While I think most are OK with the August 23rd start date some wanted to see the last week of August instead, but it is unfortunate how the School District came to the decision;
However, survey conducted earlier this school year showed that more than 55 percent of 5,177 parents surveyed wanted the start date moved back to before Labor Day. Two-thirds of more than 2,000 staff surveyed also said they wanted school to start before Labor Day.
I still think this decision should have been left up to voters with the June 6th school board election. I think leaving non-parents and non-teachers out of the decision that still help fund public education in Sioux Falls sends the wrong message. Parents and teachers that are registered voters could have voted with non-parents and non-teachers that pay property taxes in our community and had an equal say also, instead of tipping the scales in their favor with a dubious survey. An election would have been the COMMON SENSE way to decide the school start date, and with an election less then two months away, it would not have been inconvenient to the school district. It seems the school board and school administrators still struggle with the concept of a democracy.
Makes no sense. Voters recently voted for after Labor Day. School board changed it back.
Good perspective.
Playing devil’s advocate here…if someone doesn’t have kids in school, should they have a say? Why would they care? I understand that they pay taxes, but if it doesn’t impact them directly, I would have to think most people wouldn’t care…
I think some would argue ‘Why should we care’? Even if you don’t have kids in the district, you could be a grandparent who provides childcare, you could be a business owner that depends on seasonal help from school kids. There is also the factor of building NEW schools, which affects our property taxes greatly. I’m sure there are dozens of other reasons why non-parents should care, but most importantly, taxation without representation is unacceptable, and as long as I am funding public education, I should have a say in how it is being administered, even if I don’t have an opinion 🙂
A look back at the petition drive and the subsequent public vote would tell you it was more than parents and SFSD employees who cared about the school start date.
You know, believe it or not, letting the unwashed masses vote on every little thing doesn’t necessarily result in the best outcomes. More voting has never produced inherently better governance.
The school district has a calendar committee made up of parents, students, faculty that voted 14-7 for the switch. You think taxpayers generally are a better, more informed audience for this discussion? I wouldn’t even bet your money on that foolhardy proposition.
Once again, there was a vote and results be damned.
Our form of government is fucked.
Good. Best interests of the kids. Not the best interests of the special interests.
LJL, actually, the election results may have turned out the same way. Not the point I was making. 1) voting on the school date would have been easy and democratic, and virtually cost taxpayer’s $0 since there was already a school board election 2) The bogus surveys were a waste of taxpayer money and time and only caused doubt.
They should have never changed the date to begin with….The real debate should be, “Do we keep the antiquated 19th century agrarian school calendar in tact, or do we get rid of it and get with it, and replace it with year around school?”
Any how, I am going to take a nap while the rest of you refight this issue over “Saving Our Summer” once again. Wake me up, when this debate is over, and when everyone is ready to talk about the real issues like teacher pay, funding, class size, and parity amongst schools in terms of their resources and capabilities…..
My proposal would be 10-1/2 months out of the year. I would give them a 2-week break in Winter and Summer and a 1-week break Spring and Fall and ONLY national holidays off.
Well, that’s the thing. If we went to year around school, the kids would still get a fair of amount of time off to just be kids, but you cannot tell me that having 3 continuous months off is not distractive (destructive?) to the continuum of educating children.
Hopefully though, with a year around school calendar the net result would be more days in class than with the current agrarian calendar, however. That way we could possibly find some time to teach civics, history, and geography to all of our kids once again…. 😉 (Can anyone tell me where South Dakota is? Its capital? What’s the electoral college? What are the three branches of government? Who did we fight in World War II?)