Hi, I've looked at the school calendar survey, I've looked at the presentation that will be given to the school board, I've talked to other parents and community members, and there are still a lot of questions I have about the calendar options.
The main question is this: what is wrong with the traditional setup we have? I understand that hours need to be added, and the 188 day option seems to be the least complicated way to do that (my understanding is that simply making the school day longer adds to the teachers' workload without any additional pay, which I'm 100% against.)
There are benefits to the balanced/year round schedule, but there are downsides, too, and it would be a much bigger adjustment at both the family and community level than simply adding days.
Are the benefits of the balanced/year round schedule addressing actual problems here at LAPS? For example, the survey says a benefit is "distinct chunks of learning time" - is not having that a problem? I'm not personally sure which calendar I prefer, but to consider such a major change, I'd like to be told not just what the theoretical benefits are, but what current problems would be addressed.
If it ain't broke, why are we trying to fix it?