School schedule - what's yours?

[ten6mom]

My district is on a "modified year round" schedule. Both my kids are still in elementary but the secondary schools are the same... We started July 20th. We go 9 weeks on and 2 weeks off (so 2 weeks fall break, 2 weeks at Christmas, and 2 weeks spring break). We get done around the last week of May, I believe.

It makes a short summer (about 7.5 weeks) but I really don't have any complaints. For fall break, we usually go to DL with my sister and her kids, and it's nice to 'beat' most of the fall break crowds since the first week of ours is usually a week before anyone else's.

 

[unhinged]

Started Aug 21, Out May 26
Early release by 1/2 hour one day a week. HS has late start by 2 hours once a week
Thanksgiving - 5 school days
Winter break - 11 school days
Spring break - 5 school days (end of March)
Single day holidays: Labor day, Veterans day, MLK, President's day
Teacher Prep days, (no students): October and Feb (makes Pres. Day a 4 day weekend)
Random 4 day weekend in April

 

[kmb584]

My daughter's in 1st grade and went back to school on August 26th; her last day is June 8th. She has 5 days off for Thanksgiving, 10 days off for Christmas, and 5 days off for spring (Easter) break. She has all of the federal holidays off except for Veterans Day. I thought it was a calendar misprint but when I brought it up at the first PTA meeting I was told it was correct. I don't understand why and no one had a reason to give me. She also has 5 random Friday's off throughout the year for teacher in-service days.

 

[deedeetoo]

We started September 1, and are scheduled to end on June 17th if there are no snow days. That never happens. We have weeks off at Christmas, in February and April. DD is a senior so I think she will finish up the last week in May. Graduation is June 5th.

 

[leshunlenese]

Public school in Georgia. We are about 30 miles east of Atlanta.
School started July 31
Off labor day
Octobe5 teacher work day
October 19-23 fall break
November 23-27 Thanksgiving week off
December 21- Jan 5th winter break
Jan 18 MLK day off
Feb 11-15 winter break
April 4-8 spring break
May 24 last day of school

 

[Cadiewampus]

Public school in Georgia. We are about 30 miles east of Atlanta.
School started July 31
Off labor day
Octobe5 teacher work day
October 19-23 fall break
November 23-27 Thanksgiving week off
December 21- Jan 5th winter break
Jan 18 MLK day off
Feb 11-15 winter break
April 4-8 spring break
May 24 last day of school

You in Rockdale County? I am in Cobb and our schedule is pretty much the same as yours except we started 8/3

 

[leshunlenese]

You in Rockdale County? I am in Cobb and our schedule is pretty much the same as yours except we started 8/3

No in Newton

 

[PollyannaMom]

...My biggest gripe would be I wish school started later in the morning. It's 7:30-2:30, I'd much prefer 8:30-3:30, but all catholic schools in our area use the 7:30am start time. Bus picks up at 6:50am. So early for elementary school. JMHO.

DS's new high school starts even earlier, and that's my biggest beef as well. It absolutely goes against teenagers' natural sleep patterns.

As for our calendar, we don't start until September 8th this year, but we don't get out until June 24th - ugggh! (Normally, I would prefer to start and end earlier, but it actually works out for us this year because of a family event this week.) We have single holidays in Oct., Nov., Jan., March, and May, 2 1/2 days for Thanksgiving, a week and a half for Christmas, and random full-week breaks in February and April. We have five snow days built in.

I'm rather intrigued by the new "balanced" or "modified year-round" schedules, though. I think if I were starting a school system from scratch, that's what I'd want to do with it.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

My daughter's in 1st grade and went back to school on August 26th; her last day is June 8th. She has 5 days off for Thanksgiving, 10 days off for Christmas, and 5 days off for spring (Easter) break. She has all of the federal holidays off except for Veterans Day. I thought it was a calendar misprint but when I brought it up at the first PTA meeting I was told it was correct. I don't understand why and no one had a reason to give me. She also has 5 random Friday's off throughout the year for teacher in-service days.

We've never been off for Veteran's Day here. There's always an assembly with members of the VFW giving speeches.

