HOT OFF THE PRESS: POLL SHOWS NC CITIZENS OVERWHELMINGLY SUPPORT AUGUST 25th SCHOOL START DATE

A must see!! This poll, conducted by the well-respected Public Policy Polling firm, has pertinent questions concerning school start dates and summers. Here's one example:

 

Q2 If you had a choice between starting the school

year in late July-early August or starting it in

late August, which do you think would be the

better choice? If you think it’s better to start the

school year in late July-early August, press 1. If

you think it’s better to start the school year in

late August, press 2.

 

80% Late August..........  

20% Late July/Early August...................

 

PPP states that support is evident across all demographic subgroups, including race, gender, political party, region, age, and whether or not the respondent had school-aged children. Check out the entire poll here:

http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/SchoolCalendarMemo1.pdf

CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC

Do we dare start applauding? At yesterday's Wake County School Board meeting, it seems that members decided to at least consider the possibility of converting a few mandatory year-round schools back to traditional, and to revisit the plan to open all new schools as MYR. This comes after actual enrollment figures have been way off base - much lower - than projected. I'm not holding my breath, but I'm going to speak out strongly in support of these changes. I hope you will do the same!! Check out the media links below for more details.

My favorite quote is from Lori Millberg: " 'Our planning has assumed that every new school would be year-round, which means an increasingly large percentage of Wake Schools would be year-round. And we're not sure that's what families want,' School Board member Lori Millberg said." (emphasis added by me).

 

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=6395265

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1221657.html