[bsphil]

I'd say it's not necessarily the length of the school year but the size of summer break being several months. Teachers spend a lot of time getting kids back up to speed in the fall. Lengthening breaks during the school year and compensating by trimming summer break down would be wise.

[jdechko]

I agree. My son just started kindergarten this year and they get 3 breaks of 1 week or more in addition to all of the national holidays & teacher work days. But they only seem to get about 9 weeks off during the summer.

Regardless of what changes are made, though, some people won't like the new schedule. It's just a fact.

[debacle]

In my experience, Teachers spend a lot of time in the fall teaching kids that never really learned what they were supposed to the year before.

[genwin]

Agreed. My grade school was year-round, repeating x weeks on, y weeks off. I would love my kids to be on that schedule. An extra benefit would be that travel wouldn't be so crowded and expensive.