Push on to extend summer

Citing hurricane activity, the August heat and family vacations as reasons, two South Florida lawmakers want a later start to the school year.

Hannah Sampson and Matthew I. Pinzur
Miami Herald
9/23/05

Parents who grumbled that there ought to be a law against school starting at the beginning of August might just get their way.

Two South Florida lawmakers -- Reps. Ralph Arza, the PreK-12 Committee chairman, and Eleanor Sobel -- said Thursday that they are considering filing separate bills that would mandate a later start date.

''Whenever I speak, I talk about the beginning of school,'' said Sobel, D-Hollywood. 'I say, `What do you think about starting the day after Labor Day?' They just love it. They applaud me.''

A grass-roots group started by a Golden Beach mother has collected nearly 1,000 names on an online petition that calls for a September start date, and similar groups have won such laws in North Carolina, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

''We're excited,'' said Sherry Sturner, who formed Save Our Summers-Florida. "That's what we want.''

Sturner and other proponents of a later start date cite hurricane activity, the August heat and family vacations as reasons to wait until September.

And often they blame the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, which is administered statewide in February and March.

District leaders in Miami-Dade and Broward counties have fought the perception that the high-stakes exam drove them to open school earlier.

Both districts began on Aug. 8 this fall, allowing high-school students to finish final exams before winter vacation.

''It doesn't have anything to do with the FCAT,'' Broward School Board member Beverly Gallagher said at a workshop Thursday.

The earlier start also gives students more classroom time before national standardized tests such as Advanced Placement exams and the SAT.

Despite that, leaders in both counties cautiously supported the plan.

''For many reasons, [starting in early August] is just completely wrong: hot weather, hurricanes, family reunions, opportunities to have a real summer as it is traditionally considered in the United States,'' said Miami-Dade School Board member Evelyn Greer, who touched on the issue during this month's board meeting. "We're now almost a month earlier than other parts of the country.''

Broward Superintendent Frank Till said he would have ''no big objection'' if the state set a later date for a return to school.

Both Till and a spokesman for Miami-Dade Superintendent Rudy Crew said the key is making each of the 67 counties follow the same rule.

As recently as last month, Gov. Jeb Bush expressed dismay at the ever-earlier start dates.

''He was commenting on how schools seem to be starting so early and how he thought a later date would be more appropriate,'' said Alia Faraj, Bush's communications director. "He turned to the speaker of the house and told him he hoped he would address the matter during the upcoming session.''

Miami-Dade was one of the last districts to move to early August, and it did so partially to line up with the rest of the state.

If everyone were required to start after a certain date in late August or early September, Crew spokesman Joseph Garcia said it would put "everyone on the same plane, which was the board's intention.''

Garcia was concerned, however, about another part of Arza's suggestion.

The Hialeah Republican said the FCAT should begin 100 days after school begins, "therefore taking the pressure off the desire to start earlier.''

But it would also mean fewer classroom days before the test.

Before this year's exams, there will be 113 school days in Miami-Dade and 112 in Broward. Garcia said the test would have to be adjusted if it were administered sooner.

''We need to make sure that . . . kids have had a chance to learn the material that's on the test as opposed to asking them questions that just haven't been covered yet,'' he said.

Greer said she has received more than 100 parent e-mails about the early school calendar and has referred many to Sturner's web site, http://www.saveourschools.org/.

''I think we're all getting pounded with e-mails,'' said Broward School Board member Marty Rubinstein. "Where did our summers go?''