I am deeply concerned about emails that suggest that we have to give up our February break in order to get out earlier in June. In the district where I live, the teachers added 15 minutes to their day and are getting out of school at the end of May. Their start date was the same as Ann Arbor's, they got a two week break in December, a week in February, and a week for spring break. It is time to stop pitting those "in favor" against those "not in favor" of the February break and start thinking outside the box. The district would love for our members to be divided on calendar issues--it's to their advantage. We can have it all, if we stop thinking like the district wants us to--"we can't change start up time because of our busing situation." In addition, don't you already think you are giving up vacation time when you have to come back four days early in August?? There is no reason why we can't add a few minutes at the beginning of our day to get out earlier in June. After all, we already have kids being dropped off by their parents at 8:30 or before. A colleague, and myself, submitted a calendar to the union starting the school year on September 5th and getting out on June 7th. I also wonder what happened to the results of the survey where everyone in my building expressed adding time to the beginning of the day to get out earlier in June??? I realize that people worked very hard to settle a tentative agreement and I am not under estimating the time commitment and hard work they put forth. Surely, we can come up with other options for a better calendar.