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Today is the last day of July, and guess what that means?

Back to school.

Yep, that’s right. It’s hard to believe it, but the summer is over for students, teachers, administrators, lunchroom workers and others connected with the school district. My birthday is in early August, but we used to never be in school anywhere close to my birthday, that is until the year 1997-1998, my senior year.

That year was the first time I remembered school starting in the single digits of August. If it had been a couple of days sooner, I would have been celebrating my birthday in school. 

The cut-off for students birthdays was in late September to remain with the next year’s class. Otherwise, you’d have to wait to start school until the next year. Now, that cutoff is at the beginning of September. 

The truth is, I’m not sure if this schedule is better or the schedule that starts back after Labor Day. In those days where school didn’t start until after Labor Day, you usually had at least one football game occurring before school started. Now, you’re nearly a month into school before football games begin, and teams are right in the middle of camp when school starts.

Of course, when school was starting that late, we were ending school after Memorial Day. The last day of school was in June. 

One thing I do think would be better by starting school later is that students wouldn’t have to be riding the school buses during the peak of summertime heat. The end of July and the first couple of weeks of August are among the hottest days of the year, when schools are having to use a lot of energy to keep the schools cool.

That being said, it also starts getting hot toward the end of May and early June. So there may not really be that much of a trade-off. 

Some schools are now going to a modified 12-month calendar where they begin the year in July but have frequent breaks throughout the year. In some ways, it would be nicer to spread the breaks through the year, but then again, having one long break is nice. 

I can’t say what the answer is. All we want is what’s best for the students.

Brent Maze is the publisher of The Demopolis Times. He can be reached at brent.maze@demopolistimes.com.