Unfair to give fair a statewide in-service day

The Kansas State Fair is a great tradition that deserves more support from Kansans outside of Hutchinson. But one proposal that fair proponents are newly pursuing at the Statehouse, with the help of Sen. Dwayne Umbarger, R-Thayer, would be a supportive step too far: a mandate that all Kansas public schools hold an in-service day during the fair to give more families time to attend. Kansas schools are buried in a mountain of mandates already. They don’t need another — especially one that pulls kids out of the classroom just as each year’s learning has begun.
Posted by Rhonda Holman

6 Comments

  1. TRACY
    Posted December 22, 2005 at 6:14 am | Permalink

    Have you been to Thayer?I doubt that most people from Thayer can afford to take a day off from work to watch their kids, let alone take them to the fair.

  2. Joe Williams
    Posted December 22, 2005 at 8:54 am | Permalink

    Oh! That’s funny! Replace education with entertainment. TV already does that for 8 hours a day for children. Why not less school days.

    I’ve been to Thayer. If you blink, you will miss it.

  3. transplantkansan
    Posted December 22, 2005 at 9:04 am | Permalink

    Here in MN, the resort and recreation lobby is so strong that schools are not permitted to open before Labor Day. The MN State Fair is highly attended and a _really_ big deal.

    Of course, all the Kansas kids are out of school at least 2 weeks before MN school is done.

    I’d think that cutting out science curriculum would shorten the KS school year sufficiently to allow for Fair attendance, wouldn’t it? ;)

  4. TRACY
    Posted December 22, 2005 at 9:49 am | Permalink

    Yeah, except we haven’t reduced the science curriculum, we’ve only added breathtaking inanity from hypocritical liars.Takes extra time to teach that.BTW, Iris Van Meter is also from Thayer, so if you live in this disrict you need to know her as being part of the problem with theKANSAS BOARD OF EVANGELISM.

  5. NoJoCo
    Posted December 22, 2005 at 5:37 pm | Permalink

    Oh, let the kids have a day off to go to the fair. They can learn about farm animals up close and they can find out that they shouldn’t aspire to be a carny.

  6. Marty Venick
    Posted December 22, 2005 at 8:03 pm | Permalink

    What’s the big deal? Kansas schools have tons of in-service days. There are a few districts that are off for over 2 weeks for Christmas this year. What’s wrong with this idea? I bet it’s the R after Umbarger!