Chicago Suburban public school districts should permanently end starting their school years in the middle of August and not start until the last Monday or Wednesday of August depending on the calendar. Surrounding districts should start following this model to allow friends and relatives have more time to visit and spend time together. For instance, a family from Orland or Tinley Park might want to travel or plan a trip with their children who some are in grade school, and some in high school, and also with their other families and friends who live in Hickory Hills or Oak Lawn. Another reason is that so many districts end the school year so early even before the season of summer begins. Many families in this area have many celebrations planned for August, so starting school early limits their time options. For example, students who have their birthdays in the second half of August can not really fully enjoy their birthday celebrations because they have to concentrate on their education and schoolwork.
Illinois's population has drastically declined in the past 8 years and starting school on the last week of August would help encourage students to study and enjoy school more, getting teachers interested in being hired since there's a shortage, and take a significant amount of stress off some families. We strongly believe it's the best and most reasonable time to start the school year in the Chicago suburbs! We have sure already got a few districts in our area with late-August start dates, and I sure would love that more would change theirs' similar to this model. We do not want all the districts to follow the same calendar as every one, we are only asking for reasonable start dates which should be no earlier than 6 to 10 weekdays before Labor Day, and still at least 176 pupil attendance days.
Original petition link: https://www.change.org/EndMidAugust
