http://www.pointbuzz.com/news.htm?id=1189

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"Students working in the tourism industry often use summer wages to pay their way through college and would benefit from the extra work days, Van Offeren said."

But the colleges won't be affected by this and will continue to start school in Late August. They'll still be short on workers because the college kids will have already returned to class.

Goodbye MrScott

John

Goodbye George. You will be missed.

Since when is the tourist industry able to dictate the education system? Is the economic situation really that important so as to put the needs of children in the back seat?

Ignoring what I think is an exaggeration of the impact this will have on children, what good is an education if there's no economy in which to work?

JTaylor said:
Is the economic situation really that important so as to put the needs of children in the back seat?

Well it sure as hell wouldn't be the first time, but really starting after Labor Day has doesn't have anything to do with not meeting the needs of children. All it means is that school starts later and gets out earlier.

In fact is there even a negative impact? Not really, I think most everyone will be happy with the decision.

(Coming from someone who has always started after Labor Day.)

<Matt>
101 on Magnum and counting...

And from someone who always started before Labor Day (or at least through the last half of my schooling, I do remember starting after Labor Day the first few years) those few days before Labor Day are a waste anyway.

The kids haven't checked in yet and the teachers know it. They are better off starting on the Tuesday after and being effective right from the start.

Goodbye MrScott

John

Goodbye George. You will be missed.

The change worked in Michigan. I think that it should be that way everywhere. When they first were going to change it I wasn't happy, but now I don't mind it and kind of like it. It also really helped Michigan's Adventure with a bit more revenue at the end of the season.

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When I was in school (a very long time ago) most schools started after Labor Day and ended the second week of June.

The only difference I see is the elimination of the mid-winter break in February which we never had.

I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead

I agree OldCPer. We didn't have all those three day Federal weekends, didn't have "Spring Break" and a horde of inservice days, didn't get a week off for Thanksgiving, and "Winter Break (formerly known as Christmas vacation) was much shorter than what I've seen my son gets now. The school districts always padded the schedule with "snow days" in the event that they would have to close for severe snow storms, and we were still out by the second week in June.

No one's been complaining about our post-Labor Day start in Michigan.

As I've said before, we still get out by June 10th every year, I believe June 6th this year. We started September 7th.

We still have a number of breaks. We have thanksgiving, winter, mid-winter, and spring as the main ones. We get off a couple other days throughout the year. The school day went up about 14 minutes, which isn't really noticeable. In the end, we start later and get out about the same as always. The only thing I notice is, unless I'm mistaken, our winter/holiday break is only about two weeks now. We go back Jan 2, '08.

That's how we've been doing things in Walled Lake for going on four years. We started early. Irrelevant, yes.

Now, switching to seven period days, on the other hand, is a different story...

I say that this will make the students happy, get rid of the wasteful pre-Labor Day days, and possibly help the economy. Why wouldn't they do this?

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