Starting School Before Labor Day, Again

It was  couple of years ago when Sioux Falls made the decision to start public school classes in the fall after Labor Day.  Now, the school board is thinking about reversing that decision.

KDLT's Anndrea Anderson reports that the district is now working to finalize its school calendar for the next school year, and recent survey results show many would like to move the start date to back up, to before the holiday.

As they assemble the next school year’s calendar the Sioux Falls School District has two goals:

“One, to put together a calendar that makes academic sense, and two, to put together a calendar that makes sense for the community,” said Superintendent Brian Maher. “Sounds easy. But as you all know, calendars can be an emotional topic.”

Last fall a survey was compiled to gauge opinion on how the new calendar should go.

It asked a very simple question: “Should school start before or after labor day?

Calendar Committee Chairperson Jamie Nold says the district received more than 10,000 responses from students, staff, and parents. An overwhelming percentage of people indicated they would like school to start before the Labor Day Holiday.

“So it was clear to us that it would be a start before the Labor Day weekend,” Nold told the School Board Monday night, “How far before should we start?”

That is a question the District is still working to answer. Most survey respondents indicated they would like the start date to be at least ten days before Labor Day.

The calendars will be available at public input meetings the next two nights, for additional comment.

The sessions are scheduled on Tuesday, January 24th at Lincoln High School Library and Wednesday, January 25th at Memorial Middle School Auditorium. Both will begin at 5:30 PM.

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