WHY THE FUCK IS THE FIRST WEEK OF PUBLIC SCHOOL ONE DAY LONG??

Dear Joel Klein, 

I don't want to micromanage and I know you're a busy man but I wonder if you might clarify WHY THE FUCK the last day of school was a half day of Monday in July (fine, late late June) and the first week back is a whopping ONE DAY LONG. On a WEDNESDAY!!!!!

Okay, I know we have more jews inside the city limits than in Jerusalem but at most we still account for only 12% of the NYC population. And how many of that number actually celebrate Rosh Hashanah? Are we gonna get a month off for Ramadan too?

Leaving aside the obligatory Christmas off argumentation, why not just start the school year the following Monday, thus giving put-upon BREEDERS more time to troll Staples for the three page long list of supplies of hand sanitizer, paper towels, tub and tile cleaner, pens, pencils, laptops, etcetera, etcetera?

Yours sincerely, 

Allison

Effed in Park Slope

Wwwaaaaayyyyyyttttt!!!!!

Because I'm such a thorough infipstigative journalist (and my friend Karen told me she heard it on NPR), I just discovered that I have been slurring Joel Klein erroneously, at least according to Joel Klein. When Brian Lehrer asked the man himself why in god's name we are being forced to come back for one day of school the first week, he threw the teachers (well, their union anyway) under the schoolbus for allegedly refusing to fork over the school holiday formerly known as Brooklyn Queens Day in exchange for a later start date. 

Chancellor Klein: We wanted to move the opening of school. We have to negotiate our calendar with the United Federation of Teachers. We had proposed to them... there was a day called Brooklyn/Queens day which our children are not now in school that’s in the middle of the weekday [and] parents are not off.  We thought that was a sensible way to work this out, [but] they didn’t want to do it. We’re constrained, we don’t have a lot of schools days, and so we needed that day.  It’s unfortunate we couldn’t reach an agreement on it because if we had, we could have started on Monday and then actually then picked up another day in the middle of the week, where as I say, parents are working anyhow.

Brian: So blame the Teachers Union?

Chancellor Klein: No no, it’s our inability to…we’re not here to blame.  It’s unfortunate we didn't get to an agreement with them.

Dear Joel Klein Randi Weingarten UFT Personage, 

I don't want to micromanage and I know you're busy setting up classrooms and such but I wonder if you might clarify WHY THE FUCK the last day of school was a half day of Monday in July (fine, late late June) and the first week back is a whopping ONE DAY LONG. On a WEDNESDAY!!!!!

Joel Klein says you teacher unionists wouldn't give up Brooklyn Queens Day. Really??

Say it ain't so!

Yours sincerely, 

Allison

Effed in Park Slope

HOOOOOOLD IT!!!!!

Not so fast, says United Federation of Teachers President, Michael Mulgrew, who told the Daily News that "the city can change the first day of school on its own” and blamed Klein for blaming the UFT. 

Oh, for fuck's sake, people. See, this is what comes from ignoring kindergarten social skill-building!

I don't know or care which one of you bureaucracies are to blame but I'm going with Ambassador Mom's call to arms: LET'S ALL BOYCOTT! If every parent in NYC simply ignores the ridonculous September 8th start date, maybe the powers that be will get the message and cut the crap.