Much of this BS with school schedules has to do with teachers and their unions. They are constantly chipping away at instruction time. For example, one district here now has late starts on certain days so that teachers can have more "collaborative time" which probably means hanging out and BSing in the teachers' lounge. Then there are the "Learning Improvement Days" during which there is no school. Ironic, huh?
Then there are the constant holidays and vacations and breaks, not to mention summer vacation during which many kids lose ground. So much time is wasted both at the end of the school year because of "gearing down" for summer break, and at the beginning of the school year for "gearing up." Summer vacation is an antiquated holdover that should be elimiinated.
And we wonder why kids today are so goddamn stupid and illiterate. Yes, lame parenting is also responsible for much of this, as is too much focus on sports. We are the laughingstock of the industrialized world with our public "education" system. As a taxpayer, I feel extremely ripped off paying for this ridiculousness!
Donning flameproof suit now. I need it every time I argue this, it seems.