 

[Rhombus]

All of local schools in my district, Township Elementary (K-4), Township Middle (5-8), and the regional HS start on Tuesday, September 8. Usually it's the Wednesday or Thursday after Labor Day.

I'm pretty sure that if they had started this current week, attendance would have been no more than 50%. Public schools in NJ cannot start classes before September 1.

Then days off already on Mon/Tues 14/15 for Rosh Hashanah, and Wed 23 for Yom Kippur.

Not off for Columbus Day.

A full week off for "Jersey Week" in early November.

No Veteran's Day holiday.

Thurs/Fri for Thanksgiving.

Xmas Break December 24 to January 1. School resumes Monday January 4.

No MLK Day holiday.

Off for Presidents Day.

Off for Good Friday March 25.

Spring Break Mon March 28-Fri April 1

Off Memorial Day Monday May 30.

Last scheduled day Wednesday June 22

This is pretty much the norm as when I went to school, but we didn't get a full week off for Jersey Week, only the actual Thursday and Friday days of the Teacher's Convention.

 

[BLAZEY]

DD6 goes to a public elementary school Grade 1 French Immersion in Victoria, BC Canada
School starts Tuesday after Labour Day (Sept 8)
Oct 12 - Thanksgiving
Nov 11 - Remembrance Day
Nov 12&13 District Based Profession Development Days ( Pro D Day)
Dec 19-Jan 3 Christmas Break
Feb 8 - Family Day (2nd Monday)
February 19 Non Instructional Day
March 14 – 30 2016 Spring Break & Easter Holiday
April 22 Pro D Day
May 9 Pro D Day
May 23 Victoria Day
June 29 Last Day for Students

 

[kmb584]

We've never been off for Veteran's Day here. There's always an assembly with members of the VFW giving speeches.

Maybe they're going to do something like that this year. In all the years since my town's school district was founded they've had Veterans Day off, so it just seems odd to me that they don't this year. It's no big deal.. we'll be in Disney that week anyway!

 

[momof1princess]

Yet another school thread, what's your schedule? What do you like about it? What would you change (if you could)?

My kids are in public school. This year, they started August 20th, will be out around the 20th of May, with ~2 weeks off at Christmas.

There's a day off in September, 2 in October, the days before & after Thanksgiving, and a 5-day weekend at Easter assuming no snow days. All the traditional holidays are off; there's no Spring Break.

I like the long Summer. I know many would prefer more & longer breaks throughout the year, but for us this is the time of year to be off.

I'm glad to give up Spring Break in favor of an earlier Summer start. The weather isn't that great that time of year here, and any travel destinations will be packed.

I like the fact the semester ends at Christmas break instead of carrying over into January as it did when I was a kid (it was so awkward).

For dislikes, the Christmas break is too long. Weather sucks here & again travel destinations are either expensive, packed, or have equally crappy weather.

I do wish we had a break for a full week in October. I'd gladly go back a day or 2 early in August to get this, and/or cut days out of Christmas break. Great travel time & the weather here can be beautiful as well.

We live in NE Alabama, and DD17 (18 in 12 more days) started her senior year of HS on August 10th. She'll get the usual holidays, a fall break for the entire week of Thanksgiving, December 21-January 6 for Christmas, Spring break March 28-April 1, last official day of school on May 26 (although she'll likely not have to go for at least a week before that), and graduation on May 27. I'm not ready.

 

[shoney]

Sept. 8 First Day of School
Sept. 14 & 15 Rosh Hashanah
Sept. 23 Yom Kippur
Oct. 12 Columbus Day
Nov. 3 Staff Conference Day
Nov. 11 Veterans’ Day
Nov. 26 & 27 Thanksgiving Recess
Dec. 24 – Jan. 1 Winter Recess
Jan. 18 Martin Luther King Day
Feb. 15 - 19 Mid-Winter Recess
March 24 & 25 Spring Recess
April 22 & 25 Passover
May 27* & 30 Memorial Day
June 24 Last Day
In 2016, Passover and Easter are not near each other. Usually, one week off that celebrates both.

