So our kids had the week off from school last week. The school board adopted this new calendar this year that gives them only 8 weeks of summer vacation, but then a week off in September, a week in November, 2 weeks at Christmas, er, for the holidays, a week in February and a week in April all to wrap it up for the summer before Memorial day. I think it works out that they have a week off every 6 weeks. I was against it at the beginning. I hated the idea of starting school August 1. The summer just felt so short. School was starting and taking away not only my first born, but my middle child as well before I knew it.
And to have a week long break in September. I felt like they had just started school. They hardly had time to get to know their teachers and meet new friends before they we out for a whole week. I could have done without that break.
I will say though, that I did enjoy the February break. The girls and I went to visit my parents in Florida. February is a good time to be in Florida. It's not hot, not cold, and the whole world is not there vacationing.
I did like the idea of knowing there were 2 weeks out of the school year that we could go on family trips and not have to worry about everyone else in the country being there as well.
However...Our county board of education, in their infinite wisdom (apparently because they don't seem to care about the opinion of the lowly parents, students or teachers), decided to change the calendar back to your normal start date of the 15th, regular vacation breaks. 80% of parents, students and teachers voted to keep the school calendar like it had been this year, with all the breaks. 80%. They asked for our opinion. They asked for it, before they met to make the decision. They asked what we wanted.
They obviously did not listen. What school calendar we go with doesn't matter to me as much as the fact that the school board had everyone vote and completely disregarded the results.
I began this post with the intention of writing about our time in Florida. I guess I got off on a bit of a tangent and so my musings on our trip will have to wait. And no pic to go with this one.
My sis, who is a teacher in our county, emailed me to commment that the county even saved money on subs since the teachers had more breaks in which to schedule appointments and such. They even saved money AND 80% of the people voted to keep the current calendar and yet, they still don't care. What are they thinking? Really, what ARE they thinking?
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