When is your school's last day?
- Thread starter aztecjim
- Start date
CedarBuck92
Well-known member
PreK-11 is done 5/30. Knowing how they tend to do things. Graduation is 5/26 and the Seniors last day will be 5/24.
CedarBuck92
Well-known member
I agree those dates are too early. What would you think would be reasonable?
soccerdad72
Well-known member
2 kids are in college. One graduates Saturday, the other one (at Miami) is done the 16th. Miami goes back so late from winter break that I think they’re one of the last colleges done in the spring.
I am looking at several area school district calendars and have determined:
1)School starts too early. August 19th is too early. Some years schools starts even as early as the 12th-13th. I think Kettering Alter (or was it C-J?) used to start as early as the 3rd or 4th.
2)There are a lot of "in-service days" that could be eliminated. I don't ever remember having days where students get the day off so teachers can learn how to teach.
3)A whole week for Thanksgiving? Since when?
4)I have had teachers tell me that a lot of time is wasted prepping for state tests.
5)My HS graduation was Memorial Day weekend. Still is in many places.
School could start the day after Labor Day (or the Monday before) and get out in time for a Memorial Day weekend graduation. Or even the weekend after when Memorial Day is early ish like this year. Remember the calendar is no longer based on 180 days but total in school hours. The day could be extended as little as 10-15 minutes and cover everything just fine.
PantherProud
Well-known member
Miamisburg:
Seniors finish the 10th
Graduation is the 18th.
Rest of school ends on the 22nd.
Seniors finish the 10th
Graduation is the 18th.
Rest of school ends on the 22nd.
PantherProud
Well-known member
CedarBuck92
Well-known member
1. Agreed. Really early start and have yet to really figure out why.
2. Agreed there are too many but do find some benefit to them. 1 each semester should be enough.
3. This seems to be a more recent trend and think it is somewhat related to lack of attendance on short week.
4. Very true. But without change at the state level not sure how we get out of this
5. Mine was June 6th but thats a whole other story. Historically my HS does Memorial Day weekend.
So the one thing you didn't really answer was when you think Seniors should get out? Or do you think they should be done early at all?
scbuckeye99
Well-known member
In my district in South Carolina teachers go back on August 1st this upcoming school year, students return on August 8th. We do however get two full weeks for Christmas break, and a whole week for spring break and are then out by mid May. We also get the occasional "holiday" off. Like down here we get election day off every four years which I think is pretty cool. Wish more states did that sort of thing.
180 day calendar for kids, 190 work day contract for teachers. So those first 5 days of in service is due to having to find somewhere in the calendar to get 10 days out of us.
Those first 5 days for me at least are helpful as far as getting planning ready, especially if you are doing new classes. Sometimes with a new admin there are several policy adjustments that we end up spending an entire morning going over. Department meetings, team meetings, academy meetings, etc....
With that being said our admin is usually pretty good about giving us the 5th day of in-service off if we feel like we're good to start the school year.
Depending on what you teach 4 or 5 days may be over kill. I do enjoy the fact that it gives me a chance to get in my classroom and get re-focused for another school year.
I am trying to remember. I am asking classmates for their memories but I sort of recall exams for everyone was Mon-Tues-Wed May 18-20. Off Thurs-Fri. Graduation was Sunday evening of Memorial weekend. I REALLY hate to tell you who are guest speaker was.
That being said. I see no reason why seniors should be out any earlier than the rest of the kids.
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EHS 2001
Moderator
CedarBuck92
Well-known member
Fair enough. I do think sometimes it comes down to graduation venue availability. I know my school is usually over on required hours, so by senior year the students may have attended a few hundred hours more than required, so letting them out a little early makes sense. My opinion is that the seniors should get out 1 week or so before everyone else.I am trying to remember. I am asking classmates for their memories but I sort of recall exams for everyone was Mon-Tues-Wed May 18-20. Off Thurs-Fri. Graduation was Sunday evening of Memorial weekend. I REALLY hate to tell you who are guest speaker was.
That being said. I see no reason why seniors should be out any earlier than the rest of the kids.
Why?
CedarBuck92
Well-known member
To which part?
Zunardo
Well-known member
Hmm - never considered that aspect, our was always held at our gym or football field. We were blissful back then.
A lot has changed in the last 50 years. When I got my diploma, the farmers in our area were probably looking at my class and saying, "Back in the 1920's when I was a senior I had to keep going to school for another week after school was over!"
CedarBuck92
Well-known member
For a number of local schools, using the gym causes them to need to limit how many people each grad can invite. This obviously doesn't play well. I'm pretty sure my class was the only class to graduate on the football field. District seems adverse to this because you can't plan for the weather 6 months in advance and they don't want to be scrambling at the last second.Hmm - never considered that aspect, our was always held at our gym or football field. We were blissful back then.
A lot has changed in the last 50 years. When I got my diploma, the farmers in our area were probably looking at my class and saying, "Back in the 1920's when I was a senior I had to keep going to school for another week after school was over!"
Zunardo
Well-known member
Yep. Capacity, weather, travel, all weighed against the inconvenience of rescheduling? Pick your poison.
IIR, our local HS in southern Franklin County started going off-site circa 1980:
- started at a church maybe 5 miles away.
- by 1990 we moved to Aladdin Shrine Temple in NE Cbus, a 20-mile drive.
- from there to Grove City Church of the Nazarene (closer at 10 miles)
- around 2010 we were using World Harvest Church in Canal Winchester (12 miles).
Covid hit just about the time we'd maxed out at World Harvest, so we moved outdoors the next four years to our backyard at Fortress Obetz. Worked out great at first. I believe it rained last year (or we had a strong threat of rain), so we cancelled the day before graduation and postponed it four days. To my knowledge, we've never had to reschedule the ceremony before that.
This year we're going back to World Harvest. For sentimental reasons I will always prefer it outdoors at home. But I do like the WH facility, good A/C, nice stage, excellent A/V opportunities, and good security. At least the kids will comfortable while listening to the speeches.
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CedarBuck92
Well-known member
I believe my senior year we were told we would get something like 2 tickets each if we had it in the gym.
PantherProud
Well-known member
Happened to see a good point made today by someone who’s involved in this decision for Miamisburg.
For schools on semesters, which may be all of Ohio now I think (maybe not?), starting earlier allows the first semester to end before Christmas break, rather than having to come back and finish after Christmas and not having any break between first and second semesters.
For schools on semesters, which may be all of Ohio now I think (maybe not?), starting earlier allows the first semester to end before Christmas break, rather than having to come back and finish after Christmas and not having any break between first and second semesters.
On Monday Hamilton HS announced it was moving its outdoor graduation from Tuesday(14th) to Wednesday(15th) because of the prediction.