>I don't understand the point either. AFAIK, they're not lengthening the school year, just shifting it earlier. Does anyone know why the push to start in August instead of September and finish in May instead of June?
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>Up here, one of the reasons we're still September to June is that most schools are not air-conditioned. As it is, there can be some pretty tough days at the beginning and end of the school year.

When I was that age, we got 2 days for Thanksgiving, about 10 days for Christmas break depending on when the 25th and Jan 1st fell, 1 week spring break and a few National holidays thrown in. In looking at my daughter's schedule for this past year, they got 3 days for T-Day, 2 weeks for Christmas, a 1 week spring break, 1 day for a "Spring" holiday on April 9th [that would have been Good Friday], and 3 National holidays for Labor Day, Columbus Day and MLK Day. There were also 5 Teacher Work Day/Professional Dev Days thrown in. Only 2 of those corresponded to the end of a 6-weeks grading period. There were also 2 open dates for bad weather make up days that they had no school for because there were no days missed this year for bad weather. We never scheduled for those because we just tacked them on to the end of the year if needed. So I see at least 8 wasted days during the school year which could have pushed the start date to August 28th last year.

I am with Tracy on the fallacy for the need for in-service days. They all have at least 1 off period during each school day and from 3:00 or 3:30pm to 5:00pm or whenever [homework] to plan, grade papers, etc. My Mom and Grandmother managed to do so. The months off during the summer are the appropriate times for "Professional Development" and not during the school year.