Feedback: August School Calendar for Northfield

With the Northfield School Board's vote on Monday to forego a calendar that would have had students in classrooms on Aug. 13 this year, let's take a look back at some of your conversation about the proposed calendar since it was announced in December.

Below are select comments from three of the stories Patch had on the proposed calendar. You can see all the comments by clicking on the links of each respective story.

What do you think of the board's decision? Do you think school should start before Labor Day or are you OK with the way it is?

School Board Nixes August Start Date—For Now

"I think the calendar change would be a good thing and I hope that it gets brought back again soon. Sorry but family gatherings and 4H are not enough of a reason to stop this going ahead. Gatherings can be changed and 4H is not the be all and end all. I would welcome the adjustment to the school year for my children."

"I would take it a step further and advocate for a year round calendar. Summer vacations are far too long and brings on unnecessary learning gaps. There is research to support it. Look at Harris Cooper's research on the summer learning loss."

"But this was not about family vacations and 4H. This was about the fact that there was no educational research/data supporting this proposed move (which the superintendent admitted), and parents/teachers/community had not been consulted. AND that simply trying to game the system for the possibility of higher test scores does nothing to change our children's education or their learning outcomes. People spoke out about their personal circumstances because of the timing (they had already made plans for the summer, etc), but the prevailing sentiment was that there are not compelling reasons to make this change."

"I would like to commend the board for listening to all the people that spoke last night and for taking direct action immediately. They could have easily moved on to other issues last night and kept the schedule with public meetings next week. A vote on the topic was not even scheduled last night. The entire board recognized that this was hot topic with the community and put a stop to it, for now. Well done. As for Richardson, right or wrong, the fast paced schedule was not up to him. The state's guidelines are what forced the horrible timing. The board has asked to the administration to think outside the box when it comes to bridging the education gap and that is what the administration is doing. It is up to the board to review and discuss the ideas and make decisions on which should be implemented. This is what happened last night and I think board did the right thing."

School Would Start Aug. 13 Under Proposed Calendar

"It is disappointing that this proposed calendar includes an earlier start date, but not a later release date, with more breaks in between. There is research that supports this sort of calendar, and in my experience as an elementary teacher, I truly think this would benefit students' educations, especially those students with home environments in which education is not supported or in which English is not spoken."

"My youngest two ages 5 and 7 are on the bus for an hour and a half each afternoon. Unfortunately we do not have the luxury of being able to pick them up each afternoon to avoid those extreme hot days. So as St Dom's kids the would be in a hot bus or hot classroom for 9 hours a day. And yes it is hot in August. This past August they came home a complete mess - exhausted, dehydrated, cranky..."

"The district should be basing their decisions on the well being of all children in the district - not just the public schools. Parents who send their kids to private schools are paying tuition twice - once in the form of the multiple taxes levied on the residents of the district and once in the tuition they pay to the private school. Parents who decide to send their children to a public school should remember that."

"Also, as one teacher pointed out: kids will almost always be eager for the start of school, and excited for the end of school. You could move it around in endless varieties of ways, and that's the primary takeaway."

"Has anyone considered the effect of long breaks on teen pregnancy rate, increased drug and alcohol use and increased crime rates? The pregnant and parenting teen groups that I work with find a direct correlation between unsupervised school breaks and pregnancy rates. Looking at the Northfield News and Patch over the holiday shows some of the activities of teens: assault, robbery, etc. Let's look at the whole picture and not just what is nice for the adults involved in the school"

Could School Start in Mid-August? District Exploring Calendar Changes

"I can see starting a week or so before Labor Day, but mid-August is pushing it. And the teachers with whom I have discussed this -several who don't live in Northfield and whose own children will have a different school calendar - are not in favor."

"Many families that not only work for the district, but also have children in the district have a huge increase in child care costs if this is passed. Until I see data and research that strongly says starting this early really will benefit our children, I am very much against this poorly thought out proposal. Maybe teachers and community members should have been asked their opinions first before it was given to us only a few weeks before the first meeting! It's ridiculous!!"

"It's just as hot in September when they start, so it being "hot" isn't an argument about why we can't be in school in August. It's plenty hot in Arizona and California where they have year-round school and those kids perform just fine."

"I can see both sides of the arguement here and could go either way, but I do think the board would like to move to a year-round schedule and this a step in that direction. If the board approves this, look for them to make a move to year round school soon."

"Why would you not mention St. Dominics? They are school within the district. The 7th and 8th graders spend part of their day at the middle school and the kids that attend St. Dominic ride the same buses as the public school. They are a school within the district and should be considered. The schedule affects them just as it does any other student within the district."

"This proposal is driven by the high stakes test, a test which already severely distorts our classrooms. Culture, family habits, and so on aside, I think the focus should be on the way this testing drives decisions that shape education. Secondarily, this also represents a change in contract. What does the Northfield teacher's union say?"

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