Later School Start Date

[straubmom]

If anyone disagrees with the early start date of school (which seems to get earlier each year), please check out the following website and help get it changed.

http://capwiz.com/savekentuckysummers/issues/alert/?alertid=8803551&type=ST&show_alert=1

[Unregistered]

I am definetely for this. I have been complaining about this for years. It seems parents have no say so in anything when it comes to school. They are stealing our childrens' childhoods. They grow up fast enough. Let's take a stand!! Forget the cats tests. How can one test prove a child's knowledge anyway? We need to quit basing the school calendar on these tests. August is definetely the hottest month of the year. With all costs rising we really need to take a stand. Think of the money they are spending on utilities and water bottles, which I might add are plastic and probably don't end up in the recycling bin. Let's support this. Who knows, maybe we can finally have a voice!!

[mark]

..............they are eventually heading for year round school.

The only way that can happen is by moving the starting dates a little earlier every year.............see ya mark

[Foxy]

They have year round in Florida and as a student there I liked it... no more spending the first three months relearning and retesting on things we had all forgotten over the summer. The school is geared at testing students right now. We are turning students into test taking machines, not learning sponges. These kids have learned only to sink the information into their brains for tests and them forget it to make room for the next round of testing. They are not LEARNING anything!!
If year round can fix that than BRING IT ON!!

[Chuck]

Relearning and retesting is a vital part of the process. It is only through repetition that we learn and retain what we learn.

California started this year round school this. This was because of population. Some kids still have 3 month summer and others have 3 month winter.

Year round school in our area would mean year round breaks. This would not allow for stability for kids or parents.

It would also take away repetitive learning.

[towboatinwife]

I am also for year round school. I think that it would give the kids the break that they need so they dont get so burnt out.. When people talk about year round school I think some parents get freaked out because they dont realize that its not an everyday for a year thing...They do get breaks I know some schools go for 4 weeks and get out for for a month..I know that before half the year is up my son is already tired of school and I know Im tried of the endless amount of homework...! I just cant believe that Kind. and 1st grade has so much work.. If things keep going the way they are going our future looks bleak because to many kids are going to be so burnt out that they will just say "forget it" to college.

[Brian K Beckett]

I am definetely for this. I have been complaining about this for years. It seems parents have no say so in anything when it comes to school. They are stealing our childrens' childhoods. They grow up fast enough. Let's take a stand!! Forget the cats tests. How can one test prove a child's knowledge anyway? We need to quit basing the school calendar on these tests. August is definetely the hottest month of the year. With all costs rising we really need to take a stand. Think of the money they are spending on utilities and water bottles, which I might add are plastic and probably don't end up in the recycling bin. Let's support this. Who knows, maybe we can finally have a voice!!


I agree. Forget the test scores/ No child left behind. The only true way to test a school on its performance is how sucessful its graduates become.

I dont know which will be best for a childs education. I think kids are like the rest of us, we all learn in a different way and in a different form. I dont like a uniform way to teach.

I dont know about how most of us remember our summer vacations but that is what I remember most about childhood. The girls of summer. Camping, And running around a little later then during the school year.

[straubmom]

The Senate Leadership will be meeting on Tuesday to see if this bill should be heard. Please email them before then to let them know that you support it. You can also go to www.savekentuckysummers.com.

[Roxie1968]

I will definitely email them and let them know that I support this bill. Our kids grow up too fast as it is. Let's give them a chance to be kids and enjoy their summers.

[dpolley]

The Kentucky Enquirer published a very interesting story yesterday (Sunday) on the possibility of CATS being done away with and replaced with Nationally Standardized testing like the ACT or SAT. There are points (albeit some are minor) to be made for both sides. You can check out the story on the Enquirer's website. I would welcome the switch but I don't agree with the politicalization of this serious subject or the fact that if, for example, students aren't tested on the arts and humanities areas some (I doubt most) school districts will eventually do away with this part of the curriculum. However, the CATS test only assures that the student knows who certain people are, not what they contributed to the arts (I know who Pablo Picasso is but I can't tell you what he painted!).

[bevbme]

My step-daughter is a music teacher in Pike County. We were talking the other day about all this CATS testing stuff. She said she feels like the only thing she's teaching her students is how to take tests. She went on to say how sad it was that many of her students can't compose a complete sentence.

[TheMan]

Or read sheet music....

[bevbme]

Funny Man. You know, she didn't say whether they could read music!!!!! I'll make sure I ask her the next time we talk.

[TheMan]

I guess my point was that in music class you should learn about music...Not taking tests.

[littlelee]

Amen TheMan! Just like in computer class you should be learning about computers and technology. Not taking tests.

[KYtransplant]

There is so much pressure to teach the tests I know of schools in Lexington that test their students DAILY...evaluate and retest...the kids and teachers hate it but have no choice.
Hmmm, sounds like a GREAT education...
WAKE UP PEOPLE!

[maysvillebulldog]

I received the following email this morning from Moica Froedge of Save Kentucky Summers:

Good news and bad news and work to be done!*The bad news is Senate Leadership decided our school start date will would not receive a hearing and because of this, our bill is dead this year.

* Good news is we made many friends in the legislature that are supportive of our efforts.

*I was told that if our bill would have reached the floor of the Senate, it would have passed.

* More good news...We are going to try to get the Education committees in both the Senate and the House to form a subcommittee to study this issue.
* So, where does this leave us? It leaves us in a good place -- as the meetings will help us educate more people and legislators, and continue to move our issue forward.

* As our children suffer through the heat in August classrooms, we need to transfer some of that heat to our legislators.
* Please let me know if you will be willing to meet with your state senator and state representative during the summer.
* I'll be happy to provide talking points and handouts to leave with him/her. The more people we meet with during August, the more support we will generate legislatively. We will ramp up publicly in August with news releases, opinion editorials and letters to the editor. If anyone is willing to work
with me on a letter to the editor or opinion editorial, please let me know.

*** We will also transfer the heat our children will experience on those hot bus rides home onto the media and our legislators in August! Hopefully, we will have the support of the Service Workers and Bus Drivers by August and can help them get their message to the public as well.

If any of you have contacts with these groups, please let me know.

* As always, thank you for everything you have done thus far!* It generally takes a minimum of three years to move this kind of legislation through the system. We are following the same path as the
other 11 states have travelled to pass this legislation. This effort is winnable and together, we will secure a later start date for our children!
Sincerely,

Moica Froedge
Save Kentucky Summers
270-535-4947

[Foxy]

SO we are worried about the heat in the classrooms? What about those without A/C at their home?

[KrisT]

Year around school puts students like my daughter at a disadvantage because they would have to miss alot of days in the summer in order to show and work with their livestock projects.