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School superintendent proposes end to February vacation week
By adamg on Tue, 03/22/2016 - 6:44pm
The Globe reports School Superintendent Tommy Chang wants to start school before Labor Day and make Boston the first community in the state to get rid of February vacation.
This would let BPS have a longer Christmas break, so students with relatives overseas could have more time to spend with families abroad - something not sitting well with people who couldn't afford to fly abroad even if they did have family there.
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Comments
Things like this are top down
And schools are at the bottom. Unless our economic system changes prior to Boston schools making this adjustment, people will have a difficult time adjusting.
Im a young guy with no kids and I notice a dramatic slowdown during these breaks. Additionally, growing up in a blue collar household, me and my brother were both sent to week long camps like which the YMCA or the Roslindale Community Center once provided instead of going overseas.
Further, we attended these camp while both attending public and private school and like my parents did, many households consist of two working adults.
Parents, camps and employers will all have to adjust prior to implementing a decision like this.
Then you have the Union, who like the extended school day discussion will demand pay increases to accommodate union members while we have an artificial budget shortfall.
Not good timing in bringing this up. An frankly show shortsighted thinking on his part.
Evacuation Day and Bunker Hill Day...
...are already removed from future BPS calendars. This year is the last one.
I don't get it
As someone who grew up in another state, I never understood the reasoning behind February vacation coming what? a month and half after winter break and a month before spring break? Kids can't go 2 or 3 months without having a whole week off? It's not like they'll get that kind of paid vacation time in the real world. Best not lead them on....
Doesn't affect me, but
in some towns people would flip over losing the February vacation, which is the time they take the kids to Disney World.
Wouldn't sane people
Wouldn't sane people appreciate the excuse to avoid Disney World?
I agree!
I always thought it was too close to Winter break. My kids have 2 weeks off in December. They do not need an additional week in February.
Why not?
As a student, I think the February break is nice. I like how we have lots of three day weekends and other breaks throughout the year, because that means you always have something to look forward to.
I'll bet you do
I would too, if I had the kind of time off that you do, but I'm a working adult. When you're a working adult, you'll get to take that time off as paid vacation if you have it available, and if you're allowed to take it (which, as a childless person, you probably won't be, because all the people with kids will be taking the week off).
Yes, I'm aware
I know that people with jobs other than teacher don't get vacations, but I fail to see how that's relevant here.
So are you jealous that you
So are you jealous that you don't get the days off or what? I'm not sure what the paternalistic tone is for.
Summer is short already up north
Why take away nice weather vacation time? It's generally cold in December and people spend more time indoors. Vacationing during that time, especially for a family, is very pricey. Who exactly is this supposed to appeal to?
Keen political move
Step 1: Propose a complete shift in school dynamics that goes back decades that will make everyone go "Whaa??".
Step 2: Get all the parents in an uproar about an extended holiday break (like me) that probably benefits a small sub-set of the school based population. If you are two working parents in Boston how can you afford to take more time off at xmas/NYE? Is Supt Chang going to call my HR dept to get me an extra week of vacation? Please and Thank you.
Step 3: Get parents to settle on starting school before Labor Day (of which I am in complete agreement with here.) This is not the Cape, summer jobs/rentals are not the city's economic engine. In case you have not noticed, tourists are here virtually YEAR ROUND now. You could start the last Wednesday in August, teachers on Wed, kids on Thurs/Friday, then everyone gets Labor Day. Is it rough to start? Sure, but so is eating better to try and lose weight. Eventually you get to used to it.
Step 4: Freebie from me to Tommy, add in getting rid of Evacuation and Bunker Hill Days too. Evacuation day is too close to state testing time and Good Friday (which BPS takes off already). Therefore teachers do not always get five full days in a week to get their students ready for a very busy time of year.
And Bunker Hill Day? Come on, we LOST the battle of bunker hill. What other holidays do we celebrate a loss? (I'm laying on the sarcasm for all you toonies and townies, so relax) Oh, and how it relates to school, do kids really need a day off in June? It just pushes the school year closer and closer to July in buildings with no AC. (A personal observation, I think it is easier to adapt from warmer to cool weather, i.e. school from August to October, as opposed to cold to warm/hot April - June.)
OR
You go back to the 220 days of school that cities used to operate on. Why? In an anecdotal evidence manner, it could assist in decreasing the "learning loss" or "summer slide" that occurs for many BPS students during the summer. Run it on a quarterly system and you get a week off between quarters. Kids are in school. Learning levels increase, maybe. Parents are happy because Feb & April vacation no longer falls during high season making trips to see family in FLA/CA/Caribbean/Asia/South America more affordable, which in turn makes Tommy Chang happy.
