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New Way to Recapture our Summers Those who know me know that I am passionate about a return to a post-Labor Day Start for America’s public schools. I was part of the team that fought for such a change in Wisconsin. I’ve advised other States wishing to preserve their summers for family travel. And, until somebody proves to me that a post-Labor Day Start adversely impacts the education of our children (which, of course, it doesn’t), I’ll continue to advocate for this simple and popular change in the way most School Districts do business. So, you’ll
understand why my attention was piqued as I spotted the following headline
in a hotel lobby as I prepared to check into my room last week: “Students Get Shorter School Year.” The featured District was Saugatuck, but it could have been any of 56 other districts in Michigan that have made a similar move in the past few months. Instead of mandating the somewhat traditional 180 days of classroom instruction, Michigan law has recently been amended to require only the equivalent 1,098 hours of instruction. Wisconsin has similar language governing school calendars. Back when we were battling the Wisconsin School Administrators Association (it was always the administrators and never the teachers’ union that fought us), we toyed with making the suggestion that adding a simple 10 extra minutes a day in the classroom would create a scenario in which school could start the day after Labor Day, let out the day before Memorial Day and keep all holidays and in-service days intact. Even though we thought that teachers might be willing to trade 10 minutes a day for a couple extra weeks of summer vacation, we never pushed it for fear that we would cause the Teachers’ Unions to join the battle. But that hasn’t been a problem in Michigan. In fact, Saugatuck is adding 20 minutes of class time a day (10 minutes either side of the traditional school day), and shaving 16 days off the calendar! And, in addition to starting after Labor Day and ending before Memorial Day, they’ve ADDED another 22 hours of instruction time over the mandated 1098 hours! Is this fabulous or what? Well, according to parents, it IS fabulous. When we polled citizens in Wisconsin, we consistently saw an over 70% approval rating for a post-Labor Day School Start. In Saugatuck, an incredible 84% supported the School Board’s unanimous decision. That’s right…unanimous. Not only did the School Board actually LISTEN to the wishes of parents but they also estimate that this shift will result in a net savings to the district of $50,000. Who said this can’t be a win-win? And I guess that’s the purpose of this e-message. If you’re struggling with an inexorably encroaching start date that continues to squeeze the life out of the best part of the summer for family vacations, look to how Michigan is handling the issue as a possible option in your destination. And keep fighting, Bill PS: For more on ways to return to a Post-Labor day start, join me as I host Wisconsin’s Ed Lump and Texas’ Tina Bruno on a DMOU Teleseminar dedicated to how these two led their State’s successful initiatives to do just that. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO. |
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ZEITGEIST
CONSULTING |
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