Do you believe that the state, rather than local school districts, should decide what day the school year must begin?If there are any arguments for why that should be a state decision, rather than a local one, I have yet to see them anywhere.
Nearly every school district in Iowa has requested an exemption from the state-mandated start date, but the state knows better. After all, there are tourism and State Fair profits at stake. (There’s a petition here, if you’re interested.)
At the local level, of course, people can reasonably disagree about when the school year should start. Personally, I like the current calendar for our district. School starts awfully early, but so does the university calendar, which affects many parents in the district. Many university workers are nine-month employees, whose on-campus duties wrap up in May. Extending school until late June will simply shorten the summer for those families, since the parents have to be back on campus in mid-August regardless. Either that or the parents will pull their kids out of school in early June because the family’s summer plans take them elsewhere.
But surely there are people in the district who would prefer the later start (and even some who would prefer—ugh—year-round school). Fine, hash it out democratically and let the school board, not the state, decide.
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8 comments:
"Personally, I like the current calendar for our district. School starts awfully early, but so does the university calendar, which affects many parents in the district. Many university workers are nine-month employees, whose on-campus duties wrap up in May"
I think your example sums up the need for local control on school calendar. If schools in the Lakes area need to start late for tourism, their local school board can make this decision. If rural districts feel their students and families are impacted by the state fair, their school calendar could reflect it as well.
Thanks, Matt. Unfortunately, I don't think the concern is actually for people in rural school districts who want to attend the fair. If it were, local control would be the answer, as you point out. I think the concern is with the tourism industry, which wants to profit by having *all* districts free to attend the fair or vacation at the lakes, etc.
Most of the schools in MN and MA start their schools after Labor Day and they lead Iowa in test scores.
Your column comes across as very ego centric. The majority of workers in this area are not on a professors schedule. It is harder on most workers in this area when students are let out early due to heat, not a later start date. June is rarely super hot in Iowa.
I grew up in the ICCSD and when I was a student in the 80s, school never started as early as it does now. It usually started the last week in Aug. I also graduated in June unlike May as the students do now, without any problems.
I also heard Murley say in an interview last year about the calendar that the majority of parents wish to have a later start date according to the districts feedback site it administers. (can't remember the name of the site that periodically asks questions).
Anonymous -- Thanks for the comment. It wasn't my intention to be egocentric, only to articulate why some parents like the current schedule. Again, I'm sure there are people who disagree, and I don't have any objection to getting outvoted if those people are in the majority.
The point about test scores strikes me as extremely unpersuasive, though. Correlation, even if it's there, does not prove causation, and there is much more to education than test scores.
Also, for what it's worth, it won't be too many years before early outs for heat are a thing of the past, given the district's plan to air-condition all the schools.
Do you agree, though, that the decision should be a local one?
No, I do not agree that the school start date should ne a local control issue.
Can you explain why? Would you have a different position on it if the state that wanted everyone to start in mid-August?
The state sets the amount of days and hours in a school year, I don't see why it should be any different with the school start date. If all of the schools started at the same time in Iowa, it would make it easier for scheduling camps, gatherings and vacations with other folks that live in the state.
Well, I can see how that has some value, though for me it wouldn't be reason enough to trump local control. In any event, since 336 out of 338 school districts want an earlier start, it would seem easy to accommodate both the uniformity concern and the local control concern.
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