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US: Parents demanding that school be out for summer

MIAMI -- The pressures of federally mandated exams have pushed public schools in Florida and in several other states to begin classes weeks earlier than usual to squeeze in more days of instruction before the critical tests, sometimes striking August entirely from vacation calendars and devoting the month, traditionally left open for childhood leisure, to class time.

But a widespread backlash, led by disgruntled parents organized into loosely affiliated Save Our Summers groups across the country, is underway.

Legislators in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and Pennsylvania are weighing bills this year that would peg school start dates to Labor Day. North Carolina, Texas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin passed similar measures in recent years.

The issue is one of the most controversial aspects in the ongoing debate over the exams used to comply with the No Child Left Behind law, leading to widening opposition and adding to the litany of complaints about the side effects of what critics call high-stakes testing.

Public schools here, for example, began classes at the beginning of August, essentially wiping out a month many had counted on for a spell of unhurried pleasure. Sherry Sturner, a mother of two in Miami-Dade County, had been looking forward to a family reunion up north and time at the swimming pool. But the new schedule did not accommodate them.

''It just felt so out of whack," said Sturner, who created a Save Our Summers group to shift the school calendar back. ''Every year, the schools were taking another week out of our summers. It was hot. So I said, 'You know what? I've had enough.' "

Governor Jeb Bush, a Republican and a champion of the school accountability tests, known in Florida as the FCATs, backs the bill tying school openings to Labor Day. The measure easily won endorsement from a House committee last week.

''I like it because, first of all, I'm tired of the FCAT being an excuse for everything from the common cold to the state of the schools," Bush told reporters recently. ''I think bringing some certainty across the state is a good thing."

Critics say the exams have created unhealthy academic pressures and unnecessarily narrow the definition of education to what can be measured by the tests. Some schools have sacrificed recess, art, music, or social studies to gain preparation time for the reading and math exams.

The creep of classes into August ''is just one of the many harmful and stupid consequences of high-stakes testing," said Monty Neill, executive director of FairTest, a group critical of the use of tests. ''It steadily is ticking people off."

School boards across the country have moved up their schedules in recent years and have cut into August for class time, according to national surveys.

''We make no apologies for trying to prepare our students as well as possible to succeed on the FCAT," said Ruth Melton, director of legislative relations for the Florida School Boards Association.

Posted in: News on January 23, 2006 @ 12:00 AM

Tags: School

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