NEW MISSOURI LAW ALTERS START DATE First day of school pushed back two weeks for future academic years
HANSIKA SAKSHI staff writer
R
ecently, Ladue administration altered the calendar for the 2020-21 school year due to a new Missouri law. July 11, 2019, Missouri Governor Mike Parson signed a bill called HB401, which pushes back the start date for public schools. This law states that the first day of school must be no earlier than 14 calendar days before Labor Day. A previous law allowed for school boards to hold an open meeting and vote for an earlier start date based on their own needs. Tourism industries lobbied for this new law in hopes of increasing their revenue. Since students will now have a longer summer break, businesses at the Lake of the Ozarks and in Branson are expecting more visitors. Their high school employees will be able to work for longer as well. Changing the start date also comes with disadvantages. As winter break cannot be moved due to
winter holidays, this law makes the first semester of school shorter than the second, affecting semester-long classes. The days of AP testing also cannot be changed, which creates less time for teachers to review for AP exams. “From an AP perspective, this can create a disadvantage for [students],” physics teacher Richard Witt said. “We have a set amount of material to cover, and if we are starting two weeks later, that’s like losing two weeks of the school year in preparation for [the AP] test.” In order to accommodate for the days lost at the beginning of the school year, changes to the calendar needed to be made. Dr. Amy Zielinsky, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction, helped make these calendar changes. “The new start date is Aug. 24,” Zielinski said. “We had to remove a professional development day in September to ensure the high school met required state hours. We pushed back our spring break by a week since we will be going a week
A letter to the editors
In response to the December editorial Mike Schlueter As I read the December Panorama, I had to chuckle at the fact that Panorama went from an article on vaping to a “should my parents micromanage me” article. The irony was thick. I try, in every single situation, to be completely honest with my kids. I think that as soon as you lie to them (about anything other than, perhaps, Santa), you run the risk of losing credibility. As a lawyer, I can promise credibility is important in everything. So, let me be honest—you have no idea what you are talking about. Now, before you unleash your hatred toward this dad statement, let me continue. Neither did I for many years. Neither did my parents and neither will your kids. It is not a matter of how smart
longer in May. We are still able to have students finish the school year before Memorial Day, and snow days and school hours are not affected.” The new law also comes with some advantages. The three month summer it causes may benefit current juniors such as William Pan. “This law really gives us [rising] seniors a benefit [for] college because we have a lot more time to work on college applications,” Pan said. “Other students [can] also enjoy a long summer.” The law is pushing many teachers to change how they structure their course. Many will work on unit planning to accommodate for the imbalance of the semesters and the fewer days before AP exams. “I think the new law provides challenges to the district but nothing we cannot overcome,” Zielinski said. “Allowing for choice in determining the calendar has been the tradition for my entire time in education, so adjusting that mindset forces us to think differently, which isn’t a bad thing.”
you are; it’s simply a matter of life and experience. I pay a lot of attention to my kids and their friends. They are not dumb. They are good, friendly kids who have no idea what they are talking about. Life experience is irreplaceable. It is what takes all this knowledge you are gain- Read the ing in high school and allows you to use it editorial to make good decisions. here. So, back to the irony of a vape article followed by a helicopter parent article. I am the furthest thing from a helicopter parent. I believe in giving young adults rope, hopefully not enough to hang themselves. How much rope you give is what keeps parents up at night. Technology has created a situation where nothing is private. You are the most at risk generation; listen to your parents, grandparents and coaches. There is a reason they watch over you and have you going to Ladue.
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