I failed most of time either way!

fans from home.

So yeah, before. Waaaaay before.

no fans or AC during hot weather and just radiators for heat in cold weather (1950s & 60s).

Hot. No AC. But open windows and fans could be fun at times.

family usually got together for a picnic.

School ended around June 20 and we started again a day or two after Labor Day.
This was mid fifties to 1964.

So many kids now start in mid-August. We had a whole summer. I suppose many things caused the change. Both parents working, etc.

starting way earlier. Like you said, mid, August.

Back then.

No teacher in-service days either.

The back-to-school ads that started mid summer filled me with dread. We waited for the summer holiday all year!
We went back after Labor Day and Indian Summer usually shone through our large classroom windows.

School started about 9am went till about 3pm except in October and sometimes into November we got out at noon or 1pm to help harvest.

Yep, it was hot sometimes…nobody had AC, but we had windows with heavy shades. Rooms that got sunny had the shades pulled with the windows open. Always fun when the wind picked up and jostled the shades so they flew up, loudly, on their own.

Senior year we started in August. My freshman year of college classes started in mid September. The next year they switched to an August start so that the first semester ended before Christmas.

My freshman year we had 10-15 days for Christmas break, went back for a week of finals, and then had two weeks for semester break. I was so bored out of my mind I bought 11 Heinlein paperbacks and read them all in three days.

did switch the semesters around from 5 to 4, which lead to going and coming back at strange times during the holidays.Thank you , rsdsharp.

we started about Tuesday or Wednesday before Labor Day, which gave us a three day weekend to ease into the regular schedule.
This year school started on August 4th.

during the school year. If not the school district will loss a portion of their state funding.

Living where I did, we really had no ability to deal with a heavy snow (and even in Southern KY we had them) School would close if the buses couldn't get through. Between the high hill with switchbacks and the farmhouses far from the road (kids had to trudge through deep snow to get to the bus) we would have a lot of absences which cut the funding.

So we started early - 2 weeks before Labor Day and if we had snow closings might get out at the end of May. However if we did not have closing days we would get a week off in the spring and school would finish before Memorial Day, sometimes as early as the 20th of May. My Senior year we had 2 weeks of closings because of that scary hill. Approximately 1/3 of the high school students lived north of that hill. The Assistant Superintendent of the county schools lived at the bottom of the hill, and every morning he would get up at 4:00 AM and attempt to drive up the hill. If it was too slick to be safe, we did not have school. That year we had graduation on June 1st.

if they had it in Kentucky, but we have half days. School on snowy days starts at 10. No make up days were required.My area of PA is very hilly also. and the Superintendent would do the same. PS, I hated school delays.

And the early morning anticipation of school closures from winter weather. Snow days were the best!

the schedule. If more were used you would take days from Federal and Spring Breaks. School in PA was not allowed to go past 6/30
But you had to get your 180 days in for PA State school funds.

Finished high school in 1969.

Going back before Labor Day makes no sense to me. You can't go away for the long weekend.

We've lived in the greater Chicago area since 1994. Our school district starts back this coming Monday, which feels ridiculously early.

A side note - Despite the abundant snowfall in the Lake Ontario area, we next-to-never had snow days. And, back then, girls had to wear skirts or dresses, so you'd be standing at the bus stop with wind and snow blowing up your clothes, truly freezing your ass off. Ridiculous.

to wear pants. I agree, with you about starting school too early. Thank you 3catwoman3

I lived in Madison, WI and we were on the same schedule as the University of Wisconsin. They probably still are.

Tennessee starts ridiculously early. My grandkids started last week, FFS!

and started after Labor Day.

the day before Memorial Day.

IIRC in those days Memorial Day was still May 31st unless that was a weekend day.

No one had 'spring break' back then (50s & 60s), but we got Good Friday off and that is all. Our days off were religious holidays and didn't jibe with the public schools.

school from Labor Day to almost the end of June. PS Here in Western PA, we have the first day of Deer hunting season off as kids would not show up for school. That was the Monday after Thanksgiving.

and ended the third week of May, more or less, depending on snow days. It snowed a foot or two each winter back then in Amarillo and often would stay on the roads for months. We didn't have air conditioning in school either, but probably most students didn't have it at home so we weren't used to it anyway. Most rooms had a big fan and we always had the windows open. Every classroom had one wall of windows. If it was over 100° or so most teachers would take their class outside. The cicadas would drone on and you could hear them the same inside or outside.

We had a country fair that lasted thru Labor Day. It was a huge event, and It was the highlight of everyone’s summer. There was no way the school system could start earlier. Most kids would be AWOL with their parent’s blessing. So the day after Labor Day was the start of the school year. They made up for it in June.

around here then, Also, vendors. I remember one vendor for a Bomb Shelter. Thank you for sharing your start/finish dates.

week of spring break, just 2 days. The school year ended at end of 3rd week in May. I started 1st grade at age 5 in 1956. 😊

Now Kinder is all day with subjects that were once taught in 1st grade taught in Kinder. No naps, Sitting at desks. I really my problems with that. Now the preschools are more like Kinder once was. Also, Kinder is all day. Every day.

most of my career in did not have kindergarten until 1990 and it was 1/2 day and still is. I think that is the exception now and not the norm.

The big city festival was on Labor Day weekend so we started school the day after LD.

School began day after Labor Day

A sacrilege of Summer! 😦
😄

I have been told that the original reason for the early start was to allow a break for harvesting since KY is so agricultural. Schools would be in session for 2 or 3 weeks, then break for 2 weeks to get the crops in. By the time I started school the break was no longer in the calendar

The bulk of tobacco harvesting occurs in September and we were a heavy tobacco producing area.

county fair stated the same day so some kids were at the county fair with their animals that week.

so we moved to suburbs, and began a NEW life.

Still in touch with new classmates.

Boston suburbs 1970s

I think the idea is that people may need Tuesday to unpack from vacations and get the kids ready for school the next day.

And since NJ depends a lot on tourism, this policy keeps beaches with lifeguards open a bit longer.

When we lived in Maryland, our kids usually started school in late August. And often the local swimming pools closed in August too.

The law changed a few times in Michigan, as politicians weren’t sure which lobbyists to cater to. They finally figured out that they could sponge money from both sides!

I retired in my home town, where I went to high school, and they start school on August 18th.

School with 4 or 5 , two weeks off during the year. I changed my mind.