Think back to your childhood. When did summer end and school resume? If you are at least 30, I'll bet it was after - or very close to - Labor Day. In fact, my mother's birthday is on September 6, and she always said that having her five children go back to school was the best birthday present she could ever have. I'm sure she was just kidding, you think?
For the past several years, there has been a gradual shift of the first day of school to early-to-mid August. It's what the national group, The Coalition for a Traditional School Year, calls the "August Creep." What this really means, of course, is as school starts earlier, so does the involvement in fall sports, band, cheerleading, and more. Those kids have been heavily involved in their activities since mid-to-late July. That's a significant shortening of the summer vacation season.
Since the "August Creep" started, there also has been concern on how this has affected various aspects of family life. Since I am a tourism professional, I can tell you it definitely has affected travel in Kentucky in general and family vacations in particular.
Don't misunderstand. I am a strong advocate of education. it is vital to the future of Kentucky, and it is the most important gift we will give our children. However, while you may think schools should not make schedules based on the tourism industry, you also should know these other facts:
• There is a direct correlation between the number of tax dollars lost in Kentucky because of early start date and three or more weeks being lost from the visitor/tourism season of summer. In a study commissioned by the Kentucky Tourism Council in 2007, we learned that approximately $180 million is lost each year to the Kentucky economy because of less travel and tourism related to the early August school start dates. Some of this money could help fund education projects.
• An important aspect of the high school student's personal growth is the ability to get and keep a summer job. A summer job teaches responsibility, communication skills and in many cases is an opportunity to save money for college. The shortened summer season makes this more difficult, especially where the jobs are seasonal. It also affects businesses' ability to staff adequately for summer season when their workforce has to leave before the season is over.
• Delaying the start date would save a significant amount of money due to minimizing air-conditioning costs of public buildings. For example, Tulsa, Oklahoma moved their start date from August 19th to after Labor Day and saved $500,000 in utility costs. This is money that could go back into instructional supplies, teacher salaries and educational programming.
• Wisconsin, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia, South Carolina, West Virginia and Minnesota are some of the states that have readjusted their school calendars to a late August or post-Labor Day start date. Their reasons are primarily the same as I've explained, both economic and social. Each has looked at the ramifications of the changes on the important end result of educating their students and found no reason standing in the way of a later start date.
• A Kentucky-based group, Kentucky: Save Our Summers, has been working to raise awareness of the problem and find solutions. The group is a grass roots coalition of parents, students and educators concerned about the impact of early to mid-August start dates on students, families, schools and communities. They have determined that the issue cannot be solved on the local level and must be addressed by the Kentucky General Assembly.
According to Kentucky: Save Our Summers, each school district in Kentucky controls its own school calendar. The group has determined "the local school boards cannot solve this problem (later start date), because each district aggressively competes with the neighboring district for testing scores and sports advantages. Because of the pressure on administrations to improve CATS tests, no one school district will chance starting later than their neighboring districts. The Kentucky legislature is the only group that can fix this problem, by legislation."
I think any rational person would agree that educating our children should be our top priority. Any suggestion that the tourism industry is more interested in profit over children's education, as suggested by some opponents of going back to traditional school-year start dates, is untrue and unfounded. However, this issue will not go away. It affects not only the tourism industry but more importantly, our families. In fact, according to several newspapers, television and Web site surveys across Kentucky, eight out of 10 people support a later August start date.
This is an issue worthy of debate and open-minded discussion. Before you decide which position you believe best serves your children, check out the information provided on a couple of Web sites. For Kentucky information, there is: www.savekentuckysummers.com. For a more national perspective, there is the Web site for the Coalition for a Traditional School Year: http://schoolyear.info/first.html.
The common end result that everyone involved wants and agrees with is that the most important outcome should be the best possible education for our children. The issue, however, remains how we get there via the school calendar. As in all aspects of any child's life, parents are the key. Make your feelings known.
Randy Fiveash is a 31-year veteran of the travel and tourism industry throughout the United States. Most recently he served as commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Tourism. He can be reached at randyfiveash@insightbb.com.