Summit Students May Start School In August Next Year

SUMMIT, NJ — Summit students may be heading back to school in August next year and some parents are not happy about it.

The Board of Education will be voting to finalize the earlier start for the 2019-2020 school year at the Oct. 18 meeting.

Superintendent June Chang presented the idea to begin school on Aug. 28, 2019, prior to Labor Day, during the board's July 12 meeting. The current 2018-19 school year began on Sept. 4.

Chang's presentation noted the benefits of the earlier two days:

• Allow students and teachers to settle and transition into the new school year
• Allows for a robust instructional September
• Additional instructional time before spring testing
• Earlier targeting for differentiation

The proposed change would not create a longer school year, as it would remain at 180 days long with a proposed end date of June 10, 2020 if no snow days are used.

Those opposed to the school year change have created a petition listing several issues:

• Presents significant difficultly for working parents to find childcare to cover the earlier release in June as camps don't typically begin until later in the month.
• Many of the classrooms are still without air conditioning and are unable to safely accommodate children in high temperatures (as noted in the late scheduled single session day on Sept. 6). This would be more of an issue starting in August when temperatures are typically higher.
• The proposed early start would prepare teachers and students more time for AP class testing. This group is only a small fraction of the overall community that would be affected.
• Many families chose to travel the last week of August and plan over a year in advance this proposed change would negatively impact activities already in place for the summer of 2019.

The petition already has 434 signatures of the 500 goal. To learn more or to sign the petition against the school year change click here.

Chang's presentation noted that with the proposed change it would create a four-day Labor Day and Memorial Day weekend versus the current three-day.

Looking at the weather aspect, the district will monitor temperatures and if the heat becomes excessive, a half-day may be called. However, the average high temperature in June is 82 degrees, August is 85 degrees and September 86 degrees, according to the presentation.

West Morris Regional School District in Chester recently made the same change to its school year. Superintendent Michael Ben-David also made the change due to the benefit of having an extra week of instructional time before spring testing, which includes PARCC, International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement, and SAT tests. (See Related: West Morris Regional Schools Starting Earlier Than Usual For 2017-18 Year)

For more information on the proposed change and to see Chang's presentation click here.

(Image via Shutterstock)

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