Now that the referendum has, unfortunately, failed, our school district can put a firm calendar out for 2015-2016. If the building project had passed, the state would have allowed us to begin prior to Labor Day. As it is though, the school year will start September 8, as late as it is possible to start.
And before I go on, allow me to rant a bit about this outdated rule about having to start after Labor Day. Pressure is constantly on the legislature to leave it at that, largely due to resorts. That isn’t really something that affects many people in the southern part of the state, so why not allow schools to start when they like, within reason? It would be nice, at least, to have the kids come Monday-Wednesday. We could still give them a long Labor Day weekend, since many people make plans for one last summer fling.
I’ve heard the State Fair argument as well. Listen, the State Fair goes for two weeks. You can find time to go. If you are showing at the fair, then go ahead and show! The first few days of school are really getting back into the swing of things, and those kids who show at the fair are generally pretty on top of everything. Trust me, people miss school for worse reasons!
My regular readers know I’m in favor at looking at the possibility of a 45-15 schedule (nine weeks of school with three weeks off). The start to that is allowing schools to start earlier. Let’s be honest: the majority of kids are bored out of their minds by the time the Steele County Fair is done. High school athletes are already back at it – why not everyone else?
Anyway, back on task. It’s been a difficult process for the calendar committee this year. We were trying to work multiple calendar possibilities relating to the referendum and also the idea that the legislature was talking about allowing school prior to Labor Day for this year at least. At the end of the day, there are a number of similarities to last year’s calendar, with a few tweaks.
Here’s one thing we heard and made some attempts to change: the nights of the secondary school conferences. Three of the four last year were Wednesday nights, and that bothered some people who were trying to get their kids to church obligations and then run to conferences. This year, only one of the four nights will be a Wednesday, the one during December. There just is no other choice in December. Wednesday is the only evening that doesn’t have an athletic event or concert. The other three quarters we found different evenings, so hopefully that will work better for those who want to attend.
Last year was the first year of switching to one night a quarter instead of twice a year. We moved to midterm so parents with concerns could help put together a plan for the rest of the quarter. It seemed to go over well, and I was frankly surprised that we still had decent numbers for the final quarter conferences.
Christmas falls on a Friday this year, which made scheduling that break a little tricky. With input from the entire staff, it was finally decided to have the last day of school be December 23. Part of the thought process was that if parents wanted to leave that day, it’s often some wrap-up along with activities for the kids. Looking at the big picture, it was either make that a contact day or tack one on in June.
Snow days are always hit or miss. This past year worked well in that the one snow day we had was able to be made up a little over a week later on MLK Day. We’ve left that as another possible make-up day this year, along with one around Presidents Day weekend and one around Easter weekend. We’ve also cut back on scheduled two-hour late starts, down from nine to three this year, another item we heard some commentary about.
Easter has a slightly extended break this year. It fits nicely with the end of the third quarter, so the kids again have one more day off than teachers, since we’ll be in for an end-of-quarter workshop on March 24, again, unless we have to use that day to make up a snow event. The key with make-up days is that we try to keep them in the same quarter so teachers have the same amount of time to complete curriculum. If the weather terrorists stay at bay, kids will have off from March 24-28, a nice long break before the last sprint around the track. (Just wait until the following year though, when Easter falls again in the middle of April. Ugh.)
The final day of school will be June 2, with graduation falling on June 5 – plan now, parents of seniors! The calendar committee always hopes we produce the best calendar from an educational standpoint. And before long, we’ll start working on 2016-2017!
Word of the Week: This week’s word is opisthenar, which means the back of the hand, as in, “The calendar committee member wanted to give his opisthenar to the legislature for not allowing school to begin early.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!