Sports and Year-Round Schools

Are schools air-conditioned these days? They generally weren't when I was a kid, so we avoided as much of the hot weather as we could by not starting school until after Labor Day, taking no multi-day breaks except a week for Christmas/New Year's, and finishing before Memorial Day.

 

You stagger them. Unless you are talking a 1 or 2-man staff, in which case you try your best to work them in between seasons.

Guy at a one-man department at a small paper near here had to take a few weeks for some family business back east in September, right as fall sports were picking up. He asked if I could fill in while he was gone. Guess I did OK, cause they keep handing me work seven months later.

 

One place I worked had a district that didn't start school until mid-september. Was a fishing community and too many of the kids were out working on the fishing boats with parents. They'd show up mid-September and be three weeks behind everyone else. So teachers would have to reteach stuff for the sake of 2/3 of the class.

There were such large numbers and the school district had tried without success for years to get them to show up on opening day, that finally they gave in to reality and just said "screw it, we'll start the year later."