There a lot of variants in the US system (speaking as an American).
My elementary school was "year round" - the school year started in July, was 9 weeks on, 3 weeks off, 5 weeks off in the summer. I preferred the system. My parents also preferred due to being able to do off peak holidays 
.
My junior highs & high schools were both more typically American - short week for Thanksgiving, short time off in December and for Easter, and a long summer. For the high schools, they pretty much lined up with the community college so advanced kids in higher grades could take classes there and the vocational training school for those students as well which was the only real benefit.
I knew people who went a junior high and high school that ran on tracks due to size of building versus population that meant 2 out of 3 tracks were in at once, it was quite complicated.
And the privates had different system, mostly because the ones in my area had all been religious so the Catholic ones had a lot of the saint days off and and the Jewish one's school year tended to start and end later due to the High holidays that are around when most school start. There are state school in those areas and there holidays tend to be adjusted so there isn't as much clash.
Discussion about new systems could probably be helpful but getting real change tends to take a crisis moment (like the track schools, most went back to 'normal' after a few years as the complications gave way to complaints that gave way to funding for more space).