School daze

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

In the vacation thread, people are already back to school.  Good grief!  Why?  Don't you get any vacation at all?

In Canada, public schools at least, start the day after Labor Day (first Monday in September), and go until the last dog is hung at the end of June (usually around the 27th).  Time off consists of the Christmas Break (one week), March break (one week) and the statutory holidays.  If you are in a parochial Catholic school, you go to school on holy days of obligation when they occur during the week, but instead of classes, attend a mass then are dismissed for the day.

Colleges and Universities have their own schedules, but most of them start the fall session on the Tuesday after labor day.  Some convene earlier, particularly medical schools.  Some are on a trimester system with three sessions per year of about three and a half months each.  Exams occur at the end of session, and there is a two week turn around period for marking and breath catching.  Some universities have a single session in the year consisting of fall and winter terms.  The run from September to May.  Specialized areas may have other hours.  It is not unusual for universities to have a summer session attended by teachers working on graduate studies, and undergrads taking make ups for courses failed in the regular sessions.  These start after Canada Day, and run to about the middle of August.

When I was an engineering student at Queen's in Kingston Ontario (in 1957/8), classes were from 0800 to 1800 with a one and one half hour break for lunch at noon.  Classes were Monday through Friday, then Saturday until noon, after exams, in the first year there was a surveying field school that was mandatory for everyone.  You had to pass or you were out.

So what are school sessions in your area, folks?

[x493x 446]

I'm in Canada, longer Summer Vacaction...............although it is almost over.

[joshriddle 29]

When does school let out in Canada?

[Duke87 1,070]

Connecticut state law requires that public schools be in session at least 180 days every year. Any days of school canceled (e.g. due to snow) must be made up unless the state declares that there was a disaster. The week everyone got off from school this past march due to that huge storm that caused massive power outages didn't have to be made up, for instance.

The school year here in Stamford generally runs from the very beginning of September (Spetember 2 this year) to mid-late June, with December 24-January 1 off as Christmas break, a week in late February off as winter break, and a week in late April off as spring break. Days off are also given for Thanksgiving, Good Friday, Yom Kippur and/or Rosh Hashanah, and certain national holidays such as Veterans' day and Memorial day.

As for time of day, it's staggered so the same school buses can be used for multiple runs. The high schools run from 7:25-2:05. The middle schools and a couple of the elementary schools run from 8:30-3:00. The rest of the elementary schools run from 9:00-3:30. This has only been the case for the past 10 years or so, though. The days used to be just 6 hours, not 6½. When I was in elementary school it was just 9-3. The board of ed decided to make the school day a bit longer ca. 2000 as an attempt to boost achievement by giving kids more class time.

College schedules in America are a bit shorter. My fall semester ran from the end of August (as in, next week) to the second week of December. My spring semester ran from the last full week of January to mid-May.

Classes could be at any time during the day, starting as early as 8 AM and ending as late as 9:30 PM. Most classes met for three hours a week (divided into one, two, or three sessions), but some had four and those with accompanying labs had a total of six. Typical course load involved five or six classes a semester totaling 18 hours a week.

[Bplax15 2]

Go from next week Wednesday to June 8th. The customary breaks along with some other days off. The start of the year schedule is chaotic with early releases and holidays and teacher conventions. I remember last year the first time we had a normal full week of class was the second week of October, basically a month of random scheduling. But after winter break school drags because of minimal holidays or what not until spring break. Many people left for college in the past week around here.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Originally posted by: joshriddle

When does school let out in Canada?quote>

Originally posted by:A Nonny Moose

... go until the last dog is hung at the end of June (usually around the 27th).quote>

Josh, try listening to what you see.

[fukuda 351]

"fall" semester: from 20th September to 21st January

spring semester: from 14th February to 27th May

Classes should theoretically run from 15:00 to 20:00 everyday. But now let's add the accompanying labs and ta-da, the schedule runs from 08:00 to 20:00.

[Bplax15 2]

Originally posted by: Duke87

Connecticut state law requires that public schools be in session at least 180 days every year. Any days of school canceled (e.g. due to snow) must be made up unless the state declares that there was a disaster.

quote>

They don't have a few exception days? In Wisconsin each school district gets to decide on how many days can be canceled due to weather, fog, cold, snow, ice.... My school district has 3 days allowed for such. So we can have 3 snow days and we don;t have to make those up, but if we get more than 3 we have to make them up at the end of the year. Other districts in central Green Bay and Milwaukee generally have very few of those days because the plows can get through all the roads quicker compared to the spread out suburbs. There is one school district in the middle of nowhere that has nearly 10 days allowed because the students are very spread out on rural roads where plows rarely reach. I'm shocked that Connecticut doesn't have anything like such.

