Welcome Back To School...See You Next Week?

It's been a while since I last blogged here on Patch. Not that I haven't had anything to say mind you: but time keeps ticking and kids in the living room keep shouting -- before you know it, nearly a year has passed.

So why am I rearing my recently shaved head back up to blog?   It all started a few days ago when we got the 2013-2014 school district calendar in the mail.

Our twin boys are getting ready to head into fourth grade. As completely different as a couple of brothers can be, one has been dreading the start of the new school year, while the other would be camped out in front of the building the night before the first day if we allowed him. It's this little overachiever that excitedly shoved the calendar into my hand after getting the mail, demanding to know when school started. I flipped open to September and informed him that school would begin on Wednesday, September 4th...

Followed immediately by two days off for Rosh Hashanah.

If I had any hair at this point, I'd probably have yanked a couple of clumps out.

After talking to friends and relatives here in Long Island and elsewhere, it sounds like a couple of their districts opted to start school on the 9th, rather than just having the one day, September 4th, and then having another two days off from school.

I don't work for the school system so perhaps I'm simply not seeing the bigger picture on this. But it really does seem silly to send them for one day, then have them off again. I'd rather see them get started with a solid full week.

Look, I get it -- school districts all across the country start and end their years at different times. We all have family and friends whose kids are already in school (My nephews down south started at least two weeks ago). So the school boards do their best to set up a schedule that seems to work for the most kids, teachers, etc. I can appreciate that.

But it doesn't seem like it should be so hard for someone in, we'll call it "District A," to review a calendar for the upcoming year, note the various national days off and religious observation days, and make some calls to Districts B, C, D, etc to say "Hey...should we consider changing our start date?"

According to the calendar, the last day of school in June 2014 will be a Thursday. I can't imagine anyone would have had a beef had the last day had been pushed to Friday instead.

I'd love to know the reasoning behind the decision, so if anyone from our Board of Ed reads this, perhaps they could shed some light on the decision. I know a number of other parents that are equally frustrated/confused by the calendar that would benefit from an explanation.

In the meanwhile, let's reserve some time come June for a rant on why the last day of school is only an hour. I mean come one people...an hour?!?!?!

(Do you agree that the school calendar should have been changed, or are you find with the way it's scheduled?  Share your thoughts below!)