My Weblog: Save Summer Vacation!

by Leigh Perry / Toni L.P. Kelner

In 2001, Disney released Recess: School's Out, a direct-to-video DVD that looked innocent but in fact included one of the most chilling premises imaginable.

If you're not familiar with the show from which the movie came, you should be. It's a hilarious send-up of playground etiquette, in which a gang of six friends work against fellow students, Principal Prickly, and the irascible Miss Muriel P. Finster to make it through fourth grade. The show also equates school with P.O.W. camps, but in a comedic way. (Yeah, I know that sounds bizarre. Trust me, it's charming and funny.) Normally the conflicts are over the rules for girls named Ashley (apparently there are a lot of them) and why it is the good playground balls are kept away from the kids. But this time, there's a serious plot at hand. The school's ex-prinicpal has a plot to get rid of Summer Vacation!

Did a chill just run down your spine? It sure did mine when I heard what this movie was about. Of course, it was a happy ending. T.J. and the gang joined forces with Principal Prickly and Miss Finster to save summer vacation, and all was right with the world. My blood pressure went back to normal, because I knew nobody would ever want to get rid of summer vacation. That's just crazy talk! Right?

Wrong! Already the once-beloved three months of summer time off has shrunk to just over two, and every year, the clamor for year-round schools grows louder and louder. I know, there's a lot of debate about how it's better for the kids, but what about us parents? Don't we deserve a break?

Do I have to make multiple trips to the high school every single weekday? We're talking once for drop-off; once for pickup; plus assorted visits for teacher meetings, talent nights, open houses, Christmas pageants, and parent-teacher group meetings. Don't I get to let the laundry slide rather than make sure my high schooler has the right outfit for the weather, dress-up days, and dress-down days? When do

I promise, I am not going to be lounging about eating bon-bons all summer. This summer I'll be planning and shopping for the girls' school trip, one daughter's summer camp, and the family vacation to plan. When summer camp is over, there's still singing lessons and jury duty and driver's ed and various other appointments to get the daughters to. I'll barely have enough time to get my daughters' checkups and dental cleanings scheduled and carried out; buy new school clothes and accessories for both girls; order textbooks; ensure that my college student's dorm room is outfitted; and track down the high school student's summer reading books and make sure they're actually read.

And in between all that, I could use a chance to read, have lunch with a friend, go to the movies, get some sun, visit the ice cream parlor without watching every minute to make sure we're back home in time. I might even try to do some writing.

So next time you hear somebody talk about how school should be year-round, smack 'em for me. Well, figuratively if not literally. I need the time off.