3 days ago
- General
- San Francisco Chronicle
Why Bay Area schools are starting earlier than ever
It's early August, summer's exact midpoint, which used to mean a lot more days of popsicles, lazing in the sun and maybe mid-week jaunts to water parks. Not anymore. School has already started for thousands of kids across the Bay Area, with many more returning to classrooms in a week or so.
Each fall, schools seem to be starting earlier than they used to, in some cases much earlier than the Tuesday-after-Labor Day date many remember, leaving parents, students and even many teachers wondering what happened to their summer break.
'We should be enjoying the weather,' said Oakland parent Amber Bell, who was standing in the hot sun during a back-to-school pre-party at Melrose Leadership Academy Thursday with her two daughters, ahead of a Monday return to class. 'They're going back to school when it's the hottest.'
California allows districts to set their own school calendars, with the required 180 days of instruction built into it, and nearly all districts have been inching up their start dates well into August.
There appears to be just one holdout: Huntington Beach Elementary School District will open after Labor Day, the only apparent September start out of 1,015 California districts
On the other end of the calendar are those first back, including Manteca Unified, which started on Aug. 4 — and while that might sound shockingly early, last year the San Joaquin County city opened its schools on Aug. 1.
There are several logistical and academic reasons for the earlier start dates, although geography, climate and local traditions appear to determine when schools start. Some states, including Minnesota, Maryland and Wisconsin, have mandated classes begin after Labor Day.
Many, if not most, districts in California used to start in late August or early September. But as standardized test results started to come with consequences in the 1990s and 2000s, schools started rethinking that schedule, which included other benefits.
Oakland began inching up the school start several days in the early 2000s to accommodate the full week off for Thanksgiving, given previous high rates of student absenteeism, as well as conforming to that statewide trend to get in more school days before standardized testing in the spring.
Then, in 2018, district officials moved the start date up again to Aug. 13 so schools would finish the semester before winter break, meaning no studying over winter break and no finals and report cards after. In addition, it ensured teachers, who were paid on a 10-month schedule, would get a paycheck in August rather than waiting a month into the school year to get paid.
It made logistical and academic sense, but emotionally, it was a gut punch to parents.
Feedback to the district's social media announcement was immediate: 'Sucks.' 'Crazy.' 'Why?' 'Noooo!!! It can't be!!! Wtf!?!!!'
This year, Oakland starts two days earlier than that.
As the adults gave back-to-school speeches at the Melrose Leadership Academy event, third graders June Kirschbaum and Anais Fierer Rivas decided the first day of school had come too soon.
They had caught six lizards over the summer, Anais said proudly, although hinting there were plenty more out there that needed to be caught. June described herself as 'sad.'
'I still want it to be summer,' she said, describing her favorite part of the break as traveling, swimming and playing. What about her favorite part of school? She didn't have to think before responding: 'The last day of school,' she said.
Jonathan Mayer, principal at Melrose Leadership Academy, has experienced those earlier and earlier start dates over the past 19 years in the district.
'It makes sense academically,' he said as he scrambled Thursday to get ready for 700 students expected to show up Monday. The semester ends before winter break, meaning all grading gets done and reports cards go out, Mayer added. Then, in the spring, the standardized testing comes right before the school year ends, leaving more time for kids to get the content.
With early start dates, the calendar aligns more closely with local college schedules so high school students can participate in dual enrollment. It also gives students more instructional time before Advanced Placement tests and state testing in the spring, arguably resulting in higher scores.
In Manteca, district officials, who were well into their first week of school, echoed many of those reasons for an early start to the year, saying the two halves of the year before and after winter break now balance out. Built in is a week-long fall break in October, a week-long spring break in March, as well as the regular two weeks of winter break.
Yet during the first week of school, temperatures in Manteca hovered just below 100 degrees, arguably not school weather.
Superintendent Clark Burke disagreed.
'Students who may or may not have access to air-conditioning 24/7 in the Central Valley can come to school and have a comfortable environment,' he said. 'It really does allow for students oftentimes to get out of an environment that may not be more healthy.
Back in Oakland, third grade teacher Michelle Moreno was in her classroom at Melrose Leadership Academy, putting up posters on her walls and getting organized for Monday. She was excited.
But as a fourth-year educator, she knows in the coming weeks the weather and her classroom will heat up and the portable AC unit will fail to keep up with the heat generated by the sun's rays through the windows.
Summer weather didn't align to the calendar and so she didn't really care whether classes started in early August or late August, she said.
'The start date doesn't really matter,' Moreno said. 'It's the infrastructure.'
Her principal, Mayer, was clearly excited too, but maybe a bit nostalgic for those extra couple weeks of summer as well.
'We used to say there were three reasons to be a teacher,' he said, holding up his hand to count them off. 'June. July. And August.'
Now there's no August, he said. The joke isn't really funny anymore.
