2 weeks Ago
Years ago, the first day of school was always the day after Labor Day. But ever so gradually, this practice has changed, and some school districts have pushed up their start times to almost mid-August. Originally, there was a good reason for this.
Back in the 1970s, there was a string of absolutely brutal winters, and school would be canceled for multiple days every week. It became very difficult to get in the required number of instruction days. School had to be extended until the end of June.
We need to readjust our motives for the current school calendars. Almost every year, the weather becomes an issue. It has been 90 degrees or more on several recent days and schools went on half-day schedules because of a lack of air conditioning.
In previous years, we might have not had such extreme conditions,, but it is almost always in the 80s for the first couple of weeks of school, and if you haven’t spent the day shutting off lights, moving fans around, giving multiple drink breaks, and standing on your head trying to keep the attention of a room full of cranky kids, you haven’t lived. Significant instruction time is lost. It is so counterproductive.
There is this nifty little method of teaching called remote learning. Why do we keep hitting our heads against the wall every year and suffering through the first couple of weeks? Everyone knows the definition of insanity–doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. Sally Brown-Pawlosky Hickory.
