Education

I've worked 180 and 190 instructional day calendars, as well as the 168 day calendar I'd be on now if it weren't for all the cut days trying to balance the budget.

I'm fine with 180. We don't have to add school days if we scale back the forced theft of time from everything outside of preparation for reading and math tests. Get rid of the high-stakes testing, and we can balance the schedule and the day.

I prefer a single-track year-round calendar. It's not an increase in school days. It simply provides shorter, but more frequent, breaks. IT WORKS. Students lose less over those shorter breaks than they do the endless summer, and students and teachers both don't suffer the burnout that impacts learning, especially in the last couple of months. We stay rested, fresher, and more able to function effectively.

We were all groaning the first day back from winter break. Partly because our schedule so far this year has been intense and demanding; partly because the long, long work days are hard to get through this time of year.

In the winter, I leave in the dark, get home to more chores in the dark, and never even see my home in daylight until Saturday.