May 27* would be a school day if we need it. They allow us 4 snow days without taking any days away. On the 5th, we'd lose May 27.

 

[MrsDuck]

In South Florida...

Teachers started August 11th, kids came August 17th.

We get off 3 days for Thanksgiving, 2 weeks for winter break, and 1 week in March for Spring Break which sometimes overlaps with Easter - if not, we typically get that Friday off. We have a variety of Jewish holidays that our county observes (2 this month!) along with national/federal holidays.

Kids are out the first week of June.

 

[Micca]

In Metro Atlanta.

Started school August 3rd
week off in September
week off for Thanksgiving
2 weeks off for Christmas
week off in February
week off in April
out of school before Memorial Day

Love this school schedule. Lots of time for vacations, although we do go back to school very early

Not sure how it is for parents, but as a student I would have LOVED this schedule!

 

[DawnM]

August 20th- start date
June 9th- end date

High school charter, PS.

7:50am start time
2:40pm end time

6 periods per day, no homeroom, each class is 60 minutes. no block scheduling, just 6 full hour period classes.

10 teacher work days
10 holidays, not counting Christmas, Spring Break, or Thanksgiving
10 days for Christmas
6 days for Spring Break

180 days for instruction.

What I don't like is all the extra holiday days and excessive teacher work days during the school year. For example, they get tomorrow and Monday off for Labor day. They get 3 days for Thanksgiving.

What I really, really wish they would do instead????? Give us a week like Jersey week. A Fall or Winter full week off to do something like Disney!~

 

[NotUrsula]

Same metro area as Gumbo, different district.

School started Aug. 17th (pushed back a week from the original start date of Aug. 10th, which pushed everything else except Winter break back as well). Labor Day, 3 days for Thanksgiving, two weeks for Xmas (Winter) break, MLK Day, President's Day, a week-long Spring Break in late March, and unless we use over 5 snow days, last day is May 26. There are also a couple of long weekends when there is no school on Friday due to teacher training days.

The district runs the buses in 3 tiers because they don't have enough to transport all students at the same time, and they find it best to keep the kids grouped by relative age on the routes. We are on last tier, which means our elementary school class day is 9:30 - 4:25. Tier 1 is 7:30-2:25, Tier 2 is 8:30-3:25; which you have just depends on which school you are in; some of each tier are at each grade level.

(I went to HS in a rural area that also cycled the buses, but in a different way. They picked up at all school levels but kept the kids on the bus until all schools had been served. I was first on and last off. I got on the bus at 6:45 am, got to HS at 7:45 (first drop). I got on the bus in the afternoon at 2:45. We dropped off HS kids who lived near school first, then we picked up at 4 different elementary and middle schools before we headed back out to our homes. I lived about 7 miles from school as the crow flies, but closer to 20 miles by road. I normally got back home at 5:45, after a lovely 3-hour tour of half the county.)

 

[tcufrog]

I am sooo ready for next year when my kids go to the same school. Not only do the kids start and end the school year on different dates but they have different Spring Breaks this year. My older son gets the whole week off for Thanksgiving while my preK kids gets Wednesday-Friday off. They also have different teacher conference and in service days. To make matters worse my older son gets out of school at 3 pm and my younger son gets out at 3:20 pm. The schools are 30 minutes apart. I also have to pay to put one kid in after care even though I'm a SAHM so I don't get in trouble everyday for picking up my younger son late. I looked for a good preschool option near my older son's school but wasn't successful.

 

[IDoDis]

Here's our schedule. There are also 2 days off in Nov and 2 days off in March for Parent-Teacher conferences, but they aren't on the calendar yet.

Aug. 13 First day of school
Sept. 7 Labor Day
Oct. 8-9 Fall break
Nov. 11 Veterans Day
Nov. 25-27 Thanksgiving break
Dec 21-Jan 4 Winter break
Jan. 5 First day of second semester
Jan. 18 Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Feb. 15 Presidents Day
Feb. 16 Professional Development Day
March 25- April 1 Spring break
May 25 Last day of school