Back to school — all too soon

This story was originally published Aug. 6, 2013.

(This is a point/counterpoint on the starting dates of Indiana schools. Read Dana Hunsinger Benbow's article for her point of view.)

C'mon Indiana. What did summer ever do to you?

You know summer, right? That season that brings us fireflies, bare legs, sweat dampening the hair on our brow, long lazy days at the pool or beach, ice cream melting off a cone — and all-around joy.

When I was a child, summer would creep in about mid-June, pick up steam in July, and only as August waned did people start thinking that fall might be around the corner.

And the surest sign that summer was about to end: the return of school.

Now, however, classes in some districts, such as Wayne, Avon, Washington and IPS, have already started. And it's just the first week of August.

Let me say that again: The. First. Week. In. August.

That's three days after the nation's legislature embarked on its annual Summer Recess. Hope the legislators with children here enjoyed their three-day summer break.

It's also a mere three weeks after the boys of summer played in the annual Major League Baseball All-Star Game, positioned halfway through the season. August is the second-warmest month of the year in Indiana, on average a mere degree below that hottie July. (June is two degrees cooler than that, for those of you keeping track.)

Why ever would one want to start school the same week that you flip the calendar from July to August?

I know, I know. There are all sorts of arguments about shortening summers, the advantages that balanced calendars confer on educational achievement, concerns about academic gains that melt away in the heat of summer.

Yet, I'd argue that starting school so early also results in unrecognized losses. The outdoors still screams "SUMMER," from the cicadas that put us to sleep each night to the 80-plus-degree sun that hits the middle of the sky each afternoon (even accounting for this unusually cool spell in recent weeks).

High-school students may miss out on plum job opportunities or attending programs outside the state that consider summer to run through at least mid-August.

And the untimely end to summer for school students affects us all beyond having to hit the back-to-school sales in mid-July. Even the Indiana State Fair seems to think summer should go through August. The fair runs half the month long; but how many youth who would have exhibited are now doing their homework instead?

The Indy Parks and Recreation Department closed all but three of its outdoor pools for the season last weekend. If we had a summer this year comparable to last year's, that would mean four days when the temperature topped 90 and many more when it hovered near that mark. Yes, September can be warm as well, but at that point you can begin to feel fall infusing the air.

I'm not arguing for a 12-week summer, just one that goes right up until Labor Day, even if it means ending school later in June.

Let's not short-change ourselves on summer.

Contact Star reporter Shari Rudavsky at (317) 444-6354 or on Twitter.