Let’s get this column done. It’s Platte County Fair week and those krautburgers aren’t going to eat themselves.
Think the school year starts too early in August? You’re in luck. Starting next year, schools in Missouri will be mandated to begin the school year a week later than most districts have been in recent years.A bill passed by the Missouri state legislature and signed this month by Gov. Mike Parson will require that schools start “no earlier than 14 days before the first Monday in September.”
I’ve been doing some ciphering. I took off my shoes and socks, carried the one, found a square root or two, inverted a couple of fractions and by my calculations that means Aug. 19 would be the earliest Missouri schools could start this year. That’s if the law took effect this year. Which it doesn’t, kids, don’t get excited. This new green new deal doesn’t go into effect until 2020.
So an Aug. 19 start date would mean what? Well by comparison, this year Park Hill starts classes on Aug. 14. Platte County R-3 begins Aug. 15. So a difference of four or five calendar days for the two largest districts in our coverage area.
Reaction has not been all that positive in certain circles. The teachers union didn’t want the change, we’re hearing. A representative for the National Education Association, a major union representing teachers, has been quoted as saying: “Different parts of the state have different needs. And schools should start based on the educational needs of the students in the school district.” Some folks suggest there will be problems in trying to match high school schedules with college schedules for students who take dual credit courses. Others say districts will have to redo their entire school calendar.
Proponents say the change will help Missouri’s tourism industry by giving families an extra week for vacations in August. “June and July are so busy for families,” said State Rep. Brad Pollitt when the bill was being signed in the governor’s office. “When August gets here and we’re going back to school the first day of August, it doesn’t give families real opportunities to take their families on vacation.”
Please allow me to go into old man mode for a moment and say things like “when I was a kid” and “back in the day.” Here goes. When I was an elementary school kid, summer was June, July and August. School started after Labor Day and got out in late May. Of course my school had no air conditioning back then. Well, other than in the principal’s office, and don’t ask me how I know that. So starting school Aug. 14 in a building with no air conditioning would have been cruel and unusual punishment. There also would have been very little actual learning getting accomplished.
In my later school years, school start date became the last week of August, in the middle of that week, meaning we had three or four school days before Labor Day. I can remember my dad, who had been a school board member in the late 60s in my hometown, lamenting that “they should go back to starting after Labor Day. Very little learning gets done when it’s so hot in the classroom.”
He was right about the limited concentration in hot conditions, of course. But again, that’s back in the days before schools were air conditioned. Times have changed.
One thing that I’ve noticed is that school districts in today’s world schedule so many days off during the course of the school year, which extends the school calendar. That wasn’t the case–as we older folks like to say–back in the day. Once the school year got rolling, there wasn’t nearly as much down time for the wide variety of reasons–some legit, some that seem intentional to conveniently create three or four-day weekends and such–you see today.
Anyway, your thoughts on the mandated later start date? Feel free to shoot those to us at ivan@plattecountylandmark.com.
You get a double dose of Landmark Live this week. A show tonight (Wednesday) from Opening Night at the Platte County Fair, then another show Friday morning to coincide with the Fox 4 morning show being in town to focus on Platte City.
Read our front page story for details of Fox 4’s broadcast. In short, their show will be going live from the Platte County Fairgrounds in Tracy (which seems a bit odd for a show focusing on Platte City, but hey, I’m not the Fox 4 program director). While it would seem more fitting for Fox 4 to be set up somewhere in the downtown square to fully focus on things that make Platte City unique, we’ll take what we can get in the way of free publicity, am I right?
Landmark Live will be out at the fairgrounds Friday morning to go live while Fox 4 is there. We’re thinking sometime around 8 a.m., but we’ll keep you posted. Watch our social media outlets, specifically Facebook at Platte County Landmark, for updates on what time we’ll be rolling.
Here’s a little inside skinny into Fox 4’s schedule for their show Friday morning, courtesy of producer Emily Burggraf. Check out the behind the scenes notes, including how to pronounce the mayor’s name.
Maybe you’ll want to plan your watching schedule based on this. Or just set your DVR and catch the whole thing. And you’ll want to catch Landmark Live that morning on our Facebook page:
- 7:30 a.m. — Anchors chat with Mayor Frank Offutt {Pronounced OFF-it}
- 7:45 a.m. — Meteorologist Garry Frank chats with a member of the Central Platte Fire Protection District (Still need name)8:00 a.m.– Anchors chat with Angie Mutti / Platte City Chamber of Commerce
- 8:30 a.m.– Anchors chat with Chief Joe Wellington & Sgt. Mike Mand
- 8:38 a.m. — Meteorologist Garry Frank chats with Platte County HS Dance Team (followed by a performance into commercial break)
- 9 a.m.– Anchors chat with Mayor Frank Offutt {Pronounced OFF-it}
- 9:10 a.m. — Potentially Anchors chat with members of the Cheer Squad
- 9:20 a.m. — Meteorologist Garry Frank chats with a member of the Central Platte Fire Protection District (Still need name)
- 9:50 a.m. — Meteorologist Garry Frank chats with Drum Line & Cheer Squad (followed by performance into commercial break).
(Get your Between the Lines fix on Facebook and Twitter, where you can find The Landmark publisher @ivanfoley. Email ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)