Keller @ Large: February School Vacation Week Can Be A Cruel Joke

BOSTON (CBS) - So, how was everybody's February school vacation week?

Unless you were lucky enough to have the week off with your kids, and had plenty of time and resources to ski and make snow angels, probably not so great, am I right?

Listen to Jon's commentary:

Driving around in storm traffic in search of ways to distract bored kids isn't as much fun as it sounds. For working parents who can't get time off – or would rather take the time in weather more conducive to inexpensive family fun – February vacation week can be a cruel joke.

So I'm interested to hear from parents in Taunton their review of the city's experiment with dropping most of February vacation in exchange for an earlier end to the school year.

My guess is whatever agony the kids suffered having to go to school this week while their friends in other towns were out will be more than mitigated by the pleasure of cruising by those other schools after June 16, when Taunton will let out for the summer.

And Taunton kids will have a jump on summer jobs too.

This seems like a case of a local bureaucracy listening to and acting on what its constituents really want.

The Taunton super did an online survey of parents that found 73-percent wanted February vacation gone. And luckily for Taunton, its union contracts gave it the leeway to do it.

I know students and teachers need occasional breaks, and it seems to me a series of three day weekends in February is not a bad idea.

But is there anyone outside the ski industry who will really mourn the end of the vacation week almost no one wants?

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.

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