Keep school month schedule as it is

Re: Back to school in mid-August?, Sept. 1.

In his opinion piece, former Ottawa city councillor and deputy mayor Steve Desroches writes favourably about a balanced school year and he does have some good points. Students do experience a bit of a lag when school resumes in September and having breaks spread out more evenly is good for stress. But I think the reality of life in Canada and Ottawa specifically works against any real change.

Forget the fact that the original model was for farmers, Canada has about two to three months of genuine summer weather; the rest is extremely cold or unpleasantly cool.

Our tourism industry is designed for those summer months as are things like summer camps. You can do things outdoors in cooler months but it really doesn’t have as much appeal. October and May seem to me to be rather poor choices for holidays since they are neither warm, dry nor have snow.

Add to that, the fact that many Ottawa schools are not airconditioned, at least those built before the 1970s. They can’t even be converted since they don’t have forced-air heating. So, they are not good choices for resuming school in August. And there’s the parents’ point of view; going south would be cheaper in October but not everyone can afford to do that nor desires to do so. It also takes potential revenue out of Canada.

Of course, global warming may change all this but for now, I don’t think we want to play around with a model that has been shaped by our extreme climate. Cathy Haley, Ottawa