BUTLER COUNTY STUDENTS START SCHOOL YEAR EARLIER
EDGEWOOD
2010-11: Aug. 23
2015-16: Aug. 19
FAIRFIELD
2010-11: Aug. 26
2015-16: Aug. 20
HAMILTON
2010-11: Sept. 7
2015-16: Aug. 17
LAKOTA
2010-11: Aug. 25
2015-16: Aug. 13
MADISON
2010-11: Aug. 25
2015-16: Aug. 17
MIDDLETOWN
2010-11: Aug. 18
2015-16: Aug. 12
MONROE
2010-11: Aug. 25
2015-16: Aug. 17
NEW MIAMI
2010-11: Aug. 25
2015-16: Aug. 12
ROSS
2010-11: Sept. 7*
2015-16: Aug. 24
TALAWANDA
2010-11: Aug. 24
2015-16: Aug. 17
*2010-11 year started later due to construction projects. 2011-12 started Sept. 1
The launch of each school year seems to creep further and further into early August and it’s not only students who aren’t thrilled about it.
School district officials across Butler County say the start of the academic year inches earlier into August as a result of the state testing schedule.
Yasmen Brown-Jones, who has two children in high school and one who just graduated, said she and many other Butler County parents “would rather the later start” of early September for many reasons, including keeping pre-set family vacation times.
“People are just used to going later,” the West Chester Twp. woman said. “We all used to start after Labor Day many, many years ago and it just seems to be getting earlier and earlier.”
Starting later means increased quality of life for students and less stress to be competitive in both academics and athletics, Brown-Jones said.
“I really think it makes a difference,” she said. “They look forward to having the months of June, July and August as downtime. Kids, during the summer when the sun is out, would typically like to be outside or doing something for relaxation.”
School district officials say the earlier start is primarily a result of the state testing schedule.
“Given the timeline for when we have to do assessments with our students, starting about a week earlier gives us that much more time to ramp the students up and get them on track to learn everything they need to know by the time they take those tests,” said Lauren Boettcher, spokeswoman for Lakota Local School District, which started classes on Aug. 25 in 2010 but is set to start classes for this school year on Thursday, Aug. 13.
District officials also said high schools would return from winter break only to take first semester exams a week after they returned. That typically meant taking time to refresh student’s memories on the material covered and what the tests would include.
“(An earlier school year) makes for a clean break for giving first semester exams right before the winter break and then second semester begins right when we come back from break,” said Joni Copas, spokeswoman for Hamilton City School District, which started school on Sept. 7 in 2010 but is set to start this school year on Aug. 17.
School districts typically use calendar committees comprised of administrators, teachers and parents to set a school year’s calendar. Most school calendars are set about two years in advance.
Ohio law requires school districts, joint vocational school districts and chartered nonpublic schools to be open for instruction for a minimum of 455 hours for students in half-day kindergarten; 910 hours for students in full-day kindergarten through sixth grade; and 1,001 hours for students in grades seven through 12.
But Ohio has no specific guidelines for when the school year should start, leaving that decision to local entities instead, according to Michael Perona, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Education.
Melissa Cropper, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, said she’s heard of at least one district that starts classes this academic year as early as Monday.
“There’s a whole range of dates starting anywhere from Aug. 10 through the end of the month, basically,” Cropper said.
Cropper, who has spent about 16 years in education, said she’s noticed a statewide trend of earlier start and end dates in recent years.
“It’s very much to do with testing,” she said, echoing the words of local district officials. “This is how testing is driving our education system.”
Cropper said she hasn’t heard much public outcry — from teachers or from parents — likely because the change has been so gradual over the years that it “creeped up on people” and they adjusted to it instead of being a drastic, jarring change that caused instant frustration.
The shift to earlier start date has been offset, she said, by the earlier end date of the academic year.
So can the school year start any earlier? In a way, yes it can.
“I think that if any change would take place at this point in time it would be more of a shift as schools decided to go to year-round school and start taking the larger breaks between quarters or something like that,” Cropper said. “As far as the regular school year across the board, I don’t really see that drifting up into August much more if we keep the testing dates within May.
“I think we’re at a point now where everything kind of fits.”
If Ohio’s school system ever gets to a point where it isn’t as driven by testing, then it remains possible that the school year start could shift later, possibly even back into September, Cropper said.
But even though many would like to see school moved to after Labor Day, the most opportune time for districts to start is the last week in August, according to Tina Bruno, executive director of non-profit The Coalition For a Traditional School Year.
States that see districts move the start of school back by several weeks to accommodate state testing should set a uniform start date and push back the state testing window, Bruno said.
“The problem is if the state doesn’t set a uniform testing date and everybody is allowed to start whenever, school districts don’t want to be the maverick that starts three weeks later than the earliest starting district because then they are putting their kids at a disadvantage instructional time-wise,” Bruno said. “That’s why we encourage that uniform start date, so that there’s not that race to the starting line so that everybody has that same opportunity for the same number of instructional days going into the state-standardized tests.”
School districts also should look to what colleges and universities are doing and plan their calendar accordingly, she said.
“We want to make sure that we create a calendar that is seamless for our high school kids and for our teachers to be able to take advantage of dual credit classes … in both the fall and spring semesters and also be able to take two sessions of summer school during the summer,” Bruno said.
Mark Hecquet, executive director of the Butler County Visitors Bureau, said the debate over the impact of a shifted summer school break has been a hotly discussed topic statewide for a number of years.
“With the adjustments to school schedules due to changing testing requirements, the summer family travel season has certainly shifted to earlier in the year, but has not necessarily gotten shorter,” he said. “Family travel is an important key market for Butler County and Ohio tourism. So, the early start to the school year certainly shifts the bump in summer family tourism spending earlier in the year for both Butler County and the rest of Ohio.”
Hecquet said the summer travel season is important to leisure tourism locally and statewide, especially for those communities that rely heavily on seasonal, family-centered attractions like amusement parks, beaches and other attractions.
About the Author
