Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – The Springfield Public School District is toying with the idea of starting the school year earlier than they do in mid-August.
There’s just one thing keeping them from doing that: the Illinois State Fair, and the issue of safety because of parking in the area.
“I just cannot imagine a world in which some little second grader is walking home, lollygagging around, looking at the clouds…and suddenly, someone is leaving from a yard and hits that student,” said Sarah Blissett, board member, whose sub-district covers Ridgely Elementary School.
Fairgoers often park at residences and at the school in the area. Ridgeley has charged to park in their lot during the fair, and starting earlier would mean a loss of revenue the school could use. There also was a concern that if the school year started during the fair, students and school organizations who raise funds by working the fair gates wouldn’t have that money either.
For board member Buffy Lael-Wolf, there was another concern: parent-teacher conferences, and the possibility those would have to be split up.
“We have in the past, very much, set an expectation for all schools that we’ll get 100 percent of interaction with parents,” said Lael-Wolf. “Especially if you have parents of littles that are in the elementary spaces, they want to have those one-on-ones for ten or fifteen minutes with their child’s teacher.”
A committee looked at the idea so that semesters were more balanced, and closer to be in line with other school districts.
“The efforts were to bring into balance the two different halves of the school year, to make certain there was room for accommodating winter and spring breaks, and also getting done by that Memorial Day milestone, which everybody — parents, kids, staff — all feel is good,” said Aaron Graves, Springfield Education Association president. “Surrounding districts do it, and we thought we could explore doing it as well.”
No final decisions have been made, but there could be a vote at the next meeting.
