HSE School Calendar
Wednesday, January 10, 2007

My son is a Freshman at the new Fishers High School. When we received his school year planner, I was astonished at the calendar. School started on August 16th, the Thanksgiving break was three days, the Fall Break (Fall Break?) was one week, and the Winter Break was nearly three weeks.

Back in my day (yes, when we went barefoot to school in the snow, walking several miles uphill, both to and fro), school started after Labor Day, Thanksgiving break was two days, there was no Fall Break, and Christmas Break (ahem) was 1-2 weeks, depending on which day Christmas and New Years fell.

Mainly, it sure looks like an attempt to stretch the school year out for the whole year.

This does bother me. I don't like the idea of children in the hands of the state all year round, teaching to the ISTEP test, ignoring economics and real civics in favor of something called 'social studies'. I like kids having Summer to goof off, to take a job, to daydream, or a little of all three. But the impetus for it all seems to be to get the kids out of the homes, or in too many cases off the streets, and into the system. Sad how few parents stay home to be with their kids, or even to provide for their own day care. I truly believe this is the reason for full-day kindergarten, also.

So, I was glad the school district posted a survey on the HSE website. I didn't really care for the limited questions, though. They definitely seemed intent on leading the respondent towards the expanded schedules. I also didn't care for the push for teacher training during the school year, resulting in half-days or full days off. Again, that's what Summer is for. Teachers get a paycheck year round. A little training during that long vacation is appropriate.

Still, an attempt at collecting feedback is appreciated. If you are a Delaware or Fall Creek Township resident, and especially if your kids are students or you are a student, take the survey.

posted by Mike Kole @ 9:13 AM,

1 Comments:

At 1/18/2007 3:38 PM, Anonymous said...: The superintendent of Hamilton Southeastern Schools, Concetta Raimondi, is hell-bent on getting a year-round calendar. When she discusses this issue at meeting, she is quite clear on that. Since most residents are opposed to the full-year calendar, she is now trying to get her way in a more underhanded fashion. Over the last few years, she's been nudging the school calendar in the full-year direction. The goal is to keep adding these extra days here and there so that before too long, she can say that we'd only be taking away 2 weeks off of summer to make it a year-round calendar. What's the big deal??

A survey of HSE parents 4 years ago showed that something like 90% were not in favor of a full-year calendar. I wish the school board would do its job and keep the wishes of the residents in mind when blindly following Dr. Raimondi's wishes.