Schools used to open after Labor Day. It was cooler, it fit the rhythm of the seasons, and was a sensible start, with school, ending by Memorial Day or sooner, with the summer wide open.

For whatever reasons, and they sure as hell aren’t to benefit the students, school is creeping past a mid August start to even earlier in some places.

In the meantime places where air conditioned schools were not necessary now find our climate getting warmer and warmer.

Combine and earlier start with warmer weather and half the schools where I live not air conditioned, and you have bad bad trend that is not geared toward putting students first.

Attempts here are underway to air condition all school using leftover COVID millions, but they can’t find people to install them fast enough. My head is shaking.

And if we did come to our senses and start school after Labor Day, so many off days are now built into the system, you could never finish by Memorial Day.

Schools should at least not open until the latter part of August.

In the meantime students here are going to have their school days cut back by two hours every day all next week. That ought to help the learning process.

Whatever arguments are mustered for the move toward all of August being school, the learning benefits for children are not on the list.