New School Calendar

[30ARosie]

In School Board news...at the meeting last night the Board approved a new school calendar. This calendar will allow students to start later in August but will not allow for finals to be given before Christmas break! After much discussion from teachers, principals and even a recommendation by the Superintendent on how a later school start date will negatively affect student achievement, and the argument that testing done before Christmas break would better align with school schedules for students that dual enroll, the school board voted against most everyone?s recommendation, and went with the later start date!

I believe Mr. Davis' argument had to do with complaints he received from divorced parents who didn't like the early start date since that will cut two weeks off in the summer, and Mr. Laird stated that it was too hot in August for school to start any earlier.

I find it extremely dissatisfying that our school board seems to be voting based on personal feelings and putting the feelings of others before what seems to be the best for student achievement.

 

[Kurt]

Thanks for the info. Do you have any specific dates?

 

[scooterbug44]

That's just stupid! I love that it's too hot for kids to go to school, but not for them to be working summer jobs or playing at the beach. :roll:

 

[mdd88jd]

School Calendar

As one of the Board members who voted for the later start time for students, I thought a better explanation for the vote is warranted. First, I did hear from several parents regarding a August 2 start date for their students. Both divorced parents and non-divorced parents (many of whose opinions I value deeply) were concerned about starting so early in August. That is especially a concern when this year, the 08-09 school year we started late and will end late, thus, the 2009 summer would be extremely short.

I voted in the past for the early start times so we could end the semester before Christmas. As long as we had block scheduling where a complete class ended at the semester, that made some sense to me. Now that we do not have block scheduling, the staff made no convincing argument that semester should end before the Christmas break. The tests at the end of the semester break will not be "end of class" exams, but, mid terms.

The argument was also made by staff that the early start time allows more instructional time before the FCAT examination. That may be true, but, we have had early start times, later start times and I could find no real direct correlation to test scores. So that argument did not particularly sway me.

Ultimately, I voted for predictability (did I spell that right). After making the change last year, I was not ready to jump to a new change again this year. Parents need to be able to count on a school calendar that does not vary radically from year to year. There are things in this calendar I did not like. For instance, there is a week in January 2010 that has a Monday holiday for MLK, Jr., day and then a Friday (union contract required) teacher work day (students off) for the end of the semester. That means there will be a three day week for students that is a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. But, given the contract and the holiday, it was, to some extent unavoidable.

Ultimately, I made the decision after hearing the staff's recommendation, taking into consideration my conversations with parents and teachers and my own experience. That is really how I make every decision. Thanks for your concern. Mark.

 

[scooterbug44]

Why does the school calendar need to change so much year to year?

When I was a kid, our school year started the week before labor day weekend and ended the week after memorial day weekend - and oddly Teacher In-service days were NEVER on a holiday weekend.

 

[mdd88jd]

The calendar we approved last night is very close to what Scooterbug remembers. Getting a school calendar is harder than it sounds. My vote last night was an attempt to restore some predictability (spelling again?) to the calendar. You have to have 180 days of instruction, so many teacher planning and certain holidays. You try to have 45 days in each nine week grading period and end the grading period on a Friday or the day before a holiday. The contract with the teachers requires a teacher work day at the end of each grading period. Thus, planning has to take all of that into consideration, plus you need to schedule around the projected FCAT examination week.

 

[ItzKatzTime]

I've got a headache just trying to make all the posts I just read make some sense. I often wonder how we got through school (many many years ago) without all these changes and expectations year to year.

 

[mdd88jd]

I've got a headache just trying to make all the posts I just read make some sense. I often wonder how we got through school (many many years ago) without all these changes and expectations year to year.

Amen. I often wonder the same thing.....

 

[Susan Horn]

Well I don't know how old y'all are, but I suspect that when I was in school, the red tape wasn't quite so long and sticky as it is now.