Summer break trumps winter's, Anoka-Hennepin survey finds

In the Anoka-Hennepin school district, Christmas and New Year's vacation apparently takes a back seat to an early-summer dismissal.

A parent survey conducted by the district as it prepares the 2010-11 school calendar showed respondents far more willing to forgo two weeks of winter break and more eager to end the school year earlier in the summer.

The survey, posted in October on the district's website, drew 1,421 responses. Parents were asked to rank their vacation priorities in order, choosing from two weeks for winter break, one full week for spring break, and letting the kids out earlier in June, or maybe even earlier than that.

Early summer dismissal won hands-down, getting 48 percent of the first-place votes. Having one full week for spring break came in at second, with 33 percent of the vote. Two weeks for winter break -- also known as Christmas break -- followed at 17 percent. A small percentage of the voters failed to weigh in on one or more of the options.

Michelle Langenfeld, district associate superintendent and administrator in charge of the district's school calendar committee, said the survey was used to help the committee deliberate on the 2010-11 calendar, which was presented to the school board earlier this month and is slated for possible citizen comment and action at the board's Jan. 11 meeting. The proposed calendar for the 2010-2011 school year accedes to some parents' wishes. For example, it allows for a full week of spring break

Is two weeks too much?

"I think that was a surprise to some of the staff," said Langenfeld of winter break's low ranking. But parents in their comments often felt two weeks was too much.

"The closer to the weekend [Christmas] falls, the shorter the vacation can be," Langenfeld said.

Several factors weighed

She said that in plotting out winter break and the rest of the school calendar, planners have to consider a number of factors. Those include a prescribed number of days that students must be in school -- 172 for K-5, and 173 for grades 6-12 -- plus ensuring class days are equally divided between two semesters, accounting for state testing days and starting school after Labor Day, as required by state law. Making it tougher to schedule are late Labor Days this year and next.

The proposed end-of-school date for the 2010-11 school year is June 9.

Survey respondents also had some things to vent about. For instance, Langenfeld said, they don't like spring break split up between two weeks, which is what's happening this year. Also, they don't like it when the district gives kids a day off one week for teacher training then follows it the next week with a partial-week vacation such as Thanksgiving. They'd rather have those combined into one week.