Summer vacation is here. I know this not because it's hot or
because I saw it on the calendar. I know it because Burbank
schools let my kids out for the year the Thursday before
Memorial Day at 12:55 pm.  Not Friday. Not 1 or 2 p.m. —
Thursday May 26, at 12:55 pm. As if they calculated to the
minute the minimum amount of time the budget allowed them to
have kids in class — factoring in furlough days, standardized
testing days, prep days for standardized testing, and hours kids
spent in informative “assemblies” where they learn how to sell
cookie dough and wrapping paper for a small percentage of the
profits after interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
That’s understandable.  With summer really still weeks away, and
my requests to the Burbank Unified School District for a
rational explanation unanswered, I'm left to imagine for myself
why we’re starting summer vacation in the mild days of May, only
to return in the heat waves of mid-August when kids will be
forced to stay inside air-conditioned, over