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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2007 > August > 06 > Entry
Believe it or not, school’s back in
(Teacher’s aide Leroy Luckie carries desks to rooms as staff at Wogaman Elementary School prepares for the first day of school)
Why is Dayton back in school so early? Well, about two years ago, the district merged two calendars — most schools were on a traditional school year plan while others followed a year-round schedule that began in late July and had three week breaks in October, December and March.
As a compromise, Dayton now follows a calendar that was supposed to be a middle ground. Classes start in early August and the breaks are two weeks each. I hear teachers from the old traditional calendar schools are getting pretty weary of the new calendar after two years. They’d rather have their summer back.
Another good reason to stay out of school buildings this early is the heat, and the heat will be on today. Forecasts say it will reach the 90s. In fact, a “heat alert” has been issued for Monday, the first such alert of the entire summer.
I’ll be traveling around to schools all day today, gauging teacher, parent and student reactions to budget cuts and other changes. I’ll try to write a few blog updates through the day, so check back here later.
(Image credit: Ron Alvey, DDN)
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
Comments
By Claire
August 6, 2007 5:10 PM | Link to this
I do not think that Dayton schools should be starting this early because of the hot weather. Not all of the buildings are air-conditioned, the classrooms will be very hot, and the kids will not be able to concentrate because it will be so hot.