Late Start Calendar Proposal Approved For Madison School District

MADISON, NJ — The Madison Board of Education recently announced that the 2023-2024 school year might begin a little later than in previous years, accommodating the late start calendar that many parents had hoped for.

The proposed start date for the upcoming school year is Sept. 5, a week later than the proposed school calendar, which had all students in the district beginning on Aug. 28, 2023.

The discussion about changing the school calendar start date began at a December board meeting when several parents spoke out to advocate for a post-Labor Day start, citing how that holiday is an ideal time for family vacations.

"The school calendar is the lifeline for families and planning and plotting child care, transportation, travel, etc. So having the calendar released to us as early as possible is something that is incredibly helpful, and I'm especially celebrating the after-Labor Day start. Thank you for listening and responding to this," resident Katie Zurich said.

On the contrary, two high school students spoke up during the December meeting, stating that they preferred the earlier start time. According to one of the students, they look forward to getting out of school in early June.

Grace Kim, a board member, also commented on this, claiming that keeping students' attention after Memorial Day is already difficult and that extending the school year until the end of June may cause a drop in engagement.

"I just want to be sure that, we, as a district, find ways to keep the children engaged after Memorial Day since we're going to add at least another week or so after that time," Kim said.

Some parents had previously expressed concern that the early start would make it more difficult for working parents to find adequate child care during the weeks when other nearby school districts were still in session.

The board's vice president, Stephen Tindall, however, made the opposite case, contending that the new calendar does not benefit Madison's economically disadvantaged families.

"The changes this year to the calendar were primarily driven in response to the needs of well-to-do students in our school system. I have to point out that economically disadvantaged parents don't get the last week off in August, they don't take their children to the shore that week. The economically disadvantaged students are not looking forward to having summer programs start in the middle of June. I think we need to keep these things in mind," Tindall said.