By Harold Reutter
harold.reutter@theindependent.com

He said that would allow the Island Oasis water park to stay open longer during a time of the year when the weather is normally hot and dry.

But Paustian also believes there is virtually no chance that Grand Island schools will have such a late start.

Paustian noted that it is impossible for him to keep Island Oasis open after school starts because he loses the student staff who serve as lifeguards and other positions in the park.

He also pointed out that lifeguards are naturally athletic, so he loses some of his staff to preseason football and volleyball practices that start even before classes begin.

Paustian said many Nebraska universities and colleges typically start classes in August, which also affects his ability to staff Island Oasis with lifeguards.

During last week's Town Hall meeting for the Hastings Public Schools, one of the survey questions dealt with when was the best time to start school.

Superintendent Craig Kautz said people who were older and did not have any children in school were very favorably disposed to starting after Labor Day.

Adults with children in school split between starting in August and starting after Labor Day. Kautz said his "speculation" would be that that opinions were divided between parents with children who have air conditioning in their schools and parents with children in schools with no air conditioning.

Kautz said the question was placed on the survey because one board member has consistently been interested in the idea. He said Hastings Public School patrons have obviously been talking to that board member.

But he also noted that when it comes to start dates, parents and students directly affected are going to carry more weight than school district taxpayers. Kautz said in other areas district taxpayers take preference.

"Parents with children in school are only 25 to 27 percent of the district," he said. While the starting date may need more study, "we're not going to start in September next year."

Even earlier

Northwest High School Principal Doyle Denney said his school system probably would never begin school after Labor Day. In fact, he noted preliminary work on the 2008-09 calendar shows teacher in-service may start as early as Aug. 1-13, with the first day of school possibly Aug. 14.

Grand Island School Superintendent Steve Joel said the calendar committee toyed with the idea of starting Aug. 8 this year, before moving the proposed starting date back.

Denney said there are good educational reasons for starting school in August, with the primary one being a desire to have a roughly equal number of days in the first and second semesters.

For example, an August start can have 87 days in the first semester, followed by 91 days in the second semester to hit the goal of 178 student contact days during the year.

He said there also is a desire to end the first semester before Christmas break, because it seems more fair to students. Denney said students can review their material and then take their semester test. He said that usually yields the best test results.

On the other hand, Denney said, some people might question that if teachers are trying to measure retention of material "what difference does two weeks make?"

Denney said there is another good reason to end the first semester before Christmas: The semester break can be a time when students transfer from one school district to another. As a result, it is good for students to not only finish their studies, but their semester tests before transferring from one school to another.

Joel said this year creates a particular problem because Memorial Day 2009 comes so early.

"A lot of students, teachers and parents feel that it is all over by Memorial Day," Joel said.

To get school done by Memorial Day requires starting school in August, even when the holiday does not come early in May, Joel said.

Year-round school

Joel said that if he was going to propose a radical change in school calendar, it would be to year-round school and possibly more school days.

But he said that is probably not high on the list of priorities, either. Joel said he would propose year-round school for academic reasons.

It would seem to make sense that having less than three months off might benefit students who are having trouble academically, Joel said. Shorter breaks would seem to suggest better retention for students.

But Joel said that he has not seen any studies that show year-round school results "in blow-out academic achievement."

The other case for year-round school would be better utilization of school buildings, Joel said. But most school districts and their patrons in the middle of the country "are still in love with the old agrarian calendar."

That means having summers off, even if summer does end earlier, with an August start to school.

He said Meadowlark Elementary in Kearney is one of the few schools with a year-round calendar and only half the school's students do so. The other half are on a traditional school calendar.

For Paustian, starting school closer to September would be a boon to Island Oasis. He noted the last week in May and first week in June are usually cooler and wetter than the last two weeks of August.

He also noted it would be nice to have Island Oasis open through Labor Day if Grand Island were to ever get the Nebraska State Fair.

But for school officials, academics and the newer tradition of having an August start take precedence over Paustian's arguments.