[hym 358]

I started back to school on Monday.  The faculty has been complicit in helping the bookstores rob me of nearly $500 so far.  Fortunately, I have a large network of engineering friends who are letting me borrow their books, otherwise, I'd be spending over $1,000 for just 5 books.

[Duke87 1,070]

Originally posted by: Bplax15

Originally posted by: Duke87

Connecticut state law requires that public schools be in session at least 180 days every year. Any days of school canceled (e.g. due to snow) must be made up unless the state declares that there was a disaster.quote>

They don't have a few exception days?quote>

At least 180 days of school are required. Period. The way to have "exception days" is to schedule a few extra. If you've got a 185 day school year scheduled you can lose 5 days to snow without having to make them up. Some school districts do this. The Stamford Public Schools do not.

Private schools, meanwhile, are not subject to the 180 day minimum and generally do not make up cancelled days unless there are an unusually large number of them.

[hummer0328 6]

I was talking to a friend of mine who teaches in my old high school and things have changed quite a bit since I graduated (which really wasn't that long ago, '04).

School starts earlier in the year that what I remember. It used to start after labor day, but apparently they started this week. Then they get 1 1/2 weeks for christmas break, and 2 days for spring break. I used to get a little over 2 weeks for christmas, and a little over a week for spring break. Now, they've changed the schedule to some crazy block scheduling (2 hour long classes) that switch off every other day. Because of this, days are colored: Orange Day and Black Day (the school colors). They switch off every friday between Orange and Black day to keep it even. Now they need more than just a certain # of credits to graduate. They need to meet "proficiency standards" in classes. And they need to pass standardized testing.

Wow, what a headache that must all be.

[Bplax15 2]

Originally posted by: hummer0328

. Because of this, days are colored: Orange Day and Black Day (the school colors). They switch off every friday between Orange and Black day to keep it even..quote>

At my high school we have "Block Days". Once a month or twice during finals. On Wednesday we have our first hour class, third hour class, fifth hour class and seventh hour class. Then on Thursday we have second hour to eighth hour with the every other hour style schedule. The classes are twice as long (90 minutes) on these days. The luches go from four a day to three. It makes it extremely crowded and it's just a mess. Also with the way the regular day schedules are arranged, one some block days you can have something like what I had last year with two study halls in a row with a lunch after. So I had 3 hours and 45 minutes straight of no actual classes, and we have a closed campus so I couldn't leave the school. It gets pretty messy but thankfully it's only once a month. 

[x493x 446]

Originally posted by: joshriddle

When does school let out in Canada?quote>

My school lets out end of June.

[ilikehotdogsalot 308]

I ended school on June 8, and I went back on August 23. We have Winter Break starting a few days before Christmas and it ends just after New Years. After that, there's Spring Break for 10 days in April. In between that we get days off for holidays. Next week I don't have class on Monday because of Labor Day and I don't have class on Thursday because of a Jewish holiday. During Midterm and Final exams, we leave early.

I have four classes a day for 1 semester. Then in the second semester we get a new schedule (unless it's an advanced placement course, then it's full year). Each classes is 90 minutes and we get 10 minutes in between periods. School is from 7:30 - 2:40 and we have about 40 minutes for lunch. Thankfully I don't have those color coordinated days that others have mentioned. Classes don't change until the semester is over.

If there's a hurricane or tropical storm and school gets cancelled, they might extend the year, but I don't think they've done that yet. In 2005 we got 2 weeks off because of a hurricane and I don't think they extended the year.

[Bplax15 2]

had my last day of freedom today...

[Bplax15 2]

had my last day of freedom today...

[un1 41]

Going back to school in 6 days for me. Today is the day that I get to go to my new school and look around/get my timetable (going into grade 9). This year is going to be something new for sure...

[un1 41]

Going back to school in 6 days for me. Today is the day that I get to go to my new school and look around/get my timetable (going into grade 9). This year is going to be something new for sure...