West Des Moines Schools Survey Patrons on 2013-2014 Start Date

The 2012-2013 school year is just a few weeks old and West Des Moines schools are seeking feedback on next  year’s start date with a poll on its Idea Share web site.

The three options are:

• Aug. 15 start date; Dec. 23-Jan. 3 winter break; May 29,last day
• Aug. 20 start date; Dec. 23-Jan. 1 winter break; May 30 last day
• Aug. 26 start date; Dec. 23-Jan. 1 winter break; June 6 last day

Nearly 1,000 votes had been tallied by Monday evening, and the survey remains open until 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 19. Discussion is vibrant, demonstrating the difficulty in creating a calendar with universal appeal.

“Thank you for giving us a voice in this,” noted one commenter Can't please all the people all the time'

Several of the commenters said they want the first semester to end before students leave for winter break.

What changes would you like to see in the school calendar? Tell us below in comments.

“With two children already through Valley High School, we have experienced many years of ritualized ‘time off; during that holiday,” wrote one. “In other words, the kids had to schedule several hours of each day to study for the semester tests that would occur shortly after they were back in school. They didn't feel like it was much of a break at all.

"In some cases, when they returned their teachers were continuing with routine exams and school work rather than doing reviews and covering the upcoming semester test materials. This was frustrating to them having to study for other things when all they wanted and needed to be doing was going over their materials for finals.”

Several commenters said they’d like to have seen an option for a year-round school.

“My son needs the year round learning and as a single parent it would help me,” wrote one parent. “I am facing the option of home-schooling him because he loses so much over the summer and the school district can't challenge him enough as it is.”

Another commenter, an educator, suggested that “perhaps a year-round schedule should be analyzed since many students lose ground academically and then more strategic breaks could be implemented.”

“Ideally, we would prefer to have a shorter summer break and about three weeks for spring break and winter break each,” wrote another. “This enables us to travel [abroad] to visit grandparents during the spring and winter breaks. Also, with a long summer, kids tend to drift away from academic learning, being away for school for almost 12-13 weeks. I hope this is another option available.”

Another parent asked the school district to change the date of spring break because of a recent change in her company’s paid-time-off policy that requires carryover hours be used before March 15.

Commenters also took issue with the school year starting school during the Iowa State Fair; building snow days into the calendar; and reducing the number of teacher in-service days.

One commenter suggested that school should start at the same time practices for fall sports start. Football practice began Aug. 1 this year and the intramural scrimmage and first game were played before school started.

“To me that means summer is over so the kids might as well be in school anyway,” the parent wrote.