Do they
Okay not a BPS parent or anything but I am curious.
While I see this as a very "LA" thing to do (as they have year around schools out there), does BPS have that many 'international students' going to it that such a change is needed to accommodate these people?
If this is his only stance on making the change.. kinda sounds like a flimsy excuse to cater to a small group of people who do/can travel on breaks while the rest of the students and parent scramble to find child care for all that extra time.
But what do I know? I'm not a BPS parent...
I've never understood Feb Vacation
My husband and I both grew up outside of New England and neither of us got a February Vacation Week. It's practically a religious observance here and it's ridiculous. I grew up in the mid-Atlantic. We didn't have schools with a/c and we were done in the 1st or 2nd week of June and back before Labor Day every year. If it was hot we were told to just handle it and not complain. (And I'm not even 40, so this is not a story from the 50's or something).
Jettison Feb vacation week. End Bunker Hill, Good Friday, and Evacuation Day as school holidays.
Someday maybe we'll even have after school programs available for all kids and an extended school year that isn't based on an outdated agrarian calendar, but I digress. This proposal is a step in the right direction, even if the travel reason is nonsense.
Oh, and don't re-elect Marty. That'll help, too.
Have you forgotten what it was like to be in school?
Maybe your kids are in elementary school or something, but high school is hard. I know MANY people who have had mental breakdowns, had to stay in psych wards, etc., because of school. Having breaks throughout the year is important for students' mental health. Just because you didn't have something doesn't mean that's the correct way to do it.
I have not forgotten
I remember high school quite well. I was involved in every single activity my school offered and my days started before 7am and usually ended after 10pm. I also started working at 14. I remember well the torture that was middle school. High School was much, much better.
But this is largely an academic argument for me as 1) I don't have kids 2) I can't have kids 3) I don't teach in BPS 4) I don't live in Boston 5) I teach elsewhere with a different schedule.
I happen to think that the argument being made is right but for the wrong reasons. And while breaks are important for sanity what's more important is having a supportive school atmosphere, a school and society that take mental health seriously (something I didn't have either, btw), and making schools a safe place for kids. Working on a 19th century calendar with vacations willy-nilly throughout the year isn't going to do that.
Nope
I only got a longer winter break and a single spring break, as I grew up in the 90+% of the country that has only one break in the spring.
That said, the stress levels are not best solved with multiple vacations. That's a ridiculous band-aid. They are best solved by reorganizing the system and humanizing the workload and expectations (currently on year six of kids in high school).
As a working parent, I always found it difficult to organize the childcare around all these breaks - these ate my entire vacation allotment for many years. One fewer vacation is one more week to share time in the summer without paying extreme premiums on childcare or vacation arrangements.
I appreciate the sentiment
But "humanizing the workload and expectations" is literally never going to happen, so I think this band-aid, however ridiculous it may be, needs to continue to exist. I mean I get that adults get like two weeks of vacation the whole year (and only if you have a good job) and that adult life is more stressful, but I don't see why teenagers need to be thrown into that immediately.
Huh?
I went to high school in the 90's in Boston and remember it well. I had a lot of fun, played sports, partied with friends and chased girls. I wouldn't mind going back in time and re-living it all over again.
That being said, what is wrong with kids these days? Mental breakdowns? Psych wards? If this is true, you should do those kids a favor and tell them to stay in those psych wards forever because life does not get any easier than high school.
I don't understand
I don't understand why you think making fun of mentally ill teenagers on the Internet is somehow an acceptable thing to do. I cannot imagine any of my friends describing school as "fun," nor can I imagine ever wanting to relive this period of my life. I know it doesn't get easier, but teenagers' brains are less developed than adults and consequently are less capable of handling stress. I don't see why you feel the need to be so derisive.
Microaggression-free zone
Come on guys, Bounce is a student and not used to all these microaggressions. It is NOT ok.
Ooh, did someone find a list of SJW buzzwords?
Aww!
I don't see how wanting, you know, common decency is somehow unthinkable now.
It's ok Bounce
Just get to your safe space, everything will be ok.
Aww
Maybe you're the one who needs a safe space, seeing as the discussion of mental illness in high school students is clearly triggering you.
ugh, again with the safe spaces
Insulting others with this "safe space" trope has become such a lazy, mindless reflex. Truly tedious. Snark better, people!
What an asshole
You're really being a flaming asshole, you know that?
Thanks for making my point
Kids today can't handle stress because their overprotective parents have taught them that a) you're special and b) that's offensive.
