Commentary by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — When I was a newspaper reporter in Grove, Okla. – a beautiful community on Grand Lake – they had this annual controversy… the school calendar. This was probably unique to the community because it was a tourist destination town and required a lot of service people for the various restaurants, hotels, and other attractions.

In other words, they needed a lot of high school students to keep the economy rolling.

But, then, the school district had its calendar to adhere to. Like it or not, Grove school district was like every other school district in Oklahoma and had to set its calendar pretty much like everyone else. So, school started in late August, meaning all the high school kids were back in school. And gone was the town’s manual labor for the all-important Labor Day weekend when people flocked to town to guzzle beer and zoom around on boats.

So this became an annual tug-of-war between school officials and businessmen. People would cram into the high school library in April, where the school board held its meetings and had its annual shout-a-thon. It was the Jerry Springer Show before there was a Jerry Springer on our TV. By the way, RIP, Jerry. You revolutionized the way we threw chairs during arguments.

I have no desire to revisit a school calendar controversy since I left Grove, but I’m going to have to. Wellington’s approved 2023-24 school calendar is a turkey.

Here’s what the new calendar looks like (see here).

And, yes, I understand the need to conform with the state and every other school district in Kansas.

I also understand that everything is scheduled for a reason.

But please, tell me, why, WHY are we starting school on August 15? I’m not a weather forecaster, but I can predict the weather that day. It will be 1,000 degrees with a chance of aliens shooting laser fireballs at us just to make it warmer.

August 15 is for pools. August 15 is one month before we get our first cool front. August 15 is for the dogs – as in Dog Days of summer.

We worry about our soaring utility rates. Well, we might as well pass a mill levy to cool our various school buildings in town because of the massive amount of air conditioning we are going to have to blow on our teachers and kids.

It is too early to start learning!

Here’s an underrated argument that isn’t being mentioned. Like the Grove businesses, the Wellington Aquatic Center needs teenagers to operate. When school starts, the lifeguards quit because they are teenagers. Teens need to learn. So what happens? Our pool shuts down for the year.

Here we have a pool that is in financial disrepair that closes down at the peak of 100-degree days. It would be like a downtown retailer shutting down his/her business the week before Christmas to go on vacation.

But it isn’t just the pool. The city of Wellington needs laborers, farmers need help, and teens need money. And when it is 100-plus-degree days, we all need to well, sweat, and gripe about how hot it is.

But the calendar isn’t just about starting in mid-August. I don’t like the new proposal of taking a week off for Thanksgiving. Since I’m a sports editor at heart, I think like a sports editor. My first thought was let’s say Wellington has a really good football season and ends up in the state championship game. We will have a Thanksgiving week vacation while they are practicing for football. I find that absurd. What no pep rally before the football team goes to the big game?

I also don’t like having a week’s vacation just one month before the Christmas vacation, which goes on long enough.

The teachers scheduled an in-service on Nov. 3 on a Friday, partially because kids notoriously come to school sugared-up after Halloween night, and nothing gets done. I think that it’s an excellent idea to keep the goblins at home the next day. But they put the service on Nov. 3, not Nov. 1. I’m not sure Nov. 3 has the same effect as Nov. 1 would. By Nov. 3, the goblins probably have consumed all that chocolate and are back to their normal monstrous selves.

The senior last day is May 9 and graduation is May 12. That’s usually the time of rain and chances of big, bad tornados. Also, again not to let sports dictate everything, but that’s more than two weeks from the state track meet and state baseball/softball tournaments.

I’m not pointing fingers, but the 2022-23 school calendar lacks common sense. It doesn’t conform with its own sporting events, the timing of the holidays, and most importantly, weather patterns.

If I was king of the world, this is how I would have set up the calendar.

I would start school after Labor Day in September. I would push the first week of football to the end of the week. This way, then, everything is a little cooler or about to get cool, and we could save on utilities. The pool could then shut down when it is supposed to shut down after the holiday weekend.

Yes, the football season could be pushed back a week. I don’t think playing the first weekend after Thanksgiving will make much difference for those playing for the state championship.

I would then move the Thanksgiving break back to its original 4-day weekend. If we needed more vacation days, I’d add them to Christmas.

And at the end of the year, I’d push graduation back closer to Memorial Day weekend. Hell, I think it would be perfect if Labor and Memorial Day weekends bookmarked the start and finish of school.

And I would schedule an in-service day on Nov. 1 – because that is a good idea. But I would have my in-service on Nov. 1, not Nov. 3.

I know my kids are grown, and I personally don’t have a stake in it anymore. But I’m always an advocate of common sense. And when it comes to scheduling our children’s time to learn, we aren’t exactly using common sense.

Follow us on Facebook.

Follow us on Twitter.