just affect kids, just as other summer events don’t just affect adults.
- The State Fair can’t/shouldn’t be moved up again. Moving the State Fair up would cause a chain reaction down into the counties, where 4H/FFA projects are judged for going to state, and that takes time from preparation. The same goes for other fair entries, really; the photography entries in the Cultural Center are now due around the second week of June because of high interest. An earlier fair also would put a very short turnaround in from RAGBRAI and the state baseball tournament.
- Semester tests will happen in January anyway. Odds are, there will be at least one snow day in December, and if tests are scheduled right at the end, then all those plans have gone to waste.
- A pre-Memorial Day finish is just as vulnerable. Did I mention the snow? Although, as long as I’m dictating terms here, a full week of spring break in March is also silly. (Cold and/or rainy too, most likely.) Again, weather in late May/early June is better for school than mid-August.
- The calendar is unbalanced anyway. Ankeny and Waukee’s calendars both show that even with a mid-August start date, the first semester is four days shorter than the second (88/92). Give the kids a week and a half to re-acclimate to school and hold semester tests at the end of the second full week of January (or whichever is the Thursday-Friday before MLK Day, if the district gives kids that day off).
Even if you think some of these arguments don’t hold water, I think the conversation is one that needs to be had. Just tweaking the dates enough so back-to-school shopping displays aren’t being put up in July is a move worth making.