Here is What I Want for Mother's Day

** First let me say that these opinions are only my own and may be a bit off the deep end.   Toning down opinions--- not a strength for me.  If you don't like it, don't read it**
This year for Mother's Day I would like the State Legislature of Alabama to come to its senses and recognize that the tourism industry should not be running the educational system.  As simple as that request seems the Legislature is working hard to undo the one thing I think this school system has right.  Children (in my district) have 10 weeks of summer then during the fall they have several 1-2 day breaks, a long winter holiday, and short 1-2 days breaks until the weeklong spring break.  When children return after 10 weeks they are refreshed, but their brains have not completely gone dormant.  Small breaks during the school year are also refreshing and give parents and kids a time to connect and teachers a well-earned respite from rooms full of ankle-biters.   While in the early American days school began in September to allow children to help with harvest on farms, in modern America the September start is unnecessary as children are no longer a vital workforce on farms.  Our district begins school during the second week of August.  Let me describe what our daily schedule looks like beginning in mid-July and throughout August:  play outside in the early morning with sunscreen and hats in the shade, an hour before lunch move indoors, play inside during the dangerous sun and temperature time in the middle of the day, move back outside just before dinner or only after dinner depending on how hot it still is.  I stay home with the boys all summer and this year will have at least one boy with me all day every day and for over half the summer all three will be home all day (a few camps are scattered in there).  By week 9 of summer break my kids actually tell me they are ready to go back and look forward to the first day of school.
 Currently in our State House there is a bill that would dictate to schools that start dates be no more than a week before Labor Day and must end the Friday before Memorial Day. Twists include schools would no longer be required to have 180 days in their school year but legally must provide 1080 hours of instruction time.  What the State Legislature is doing here is letting the tourism industry feed them a trough of statistics on how childhood is being destroyed by the 10 week summer, that kids need more time to be kids,  and that people can't possibly get to the beach with only a year's notice about when the 10 week summer holiday falls. 
What the tourism industry thinks is that with 2 extra weeks families will have more time to bond and hit the beaches and fill the tourism industry pockets and dictating start dates is the only way to make those joyful family memories and save childhood.  Really?   Have these people never walked on the beach and gotten third degree burns on their feet from the sand in August?  Better yet third degree sunburn after 10 minutes in an August scorcher?  A nice vacation at the beach during fall break is much more appealing to me.  How about Thanksgiving on the Gulf of Mexico?  I am all for it.  The tourism industry could be creating a strong year round sale for their destinations with varied school breaks instead of packing everyone in all at once.   
Childhood is not being destroyed by the 10 week summer vacation or too much homework.  Childhood is already on a slippery slope of decline with parents who have taken away all their children's free play time and packed it with activity after activity.  Even if the kids like the activities, they need time to be by themselves, or make up games with friends, to create their childhood memories. ( I already hit the decline of childhood a bit here) Childhood is being destroyed everyday by parents not setting extracurricular limits with their kids or (worse) pushing their kids into every activity available.  Two extra weeks of summer means another two weeks of camp/practice every day because Bobby is going to make it to the big league AND be star of the swim team AND have the best piano recital ever.  While the tourism department Legislature is making things all legal they should probably put in the law that  one of those extra weeks must be spent on the coast with a minimum spending amount designated.
Schools calendars are created, reviewed and approved by educators and parents during the winter.  Calendars for my district have been on the web site since February--- I know, I already have the 2012 fall break written in and have already discussed plans to go to the beach in October when it will be a pleasant vacation instead of a boiling complaint-fest.  I truly believe that anyone who wants to fit their vacation into the summer can do so now.  I know when we used to live elsewhere that to be able to plan a vacation  made it more enticing if the kids at the destination were already in school: less traffic, less crowds.

In all my arguments against this bill I didn't even get into the working parent point of view.  What is the likelihood that a family where both parents work will suddenly decide to use those 2 weeks to vacation?  What it will create for many families who need childcare is a financial burden of paying for 2 more weeks of summer camp, child care, or asking relatives for help.  Not saying that school is a replacement for childcare, but that smaller breaks sprinkled during the year are easier for parents to cover childcare by using flextime, trading days off, or asking for help from family and friends in smaller doses.
Wrapping it up... all I want for Mother's Day is for the State Legislature not to let the tourism department run the schools.  Educators know what they are doing;  it is not just their job, it is their passion and life's work.  When our state consistently ranks in the top ten for academic excellence then perhaps we can discuss cutting back on the hefty 180 day school year (ha!ha!  hefty, it's sarcasm).  I question the decision making skills of anyone who places the value of a dollar over the value of a child's education.  I doubt that a person who grows to an adult unable to perform basic skills they should have learned in school will look back on their childhood and thank the legislature for giving them that extra 2 weeks off.
Stepping down off the soap box and away from the keyboard now.  Normal blogging (instead of rant blogging) will resume soon.  B