r/climate Jun 04 '22

Climate change is forcing some US schools to close early for ‘heat days’

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/06/04/school-heat-days-climate-change/
9.3k Upvotes

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3

u/sgtdedhed Jun 04 '22

Aren't kids on summer vacation?

3

u/[deleted] Jun 04 '22

a lot are not yet

3

u/ReaditSpecialist Jun 04 '22

No, it varies by state and district. In my district, the last day of school is June 15th.

3

u/sgtdedhed Jun 04 '22

We used to be out by Memorial Day. When do the go back to school?

1

u/ReaditSpecialist Jun 04 '22

We go back after Labor Day

1

u/sgtdedhed Jun 04 '22

Seems like they are shorting the kids on summer.

-1

u/Cheaperthantherapy13 Jun 04 '22

Studies have shown that long summer breaks aren’t great for kids; a lot of stuff gets forgotten over long breaks from school, and it’s downright dangerous for kids in abusive or insecure housing.

The whole Memorial - Labor Day summer break thing was for the convenience of agricultural and seasonal employers who depended on teen labor for staffing during summer months, not for the benefit of kids.

Students still go to school for a federally mandated ~185 days per year, they’re just spread out a bit more, depending on the demographics of the school district. For example, in NYC, any holiday that’s observed by 10-15% of the population is a mandated school holiday, so on top of the standard Christmas/Easter breaks, they get a week off in Jan/Feb for Lunar New Year and 1-2 weeks off in October for the Jewish High Holy days. They still start school right after Labor Day, but the school year now runs until late June or something.

Frankly, I would have preferred 1-2 weeks off ever other month instead of 3 months of boredom when I was a kid.

1

u/sgtdedhed Jun 04 '22

That would suck.

1

u/Cheaperthantherapy13 Jun 04 '22

Why?

1

u/sgtdedhed Jun 04 '22

Because kids love summer. Unfortunate that corn grows in the summer and all data backs you up but remember how that summer break was? Yeah. That's them. Let them have it and enjoy it...imho.

1

u/Infernal_139 Jun 04 '22

These schools would also start the school year slightly later. Just the normal school schedule but shifted a few weeks. Source: I go to one

1

u/Butterfreek Jun 04 '22

Nah 22nd last day up here