When should schools start?

[Hikergirl]

We have always gone back after Labor Day, even when I was in school.

 

[msjprincess]

Starts right after Labor Day and ends at he end of June. When I think of summer I think of July and August. So it always seems odd to me that some kids are in school in August.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

In nj and we start after Labor Day and go until June 20. To me July and August is summer. The jersey shore is huge until Labor Day.

 

[lesliekatya]

Ours schools start in mid August so the high school kids can have finals before Christmas and actually enjoy their break. I am very grateful.

 

[THEDISNEYTHREE]

.

 

[tcufrog]

School starts for my son's school in mid August. They get out at the end of May. The Texas State Fair (the largest state fair in the country) is in September and October. A lot of local school districts get a day off during the fair and each student gets a free ticket to attend. I'm not sure how many families use the free ticket though. Weather in August is horrible here so I wish the kids started at the beginning of August when the weather is too miserable anyways to go out and play and they got out earlier in May when the weather was nice.

 

[Micca]

School starts the day after Labor Day, ends the Friday before Memorial Day.

 

[msjprincess]

School starts the day after Labor Day, ends the Friday before Memorial Day.

Wow, that's a long break for summer. What kind of breaks do they have during the year?

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Hate going back in August (18th this year), but love ending the semester at Christmas break & being done by Memorial Day. The 2nd half of the year always drags on so much worse than the first half - would really blow to make that 2nd "half" a month longer.

 

[Micca]

Wow, that's a long break for summer. What kind of breaks do they have during the year?

Whatever they have to do to make that work. That is essentially what I grew up with. The were no Fall breaks or Spring breaks, just breaks for Easter (probably one day), Thanksgiving (the Friday after), and Christmas (probably the week between Christmas and New Year)

 

[Jdbsfw]

Never, book learnin' is for squares.....

 

[Govols1997]

Our kids get out the week before Memorial Day and go back the first week of August. I love getting out early. And it's so hot here in August, there is nothing to do. Do it works. We are in TN.

 

[powellrj]

Our kids started a balanced schedule a few years ago. They go back the first week of Aug. Are out 2 weeks in Oct, a whole week for thanksgiving, 2 weeks at Christmas and 2 weeks for spring break. They get out the end of May.

 

[dotfurio]

This year we started August 17. I wish we'd start in September, although it is nice being out by June.

 

[gincz24]

As someone said earlier in Texas we can't start back till the 4th Monday in August, that law was passed about 10 years ago. We just had a new law pass in Texas where the school year is based on the number of hours the children are in school and not the number of days. We no longer have to go 180, we just have to hit the required number of hours. So our district added 15 minutes to the school day and we will get out two weeks earlier.

Our school year this year is Aug 23-May 26.

 

[diznygirl]

School starts for my son's school in mid August. They get out at the end of May. The Texas State Fair (the largest state fair in the country) is in September and October. A lot of local school districts get a day off during the fair and each student gets a free ticket to attend. I'm not sure how many families use the free ticket though. Weather in August is horrible here so I wish the kids started at the beginning of August when the weather is too miserable anyways to go out and play and they got out earlier in May when the weather was nice.

I know what you mean. Here in Central Florida we are in school during August when the weather is miserable and out at the end of May. (Last few years it was the first week of June). I like that we get a few weeks in June to ourselves before the rest of the country gets out of school and starts to visit.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Mid August for around schools around me and generally out by Memorial Day (except for seniors who get out mid-May) . Growing up there was usually 5 or 6 days are built in for snow days though I don't know exactly how they do that now. If they aren't used school was let out that many days earlier. There had been a few years growing up that too many were used (usually due to ice storms which haven't been an issue for a while) and so we had to stay late. The latest I had ever stayed was like June 5th or 6th...felt wayy too long.

It honestly worked out. I can't imagine starting summer as a norm in June..it did suck starting in mid-August but still.

 

[barkley]

Washington State-depends on the individual school district. some districts just started yesterday-our district started 8/30.

personally I like starting the week before labor day-those few days they attended last week took care of all the administrative stuff (reams of paperwork sent home to be signed, last minute school supplies, changes in high school class schedules/bus routes...) so that this week the normal day to day schooling could occur. I also like that starting a week earlier enables our district to be entirely done and dismissed by the second week of june (seniors are graduated and out a week earlier). being on this type of schedule enables us in the event of unscheduled cancelled school days during the year to not have horrendous extensions come the following june (the districts always schedule a few extra days for snow cancelations but if they exceed them they have to add on-we had one local district that due to last year's weather ended up piling up enough cancelled days that they had to add almost another 2 weeks to their calendar so their students were attending until almost the end of june).

 

[sam_gordon]

I like the mid-August through May schedule. To me, summer is June and July. I can't imagine being in school the entire month of June. A couple years ago we had so many snow days, the last day was June 7 (or maybe the 10th). It just seemed SO long to get to that last day.

In the fall, we go about three weeks, have Labor Day off, go a month, then have a fall break (two days off), another five weeks and have Wed-Fri off for Thanksgiving, another month and two weeks off for Christmas and New Years. Once you return though, it's three months and you get a week for spring break, then nothing unless school extends past Memorial day. I can't imagine another month after that.

 

[aprilgail]

We go back after Labor day- it actually stinks that some districts start earlier because AP exams have to be in May for the districts that have early summer break- it means the kids that start school in August have a month of instruction more for the AP exams than the kids that start after labor day, not really fair.