All I want to know is, what is the point anymore with the schools? When I was a kid, which was not so terribly long ago, we got out on real holidays and for severe snow and ice. That was it. I seem to remember maybe getting out early for parent-teacher conferences. When a kid in my class had a birthday, we had a little birthday party. On Valentines we played games. There was about one field trip and two school assemblies a year. We were out for Spring Break and for Summer Break and Christmas and New Years. We got a long weekend at Thanksgiving. I have no National Statistics, only my own anecdotal observations based on what my niece tells me, and things like the school calendar.
I count 200 weekdays in the school schedule. Subtract 10 days of Xmas = 190 days. Subtract Three days Thanksgiving= 187. Subtract 3 Federal Holidays= 184. Subtract four days Spring Break =180. Subtract 3 Teacher Work Days =177. They are missing almost a month of regular school time. 
There are 12 early out days, in which class periods are 31 minutes. Days with activities receive shorter class periods as well. A normal “period” is now only 47 minutes. That is three minutes shorter than when I was in school. According to my math, and only estimating the number of “activity schedule days” kids get an average of 26 hours of class time a week, while they are in supposedly in school an actual 35 hours a week. By the time the bell rings, the teacher walks in, takes roll, etc, how much actual class time do you think these kids get? They have effectively shortened the school week to 4 days. No wonder our kids are learning less. Forget quality of instruction, that is getting the cart before the horse, they first have to BE there long enough or often enough to actually learn something.
-Kook
