A Labor Day issue: Delay school starts?

The Jackson Citizen Patriot
9/04/2005

It is bad enough that the Grinch stole Christmas. The nasty green gremlin has also been stealing summer vacation, pushing it deeper back into August from Labor Day. Well, enough is enough. It's time to draw a line in the sand and tell locally controlled school districts: You shall wait to start classes until after Labor Day weekend.

This issue has been simmering for years. In Michigan, districts are free to decide their own class starting dates. Too many use that freedom to accommodate themselves rather than the public.

The Legislature, sensitive to parental complaints of schools impinging on vacation time, passed a law barring districts from holding classes the Friday of Labor Day weekend. While it was thought that might prompt districts to delay starting classes until after the weekend, there has been no rush to do so.

Granted, 11 of the state's 50 largest districts did plan on a post-Labor Day weekend start this year. However, too many still begin a week or more before the last big holiday weekend of the summer. Aside from the impact on vacation time, late August is notoriously hot, and few schools can afford air conditioning. How much education takes place in that period anyway? No sooner does school start than it is interrupted by a four-day holiday weekend.

Why do districts even bother with a pre-Labor Day start? Various factors affect the decision. For one thing, the Michigan High School Athletic Association set the statewide first practice date for football on Aug. 8 this year. So football players, athletes playing other fall sports and marching band members are often spending August in rigorous practices for a season that starts in August.

Too, some districts tend to take more snow days in a hard winter and end up keeping kids in school until mid- to late June. Rather than have families leaving on vacation at the crucial end of a school year, administrators begin earlier. (The school day could be lengthened by a few minutes to avoid this problem.) Another factor may be that, as the strenuous testing requirements of the No Child Left Behind federal mandate kick in, educators like to get an early start in "teaching to the test."

Whatever the reasons, it is clear what the public wants. A new poll of 600 likely Michigan voters, conducted Aug. 15-21 by Lansing's EPIC/MRA, found that 63 percent of Michigan voters support requiring districts to wait until after Labor Day to start classes.

This is one issue on which the Legislature is leading public opinion, and not the other way around. In June, the state House passed a bill that would require the post-Labor Day start. Now the Senate has the measure and expects to take it up when it returns to session. Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema, R-Wyoming, supports the measure.

Some people argue for a later school start as a way of prolonging the summer tourist season. Not us. The later start is justified merely because it is in the best interest of families and children. Let them have the freedom of a few more summer days. Whether they choose to buy fudge in Mackinac, swim at Warren Dunes or visit Greenfield Village (spending tourist dollars at each stop) is irrelevant to the issue.

Yes, this means depriving local districts of the freedom to set a start date as they choose. So? There are worse things in an educator's life than having to bow to majority opinion in a democracy. Let the edict be established: No classes before Labor Day!