Labor Day school feud resurfaces

01/30/2007

A Senate bill that would repeal state law and let schools open before Labor Day gets a promise of a fight from foes of an early start.


By Norman Draper, Star Tribune
Last update: January 29, 2007 – 11:38 PM


Two years after legislators seemingly settled the question of whether Minnesota schools could start before Labor Day, the debate is being reignited.

Sen. Ann Lynch, DFL-Rochester, and a former Rochester school board member, has proposed repealing the law that prohibits schools from starting before Labor Day, except under special circumstances.

Lynch's proposal is simple: Let schools start when they darned well want to.

"Simply put, it allows districts to determine what their school calendars will be," Lynch said. She stressed that her plan allows schools to start after Labor Day if that's what worked out best for them.

Many educators argue that an earlier start to the school year can help them avoid pushing classes farther into June, when kids and teachers are growing more restive. Besides, they say, most schools aren't air-conditioned.

"I have had the experience of having school go into the third week of June, and it's not an experience I would want to repeat," said Mounds View schools Superintendent Jan Witthuhn. If schools could squeeze in a few days before Labor Day, "you could avoid going to school in those hot days of June, when everyone becomes hot-tempered."

Fierce opposition likely

The prospects for Lynch's bill are uncertain this early in the legislative session.

Opponents of her measure note that Minnesota's resort owners, State Fair entrepreneurs and others depend on student workers and family vacationers, who would desert them if school started before Labor Day.

The debate -- as sure a part of the Minnesota education scene as yellow school buses, slammed hallway lockers and the grim hieroglyphics of an algebraic equation -- has seesawed for years. In 1997, for instance, schools were allowed to start on the Wednesdays, Thursdays or Fridays before Labor Day in 1998 and 1999 because Labor Day fell so late those years. In 1998, legislation was passed allowing schools to start before Labor Day, but not before Sept. 1.

Then, in 2005, the Legislature passed the current law prohibiting school districts from starting before Labor Day except for special circumstances. State Rep. Larry Howes, R-Walker, the law's patron, comes from a resort-rich part of the state. He pledged to take action against the latest proposal.

"Well, she's in for a fight," he said of Lynch. "I will not lose this battle. It took too many years to get it in place. It's not just about resorts, but about the State Fair and kids working in the summertime. Let them be kids. Give them their summer."It clearly impacts the vacations that are taken prior to the start of school," said Dave Siegel, executive vice president of the Minnesota Resort and Campground Association, who opposes the measure. "The second piece is that summer employment is obviously impacted by starting school before Labor Day. ... When we ask parents, they love the post-Labor Day start. They know when they can plan their family vacations, when to do back-to-school shopping."

Some parents ambivalent

As for parents, it depends when the family vacation customarily occurs.

"Personally, I like it when they get out of school earlier in the spring," said Debbie Zamow, of Arden Hills, the parent of two elementary school children. "We don't tend to take a lot of late summer vacations."

But asked which option she would prefer, 10-year-old Jackie Zamow opted for the status quo.

"I like it exactly how it is," she said.