A LINK FOR FLORIDA PARENTS WONDERING WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO THEIR KIDS' SUMMERS

Right here.

Comments

[Stupendous Man]

This is an hot subject here in SoFla where two hurricanes last year cut deeply into the beginning of the school year. What can the educational system do?

[Addicted to 24]

I am childless and plan to stay that way but I am all for this as I HATE driving 20 in school zones.

[Chianca at Large]

Here here! In fact, let's cut school down to, say, two months a year. And while kids are there, let's make sure they're allowed to say "f**k."

[Poop Dogg]

Then, I'm sure there are a lot of parents who are quite happy to see their kids go back to school after a short "summer".

[mom]

are these people INSANE?

this is the best time of the year for parents -- sending the little darlings off again!

i love my kids. but -- when they were younger, there were a gazillion summer day camp things plus boy scout camp and family vacation and whatever to juggle, and still i heard, "i'm sooooo bored!"

with teens, there are no day camps, they don't find jobs, and they are ever so much more accomplished at the "i'm bbbboooooorrrrredddddd" thing. plus, they sometimes invite rock bands to practice for say, 900 hours at a shot, meaning my household could run through 49 gallons of gatorade and 23 pizzas in a day, with the total "family interaction" time limited to, "can i have some money?" [apparently the pounding headache is not a shared experience.]

all the teachers need raises, by the way.

[Liz in the city]

As a former Southwest Floridia high school student, I'm all for school starting earlier in the year if it means that exams are done BEFORE Christmas/winter break. There was nothing worse than coming back from two weeks of vacation to have to cram for exams on stuff you forgot in between the turkey and the sleeping in.

[AlanBoss]

My wife is a teacher at one of these type schools in Los Angeles. It always worked out fine with her break going from July until mid September. But her track got changed this year so she won't have a vacation until November. She is now all in favor of going back to a standard schedule.

[Guin]

If the schools would have normal hours that coincide with every parent's JOBS, such as 8 to 4 or 9 to 5, instead of 9:15 to 2:05, like in my town, EVERYONE could have a decent summer vacation. The schools start so early and go through the end of June because of state-mandated "hours in school." It takes a lot more days to add up the required hours when the school day is four hours long!

*gets off her soapbox*

[queensbee]

summers were always a good time to get jobs - high school students often need that time, and the money... and what is up with these stores that started slogging school supplies right after the 4th of july? if they wanna start school in august, just why not have year round school? provided the teachers are paid accordingly? a two-month break july-aug - not a bad idea. duh. sometimes, just leave well enough alone!

[Crash]

I'm PISSED!
I didn't get to go to Ireland, or Australia, or Alaska, or hell, anywhere because the imps had to go back to school. It seemed like they had about two weeks off.

[thduggie]

Hey, quit whining. I never got more than six weeks of summer holiday growing up in Switzerland. I survived. My parents survived. You will survive.

[ceeg22]

my friend is a school teacher in London, Ontario. They have school till nearly the end of June, and then start up again right after Labor Day.

[MzVette]

My younger siblings did the year around school bit for a while, defiantly odd for someone who didn't grow up with that. I actually think its kind of a good ideal since you don't have 3+ months to forget everything you leared last year. Though it is cool having that much free time for yourself. I think that us adults deserve summer break too, even if its only for a month or something. There be a lot less crazy people (such as me).

[Joan Ryan]

Why can't Florida schools take a normal summer vacation like most of the other states so we can visit our folks. Going back the first week in August is killing us. What the heck is the difference if they go back in September like the rest of the world so we can vacation all together?