Here's a life lesson: Nobody cares. You're not better than everyone else. There's millions of people who can do what you do better and the world doesn't owe you a fucking thing.
Generations of kids made it out of high school before you, some went to college, some went to war and other went to work. Three things that are infinitely more stressful than high school.
Life is all about what YOU can do to make yourself better, blaming others people or institutions for your troubles is a Jacques Pepin-esque recipe for failure.
Good luck.
Well, then
Why is your generation bad at parenting? If every other generation managed to raise kids just fine, why didn't yours?
Also, why do you think adamg sucks at being a father?
Shouldn't you be in school?
I'm not talking about all parents, you dolt. I'm talking about the ones who haven't taught their kids basic life skills like stress and time management.
I am
For some reason they let us use computers in class and they don't block this website.
Okay, then, so why is "failure to teach basic life skills" a problem now when it didn't used to be?
Critical thinking
And what shall we say about people who can't handle complex reasoning and are incapable of dealing with real life except by reducing it to simplistic pseudo-truths i.e., self-serving lies? That's what you just did here, you know.
Out of curiosity
Just curious, what is so different about high school now and then? I graduated from a BPS exam school in the mid-2000s. We had the SATs, AP exams, MCAS (ugh), extracurricular activities, jobs to go after school and families to help out. I knew people who were taking 3-5 AP classes in one term on top of other activities. Way too much work. But they made it, some with straight A’s and went to graduate from great colleges. What is so different now?
On the Feb vacation issue. My parents were constantly working so I basically took care of myself during February and April vacations, but I can see how stressful it is for parents to find babysitters or even take a week off from work. Because as we all know, those work emails and calls don’t stop just because you’re out of the office. It’s not like school where you can put a stop to it for a week. All those clients, all those dollar signs…your job is on the line. Not to mention there’s also April vacation. Unless you’re in working environment that encourages lots of vacation time, you’re essentially asking two weeks of vacation off in the first half of the year and even before summer break rolls around.
Impossible to answer the question
This question is impossible to answer, because no one has defined what "then" is, much less "where". The "kids today" recreational complainers are just blowing hot air, as usual. You can tell that they went to real schools without any of that foofy art stuff, because they're only capable of painting with the broadest of brushes.
It is not an agrarian calendar
If it was an agrarian calendar then school would have two sessions, one in the summer and one in the fall. Schools with agrarian calendars had breaks during the fall for harvest and the spring for prepping the fields to plant. But I understand the point you are getting at.
Seriously, the entire rest of
Seriously, the entire rest of the country has one break, in the spring, and then gets out at a normal time. The amount of days off in New England blows my mind. The fact that schools are closed on good Friday also blows my flipping mind. How the hell do they justify that when other kids don't get off for their holidays (Rosh Hashanah and Ramadan are notably absent). I taught for a few years and weeklong+ breaks are awful for the kids, they get completely out of the groove and the week before and week after are pretty much a wash most of the time. Just let them out earlier in June. Or go to a yearlong calendar and give them all Fridays off.
yet our statewide schools are best in the country
so why do we need to conform to the practices of the rest of the country?
There's probably too much school as it is and while the various breaks are a hassle as a working parent, I don't begrudge my kids time away from the classroom.
Good Friday is a federal
Good Friday is a federal holiday, so good luck getting that one off the books.
No, Good Friday is not a federal holiday
Conspicuous by its absence on this list of federal holidays, compiled by a federal agency.
Lol
What country are you from, Mike?
apologies, it is a NYSE
apologies, it is a NYSE holiday, not a Federal reserve holiday. i get the day off regardless.
The
Northern California parents that I know have informed me that Presidents' Week is called Ski Week there, and everyone goes to Tahoe. Even in the poor districts where some children struggle to afford basic clothing and food, it's Ski Week.
Canceling break during Black History Month?
This is really shameless on the part of Tommy Chang and Marty Walsh. With all of the insensitivity shown at Boston Latin, they decide this now? Walsh's mishandling of the St. Patrick's Parade and the court decision should have taught him a few things. Unreal.
Please go away!
Often!
.
Kill February Break, start a week earlier
Boston kids lose school time before nationally set tests like AP and SATs with our weird schedule. February break is unnecessary, given that it falls so soon after January. Flip April break to the week before President's day and stop trying to get kids to go to school on December 23rd (the real cause of the dip in attendance the past few years). Have teachers return the week before Labor Day and kids start Tuesday after.
