School year calendars

[kphoger]

I should mention, this was also in fifth grade or so, meaning that final exams weren't really a thing.

[ZLoth]

Yeah, but a public school near your house will increase your property value.  When the Sanger West High School and Middle School got built across the street from me it increased our home value by about 15%.  I make my own hours so I can just avoid the school rush.

It depends on your perspective. Have a bunch of kids that will be utilizing the school as they are growing up? Perfect! They can walk to school.

[Max Rockatansky]

Yeah, but a public school near your house will increase your property value.  When the Sanger West High School and Middle School got built across the street from me it increased our home value by about 15%.  I make my own hours so I can just avoid the school rush.

It depends on your perspective. Have a bunch of kids that will be utilizing the school as they are growing up? Perfect! They can walk to school.

I don't have any myself.  But I appreciate the equity they will probably bring in another 10-15 years. 

[kphoger]

Easter falls on March 28th this year, although I think the school districts are trying to avoid the "religious overtones".

Spring break wasn't even tied to Easter back when I was in junior high and high school, back in the 1990s.  It's always been in the middle of March, no matter when Easter falls.

This is totally different, though, compared to how Mexico does it.  They get two full weeks off in the spring, and it always coincides with Holy Week and the first week of Eastertide.  This year, spring break in Mexico is from March 22 through April 2, plus the week-ends on each side.  They also get two full weeks off for Christmas, too, and always through Epiphany on January 6.

[The_Ginger]

I'm just posting what I posted a few days ago about Jackson County School's calendar, which didn't get moved over due to the fact that the post had other content.

Jackson County Schools starts school on Tuesday, 18 August 2026, three weeks from today. It ends sometime in late May. This is one of the earlier times that it's started, if my memory serves me correctly.

[1995hoo]

I realized that earlier up the thread I had Yom Kippur on the wrong day of the week this year and I realized that was because I mixed up the year. Next year it's on the Sunday of Columbus Day weekend. I mixed it up because the other day I was adding dates to next year's office calendar and we always list Good Friday, Easter, Passover, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur as major dates that are not holidays but that would cause scheduling conflicts for a significant number of people.

[I-57/Route 66 Fan]

I saw a news report that a school district in Dallas is starting select schools and students are starting July 28th.

[bandit957]

They need to go back to starting in late August or early September again.

Things have gotten out of control in recent years.

[bandit957]

I was a high school senior in 1991-92, and we didn't start until the day after Labor Day that year. I remember it being Labor Day and I didn't even know yet when school would start, or even if it had started. Still, I think the school year ended in May, not June. We need to go back to that.

Then again, that was the Covington schools, not Campbell County. Campbell County always started earlier and ended later than every other district, and came up with excuses to add on extra days just for the sheer hell of it.

[I-57/Route 66 Fan]

I was a high school senior in 1991-92, and we didn't start until the day after Labor Day that year. I remember it being Labor Day and I didn't even know yet when school would start, or even if it had started. Still, I think the school year ended in May, not June. We need to go back to that.

Then again, that was the Covington schools, not Campbell County. Campbell County always started earlier and ended later than every other district, and came up with excuses to add on extra days just for the sheer hell of it.

IMO school should be the Tuesday after Labor Day to the Friday before Memorial Day.

[JayhawkCO]

I was a high school senior in 1991-92, and we didn't start until the day after Labor Day that year. I remember it being Labor Day and I didn't even know yet when school would start, or even if it had started. Still, I think the school year ended in May, not June. We need to go back to that.

Then again, that was the Covington schools, not Campbell County. Campbell County always started earlier and ended later than every other district, and came up with excuses to add on extra days just for the sheer hell of it.

IMO school should be the Tuesday after Labor Day to the Friday before Memorial Day.

As the husband to a teacher, I'm quite happy there are breaks in the school year so that it's not quite that compact.

[I-57/Route 66 Fan]

After I graduated I found out that my High School went to Christmas Break, came back for 2 weeks took a Friday and a Monday off to end the semester, they did this for 3 years due to summertime construction went back to normal for 1 year, started another much bigger construction project. Considering that colleges January classes, and people graduate in December this probably caused a problem for some students imagine being a full time first semester college student for a college 5 states away and taking your High School finals at the same time. I do not no if anyone has been through this, but it might have happened.

[I-57/Route 66 Fan]

I was a high school senior in 1991-92, and we didn't start until the day after Labor Day that year. I remember it being Labor Day and I didn't even know yet when school would start, or even if it had started. Still, I think the school year ended in May, not June. We need to go back to that.

Then again, that was the Covington schools, not Campbell County. Campbell County always started earlier and ended later than every other district, and came up with excuses to add on extra days just for the sheer hell of it.

IMO school should be the Tuesday after Labor Day to the Friday before Memorial Day.

As the husband to a teacher, I'm quite happy there are breaks in the school year so that it's not quite that compact.

