Here we go again, calling something a ‘failure’ before it has even been tried;
“It kind of feels like we have snow days coming up, like planned snow days, and we’re certainly going to enjoy it while it lasts, but there is that feeling that, that we’re going to pay for it at some point,” Morrison said.
Morrison was against the change in the district’s school schedule which pushes the start date to after Labor Day.
“There is a little bit of feeling of dread that our kids are falling behind,” he said.
Like the campaign before the vote, they think the handful of AP students are not going to be able to pass testing after Christmas break. I guess if teachers think that is the case, they need to take a long hard look in the mirror. If you have been teaching students for several months and you think they are going to lose that knowledge over a short Christmas break, you must not have much confidence in your teaching abilities. I don’t think these kids will lose a beat. Let’s admit it, this is about SPORTS and they are using the AP students as an excuse.
“From talking to other teachers, too, I hear that, they’ll probably go with it for a few years, and I can see it changing back to the way it was, based on high school students and the AP tests and semester tests,” Middlen said.
“They’re going to negotiate a change, I’m sure of it,” Morrison said.
The School Board had SEVERAL opportunities to negotiate before petitions were taken out, they ignored voters, parents, businesses and tax payers. You lost the election, face reality. A majority of school district voters said they want to start after labor day. Done deal. These are people who pay your wages not some superintendent that used to hide in dark corners with her school board to make decisions. This reminds me of the people who still complain about Drake Springs Pool that was voted on over seven years ago, even though the city’s aquatic consultant said building a pool at Nelson Park would have been a mistake because of ground water issues. So please, let’s stop the bitch session about losing the election, and get back to teaching our children.
It is always hot in August and the kids end up getting out early many days and probably not concentrating as well in the heat. May is usually cool. So why the big deal about starting and ending later? I agree it’s the sports. So start all the sports stuff later too – OK, problem solved!
Sports is a poor example anymore. Face it – if your kiddo is worth a crap in any sport – they are now pretty much playing it year around.
I heard people complaining about HS soccer the other day and it beginning already. Guess what? – a majority of those athletes are club soccer kids anyways and guess what else? – the new club soccer season began last week so even if they were not playing the newly sanctioned HS sport – they still would have already began training and practice for the upcoming year.
Honestly – as far as practice – I don’t know if you will hear too many HS coaches complaining. They will get these kids for double day practices all to themselves without fighting the school day and homework and pure exhaustion from their athletes. It’s not an all bad thing.
And I love the message that so many HS kids stated they did not want to have to study or do anything over the Christmas break. Reality check – you are 4-6 years from being in the real world and a majority of employees do not receive Christmas break as a vacation. Sad, yet reality. If you’re a thriving AP student, etc., you might as well wrap your brain around that concept earlier than later.
Yeah, football in the snow!!
Sioux Falls schools are air conditioned. No early release.
These teachers who are speaking negatively about the outcome of a public vote are really missing an opportunity!!
Instead, they could be acting like the educators that they are and talk about the political process of the initiative and the power of the public vote.
Start date gets to much attention. How about better teachers and pay? Lowest in the nation. Who cares about start date except decide and keep?
anon – I don’t think teachers have a clue about simple political science and democratic civics, that was obvious while watching their campaign against the change in date.
If you keep voting for the same people in office you cannot expect any change to happen. This board did not hear anything the voter said from the last election because the public still voted in the same old people who made up this nonsense. Open up your eyes voters, demand more from your public appointed officials or stop voting for them!
This post Labor Day school start date will get switched back to where it belongs. The public interest will ultimately beat back the special interests behind this.
So now the people who voted for the change of the school date are ‘special interests’? While you may say donors like WWW and the petition gatherers are special interest (mostly parents), the voters are voters, that is it. The date got changed because voters agreed. That’s it. Real simple.