Just Do It
Just Do It, Get rid of February vacation
I like February vacation
First, we are talking 4 working days for parents who work in places that have Presidents Day (federal holiday) off, versus whatever number of days off at Christmas that Chang proposes. At the end of the day, the BPS will be open for 180 days. When those days are is immaterial.
A break in December, a break in February, another in April, and buckle down for the final stretch.
Not really
Not really. Not in the workplace. If you need to be absent from the workplace, then others have to be covering from you. That means that they can't take that time off. "Forcing" parents to take certain days off means that it's not optional for the rest of us. Would you enjoy being told that you can't take time off around the holidays because other people "have" to have the time off because their kids are out of school?
Which lasts until when, mid-May? I have a better idea: pace the school year better. Don't assign ridiculous amounts of counterproductive homework. Allow time for art, music, performing arts, and recess. Run school at a sane, sustainable pace, and you'll probably find out that kids (and their parents) are not in critical need of a week-long break every six weeks.
Show me the math
So, when BPS starts to go in session Tuesday through Friday on the third week in February while at the same time Christmas vacation gets extended by those same four days, how won't you (or spouse or whoever) have to take time off? And trust me, the average non-parent would much rather take time off at New Years than time off in February, so just give it to the parents.
If the proposal is to go to a 200 day year, arguments like yours would make sense, but if the plan is to just rework the 180 day year, which days they are or are not is school is pretty academic.
Start school before Labor Day??
But how will the children do homework AND attend the Grand Prix??
Fine with me, but for the
Fine with me, but for the love of God don't do what Somerville does when they start before Labor Day:
Monday: No school
Tuesday: No school
Wednesday: Half-Day
Thursday: Full day
Friday: No school, 4-day weekend
Honestly. The kids have been old enough for some time to stay home on their own, but this has to drive the parents on grade schoolers out of their fucking minds.
Keep Feb vacation
But add a week to the beginning of the school calendar and another week to the end.
Yes, another two weeks of school. We know kids regress over the summer -- especially the kids who are poor or ESL. Shortening the summer period will, over the course the public school years, result in far better performance by the time those kids are in high school. If it cuts down on petty crime, pregnancy, and other dumb things 13-17 year olds do in the summer, all the better.
As for the Feb vacation -- if school is going to go another week longer into the summer, maybe have that Feb vacation in March.
P.S. Yes, this will cost the city more money in school programs. It will have a little savings on policing and community programs, and it will help poor and middle class working parents save money on summer programs, but in total, we'll be out of pocket more to make this happen. That's okay. The kids need the schoolin'.
I'm for eliminating
February and replacing it with another July.
Working on it!
Of course, this means that "July" will be replaced with "July in New Dehli".
Enjoy!
I'm probably in the minority
I don't understand the February vacation in the first place. When I was a kid we had Christmas/winter vacation, spring vacation, then summer. There were some single day holidays in between, of course--plus the long Thanksgiving weekend. We did not have the extra February vacation. It's so close to winter break I don't see the rationale. I really think the kids need to be in school more, because as it is now they have very short days and a very short school year. There has got to be some time for actual learning, and it isn't happening.
Did you grow up in Massachusetts?
As I stated above, I remember the Blizzard of '78 and how the schools closed up to and including February vacation week, so that's how old February vacation is. Now, going back to the 1960s and before I cannot say, but definitely since 1978 (which was when I was in first grade) there has been February vacation in Massachusetts.
I'm not going to lie. The answer to why we have it is "because it's we way we've been doing things", but since I know people who are younger than me who have grandchildren in grade school, I cannot say it is new.
good!
keep the little bastards in school for as long as possible.
I love Tommy Chang
>>>
Spring break should start on
4-20?
The 3%
In the Globe article on this subject, Dr. Chang noted that the absence rate in BPS ticks up 3% after winter break. Changing the entire system for (less than) 3% of kids seems ridiculous.
The same article has a "no comment" from the head of the Boston Teachers Union as he said he is not allowed to comment on items discussed in the current contract negotiation. My understanding is that neither side is allowed to comment on negotiations. I wonder what Chang's motivation for releasing this info was?
Exactly
Reading here about how people want the schools opened on Good Friday got me thinking a bit. Yes, BPS is opened on the Jewish holy days, with the children of the Hebrew faith excused for the obvious religious reasons. In cities and towns with larger Jewish student populations, they close an extra 2 days a year. Would it be worth while to be opened for Good Friday when the likes of me would insist on keeping Waquiot Jr. home (and yes, that is one of the reason I am aiming for Catholic education)?
I'll say this, I don't think much of this proposal, but there's no harm in having the discussion.