OUr local schools start the Tuesday before Labor Day. I am thinking that is so there are two four day weeks to get everyone into the swing of things. It seems like a late start this year. Last day is scheduled to be June 2nd, but if there are any snow days, it will be later.
They now charge any student participating in a sport, band or curricular activity a $50. fee. Assuming it is helping to pay for the turf on the football and baseball fields. eyeroll.
We do have a swim team!
I really like the idea of the two 4-day weeks! Our elem schools had 1/2 days every single Monday until last year. IMO this was great as it allowed kids and teachers to plan any out of school things (dr appts, therapy, tutoring, extra curriculars, even hair appts, etc) for Monday afternoons and not have to miss any school. It had been that way since the early 70's. Plus, if I just wanted to take my kid out for ice cream or spend time with him, I could.
June 23 is our last day of school, and we have 15 snow days built into that.
I can't recall a time in school where my folks did NOT pay for extra ciriculars, and I'm positive it was FAR more than $50. I did band most of my years and in addition to the instrument rental, there were uniform fees, camp fees, competition fees . . . . That was 25+ years ago and my county had a whopping 5 high school, and my senior class was 250 kids. Talk about the country, we had folks that drove tractors to school. (Given, it was more just to be funny, but the point was that plenty of kids had access to such.) Our house was about 4 miles from my ES, and maybe 15 from HS.
Now, I'm spoiled. I can easily walk our son to school, but he prefers to ride the bus to socialize. Anyone who lives within 1 mile of the school does not have transportation provided to them. We are 1.2 miles via roads, and .75 miles if we take the woodlands path within our neighborhood. I'm pretty certain no student lives more than 2 miles from the school, and no more than 550 kids are enrolled. Every grade has had 3 teachers for many years, but this year they are having to add an additional 3rd grade class.
I do fear that this year they are going to have a remedial class in every grade. Since our son has an IEP, he's destined for it. But I keep telling myself it will only make life easier for him, and he'll likely have a great GPA from HS.
I'm sure that's more than any of you ever wanted to know about my kid's school. Lol!
My biggest class was 23 and it was a nightmare! That was right before "class size reduction". Now my class cannot be more than 18. This year is awesome as I only have 15 at the moment! SWEET!