2 week break for Christmas, the typical weekend and holiday breaks, just make Thanksgiving Break Thursday and Friday and Easter Break Friday and maybe Monday eliminate Spring Break (I don't see why that should exist anyway).

[JayhawkCO]

maybe Monday eliminate Spring Break (I don't see why that should exist anyway).

So that teachers don't murder their students.

[kphoger]

... how Mexico does it.  They get two full weeks off in the spring, and it always coincides with Holy Week and the first week of Eastertide.  This year, spring break in Mexico is from March 22 through April 2, plus the week-ends on each side.  They also get two full weeks off for Christmas, too, and always through Epiphany on January 6.

When it comes to start and end dates, in relation to mid-year breaks:

Mexico has its first day of classes on August 31 this year, and its last day on July 9.

[kphoger]

maybe Monday eliminate Spring Break (I don't see why that should exist anyway).

So that teachers don't murder their students.

It's the light at the end of the February tunnel, for both students and teachers.

[I-57/Route 66 Fan]

Another thing to make a school year better eliminate Early Dismissals/Late Starts.
Keep Snow/Heat Days though, those are legendary.

[gonealookin]

maybe Monday eliminate Spring Break (I don't see why that should exist anyway).

So that teachers don't murder their students.

Looking at our county's calendar, they give 6 full-week breaks spread over the course of the year.  Three of them are the weeks of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.  A fourth is the week of President's Day, locally referred to as "Ski Week".  A fifth is a Spring Break in April (it's not tied to Easter; in fact Good Friday is a full school day in 2027).

The sixth is the final week of October.  Friday of that week is the Nevada Day state holiday (admission to the Union was on October 31, 1864).  The only reason I can think of for a full-week break at that time is that if it weren't there, school would be in session for 14 consecutive weeks from Opening Day (Monday, August 17) through the week before Thanksgiving and, yeah, I imagine fatigue would be setting in by then.

[kphoger]

Looking at our county's calendar, they give 6 full-week breaks spread over the course of the year.  Three of them are the weeks of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.

Do you mean that Christmas break and New Year's break are separated from each other by one or more school days?

[NWI_Irish96]

...the school districts will be starting up the school year at the beginning of August. 

We never started until the week of Labor Day, I think usually the following Wednesday.

It's better for tourism-based economies if school starts later, but more basically, good grief, give the kids a decent summer break.

In Michigan we started after Labor Day also.  I'm gathering around Fresno that was never a thing as most of the schools go back in mid-August.  I guess that I can kind of see the angle of getting kids back in school at the hottest part of the year.  Still seems odd to me.

The school year starting in early to mid August is based on wanting to get half the school year in before Christmas, which seems like a dumb idea to me.

[kphoger]

wanting to get half the school year in before Christmas, which seems like a dumb idea to me.

I don't know...  If I were a teacher, I think I'd hate having a two-week break shoved into the middle of my curriculum.  To me, it's good that the longest break falls between semesters.

[I-57/Route 66 Fan]

maybe Monday eliminate Spring Break (I don't see why that should exist anyway).

So that teachers don't murder their students.

Looking at our county's calendar, they give 6 full-week breaks spread over the course of the year.  Three of them are the weeks of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.  A fourth is the week of President's Day, locally referred to as "Ski Week".  A fifth is a Spring Break in April (it's not tied to Easter; in fact Good Friday is a full school day in 2027).

The sixth is the final week of October.  Friday of that week is the Nevada Day state holiday (admission to the Union was on October 31, 1864).  The only reason I can think of for a full-week break at that time is that if it weren't there, school would be in session for 14 consecutive weeks from Opening Day (Monday, August 17) through the week before Thanksgiving and, yeah, I imagine fatigue would be setting in by then.

The only Illinois state holiday kids take off is Casimir Pulaski Day, yet most schools in the state don't even recognize it, and my High School recognized it only once (2020). In the 2018/19 school year my High School had classes on Veteran's Day which mildly infuriated me, that same year we had President's Day scheduled off, but due to snow/ice earlier in the year we actually had school that day.

[gonealookin]

Looking at our county's calendar, they give 6 full-week breaks spread over the course of the year.  Three of them are the weeks of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.

Do you mean that Christmas break and New Year's break are separated from each other by one or more school days?

No, those two are back-to-back off weeks.

The school year starting in early to mid August is based on wanting to get half the school year in before Christmas, which seems like a dumb idea to me.

That's not the rationale here in Douglas County.  We start on August 17, and they have Thursday, January 14 marked as the final day of the first semester, so the final two weeks of that semester are after the two-week Christmas/New Year break.

[I-57/Route 66 Fan]

At my High School Freshmen start a day early.

[JayhawkCO]

Another thing to make a school year better eliminate Early Dismissals/Late Starts.
Keep Snow/Heat Days though, those are legendary.

Understandably so, but you're only looking at this through the lens of a student. Teachers need time to have meetings, prepare lesson plans, etc.