I support a "Traditional" School Calendar in District 225 that doesn't start school earlier in the summer.

Our family STRONGLY opposes changing the calendar. This will affect all the families that have younger children. It's unfair of you to go into this with blinders on and not consider how the rest of the community feels. I also am curious as to why this is a consideration at all?

Our family strongly opposes an earlier start to the school year.

Please give this important change the appropriate time and attention for a public discussion.

Summer family time outside when the weather is good is important.

I strongly urge you to listen to the people affected by this potential change. It's inexplicable and scary for us to imagine such a tremendous, and I'll say life-altering, change without taking our thoughts and concerns into account. I've heard from some of the best teachers we have in the district they'll move if this passes. What a devastating impact. If the majority of the people you support and serve are wholeheartedly against this, please listen. Please don't blindly pass.

I would like to express our families preference for keeping with the current school calendar. The vote should not be over the summer break - as too many families not able to attend the meeting. Also, the current schedule with finals after winter break has been really nice - and much less stressful. Grade schools in the district should be consulted also before making such a big change.

Strongly oppose switching to a collegiate calendar, please keep traditional.

Please stop pushing and pushing. We all know how detrimental this is for our students. Do the right thing by them.

PLEASE keep a traditional, non-collegiate calendar, staying aligned and synchronized with feeder districts. Please!

I agree with all the comments here but would also like to emphasize the value of summer break in terms of mental health and college preparedness. Many students work at local day camps and overnight camps across the country. These work experiences provide immeasurable life lessons that help prepare students for success at college and beyond (as well as meeting a financial need for many families). The decision to change our school calendar because other schools have done it and/or to accommodate finals is short sighted and does not take into account the long-term wellness of our children and communities. If there is such a huge concern about the stress of finals, either re-evaluate what should be a high school curriculum (not college) or move our start date to the day after Labor Day and finals later in the winter.

I am unable to attend the meeting Tuesday, but STRONGLY oppose switching to a collegiate calendar. I echo my neighbors' comments and add that this will affect our town's economy in a negative manner. So much of our local businesses, restaurants and park district facilities benefit from the family and student use during the warm summer months. Switching to a collegiate calendar will essentially eliminate August as a profitable month. The timing of considering and potentially voting on this during the summer months, when many of our involved citizens are out of town is troubling. Please do not switch to a collegiate calendar! As a businesswoman, a mother and a teacher, I cannot see how the small positives outweigh all the negative impact this would have on our community as a whole.

Very opposed to school starting earlier in August!

With our climate, the summer wont start until July. I do not want to deprive my children of their summer. Also, I have a child who plays sports at GBN. The fall sports tryouts will start August 1st. It means, no August vacation. Super inconvenient.

This would be very inconvenient for my family and many other families affected by this change.

This will be difficult for parents who have kids in the younger grades as who as high school. How can a family plan anything when they are on separate schedules?

I amunfortunately unable to attend the meeting next week. I agree with all of the comments here. The traditional calendar is both appropriate for our climate and more conducive to student mental health, allowing a break before final exams.

This is so called “collegiate calendar” is a terrible idea!!! “Collegiate” my...!! College calendars are 16 weeks in length NOT 18. So There’s a big problem right there!! We need to count back down to 16 week semesters and therefore START AFTER LABOR DAY!!! Our northern Midwest states (ie Minnesota) actual has a state law that states school cannot start before Labor Day. I’m sure they are well aware that the summer weather happens mid June through August! PLEASE let our kids enjoy the summer, work summer jobs, for a decent length of time. NO ONE wants to sit in GBN where there aren’t even windows in the classrooms during the best weeks of summer. Let’s stop the “pushing harder, going faster” pressure we are putting on our children all together. VOTE FOR THE NORMAL SCHOOL CALENDAR!! (The kids can “collegiate” when the go to college!)

I strongly support the traditional school calendar!

Our climate in the Midwest means that student are in school during hot summer month of August and off when it's still cool in May/June. Why does District 28 have to change our start time? HS can, but not the elementary.

I am sorry to miss the meeting on 6/25/18. I would like to express my preference for keeping the current school calendar. Speaking from my own experience, my children have not had excessive stress because finals fall after winter break. I believe that having finals before break will have a strong negative impact on the holiday season, particularly for choir, orchestra, and band students who are usually quite busy with concerts during the holiday season. In addition, the weather in May is pretty awful but August is usually quite nice. I think the kids would prefer to be out of school when they can be outside enjoying summer activities. Local camp schedules will be impacted by this change but for those who do not go to camp locally, our change will make it harder to schedule camp time (the window will be smaller if August is essentially removed as an option). Thank you for considering the counter-points before making a final decision.