School districts try to adjust to real summer break

Maybe we're just getting on in years and remembering the past better than it actually was, but it seems that when Houstonist was in elementary, middle and high school, we had a decent summer vacation — beginning at the end of May, say, and ending sometime in late August. But lately it seems like schools have been letting kids out later and bringing them back earlier, leaving an approximately 10-day summer vacation sometime in mid-July. But things are changing, sort of: A new state law mandates that school districts can't begin fall classes before the fourth week in August, and that has left many districts scrambling to figure out how to fit all those vacations and teacher training days into a regular-length school year. What? Oh yeah — classes, too. We forgot about that.

Different local school districts have come up with different approaches to the issue: Some have lengthened their spring semesters, some have shortened the winter break by a couple of days and some, including HISD, have done the unthinkable and proposed a three-day Thanksgiving break (as opposed to the week-long break most schools take now). Of course, that doesn't fly everywhere: In Deer Park, the school district decided to keep a week-long Thanksgiving break after parents said they wouldn't make their kids attend school during that week even if it was in session. "If we have days where there's huge amounts of absences, that could affect (state) funding, so that's a consideration for us," Deer Park ISD spokesman Matt Lucas said. "But the main issue is, that's what parents said they wanted."

With all the fall holidays, something had to give — and in Deer Park, Klein, Pearland and La Porte, it was the length of the fall semester. In those school districts, the fall semester won't end until mid-January, meaning kids will have to keep their noses in the books during the winter break. "Is it ideal? It's not ideal," Lucas told the Chronicle. "But also, it's not ideal that we have to start later than we're accustomed to."

HISD's proposed calendar for 2007-08 has students returning from summer break Aug. 27, taking a three-day Thanksgiving break and ending the fall semester before a week-and-a-half winter break. Summer vacation would begin May 29. And what's wrong with that? "My understanding is, the entertainment industry has really pushed this calendar," Katie Coughlen, head of the Bellaire High PTO and a member of the HISD calendar committee, told the Chronicle, "and I really don't think they should be dictating our school start dates."