Winter Recess Isn’t Working

In response to “A Break for Some, a Pain for Others” in the Times Valley Edition Feb. 5, how can you say that the L.A. school district’s winter recess is working?

It has forced parents to pay for day care or camp in the winter and then again in the summer. Do you realize that the cost of one week of sports camp is approximately $200? Multiply that by two or three, depending on how many children you have, and you are spending from $400 to $600 a week to keep your children from becoming couch potatoes.

I have three children in public school, and I was PTA president for two years. After discussions with many junior and senior high students, I have discovered other problems with the winter recess.

First, students not in need of remedial help and who want to get ahead have no elective courses offered to them during this winter break. The classes offered are strictly for students needing help.

Second, students looking for work can’t find any. What employer would hire someone for only eight weeks, especially in this economy? How many movies can these children see, and how many times can they go to a shopping center?

Third, the weather this time of the year is not conducive to going to the beach, which leaves a lot of bored students with nothing constructive to do.

DOTTY SPECTOR

Canoga Park