School Story:
Shortening The School Year
The following article appeared on January 18th, 1980, in a small publication called ‘The Inferno’ published by a decaying high school in a rust belt town called Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Mary D. Bradford High School, the mascot of which remains, to this day, The Red Devil, was operating (deep in the red) in the very last year of its long, hostile occupation of two very dilapidated inner-city buildings. I especially liked The Annex, with its rich, 100+ year history, long, dark, creaky stairwells, stifling June through September heat, and fine asbestos-lined piping systems.
‘The Inferno’ ran this article less out of sense of progressivism than for the school’s need to allow its volatile student ‘Burner’ elements to rant. It was the very first article I had published. Strangely, it appeared right next to another article, titled: “Graduates Using Drugs”, above yet another article, titled: ‘Hearings Set On Drug Utensils’, across from yet another article, “Teenage Criminal Stats Rise.” Could newsletter editor Mr. Ramey, or possibly others, in a vast newsletter staff / establishment conspiracy, have known something? Or, worse yet, could this juxtaposition have been some sly editorial comment on the state of mind of the author?
Only a paranoid person would ask such questions; yet, on they go begging, remaining strangely unanswered, even decades later.
Interestingly, not long after the publication of this article, the teaching staff of the school began to regard me as less of a D+, smart-alecky fool, and more as an ambitious, under-achieving 1.5 GPA rebel. Teachers (and other shady union types) hated the proposal, seeing it as a naked act of aggression, a Trojan Horse for a reduction in the school year. I was delighted.
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With the increasing fuel costs and tightening budgets, many suggestions have been made to streamline the system. Bradford senior Tim Dosemagen recently proposed changing the school schedule to include a six-week recess during the winter, ostensibly to save fuel dollars. The schedule, which would include a six-day week and
end in May, was given to the administration and the Inferno in December. It reads as follows:
Consider for a moment the amount of time we spend in school each year. A total of 180 days of school with seven hours of school each school day that computes to a total of 1,260 hours of school each year. Our system unethically spreads this time amount over an amazing period of 11 months (presently the only month of the year without
school is July. This must come to a stop.)
The heat energy dollars wasted during the winter session is abominable. I have come up with a comprehensive plan that will not only save education dollars but cut down on school time by six weeks. Students and teachers alike should be in favor of this plan.
I suggest that school months be shifted from the
present wasteful August-July time slot to a Spring-Fall set up eliminating vacations and initiating the six day school week. Under this system, school would be held Monday through Saturday from September 1st through the first week
in December. A six-week recess would then bring us to the fourth week in January when school would be held again until the month of June.
Now check your facts and see if this is correct.
September: 4 weeks of school
October: 4 weeks of school
November: 4 weeks of school
December: 1 week of school
January: 1 week of school
February: 4 weeks of school
March: 4 weeks of school
April: 4 weeks of school
May: 4 weeks of school
Total: 30 weeks of school
With a combined spring and fall school year of 30 weeks of school, multiply this 30 week total by the six day school weeks and you get exactly 180 days of school; no change required.
Think of it teachers, students – a six-week winter
vacation and a full twelve-week summer recess! I’m sure the school board can find a way to increase the teachers’ daily/weekly income to make up for lost classroom time.
But that’s the least of this amendment’s problems. People are so unwilling to change until they absolutely have to. I say we make a change now before rising winter heating bills and the sheer economics of an 11 month school year are staring the Kenosha Unified School District in the face.
Anyone wishing to obtain a copy of this amendment should contact Tim Dosemagen. A petition urging further ratification of this amendment will be circulating.
Editor's Note: The school year schedule is drawn up through negotiation between the teachers’ union and the school board, and it is usually attached to the current contract.
