No February Vacation

On Saturday, I saw my parents and made plans to trundle off three of their grandchildren to Maine for a chunk for a February vacation. A few minutes ago, Mrs. Save Fitchburg and I began the long discussion of whether or not the oldest Save Fitchburg spawn will skip school to go.

The crux of the story: The next time a school official tells you they don't teach to the MCAS, don't believe them.

Simply, the school department wants to get teaching time in before the MCAS. So instead of skipping April vacation (three months away, not four weeks), going on Saturdays, or holding out and waiting for a potential DOE waiver, kiddies will go to school February vacation (President's Day withstanding).

What about parents or teachers who have vacation plans? Whether it's an overnight trip to ski country, or a week trip to Disney? They now face a difficult decision just four weeks before their plans are scheduled. Do they ditch the money and go to school, go ahead with plans and ditch school? If there are a lot of skipped classes, will it affect AYP? In many cases, the attendance AYP factor is a narrow pass. Would big skips be a problem? I guess we're going to find out.

School officials point to a survey where 56 percent of staff favored going to school during February break. Somehow, I think a fewer percentage of parents are in favor. I can hear the cranky oldsters hollering "Those whippersnappers need to go to school," and that's a waiver debate for another time. The issue here is the timing, and it stinks.

Since MCAS was instituted, school officials everywhere have gone to great strides to point out that while curriculum covers MCAS subjects, they don't "teach to the MCAS." But this move will be an inconvenience for some, and a major problem for others. To squeeze in four more days of teaching before the MCAS. The decisions facing parents and the vacation plans suddenly either in ruins or wrapped in guilt are other victims of the ice storm.