Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:44:18 -0400
From: Mia Munn
Subject: Re: Chatham BOE Sabotages Students
I’ve been out of town, so I couldn’t respond sooner.
The school administration presented a draft calendar at the January 11 board meeting.
Click to access Agenda%20Item-Draft%20Calendar%20for%202010-11.pdf
From the agenda item:
A broad-based committee comprised of an administrator, a teacher, a
classified employee and a parent from each school met in December to
create a draft 2010-2011 calendar. Due to the restrictions placed
upon districts by House Bill 1464 and the General Statute115C-84.2,
the committee created and reached consensus on one draft. The
restrictions include: 180 student days; 215 calendar days; begin no
sooner than August 25 and end no later than June 10 for students;
not have Veteran’s Day as an instructional or staff workday, and
five protected workdays for teachers, one at the beginning of the
school year and one after each academic quarter to allow teachers
opportunities to complete instructional and classroom administrative
duties. Additionally, the calendar must have the same or equivalent
number of holidays as designated by the State Personnel Commission.
The Board of elections has also requested that we schedule a workday
on the first Tuesday in November when possible. The committee was
further charged to include at least five (5) inclement weather days
and six (6) Early release Staff Development Days. The consensus
draft which is attached for comparison purposes was distributed to
schools for feedback.
The BOE draft calendar for your review is also attached and includes
recommendations made by schools when the recommendations were in
keeping with the requirements. The calendar meets all of the
requirements and necessary considerations. In an attempt to meet the
request of the Board of Elections, include 180 student days and
address staff development needs, the first Tuesday in November is
designated as an Early Release Staff Development day. The Early
Release Staff Development Days are generally scheduled on Wednesdays
as requested by the committee. The differences in the two calendars
include: September 6 was changed from an optional day to a holiday;
the optional day was moved to Memorial Day; six weeks grading period
in April was moved from April 18 to April 19 so that each period can
have 31 days. December 20 was changed to a required annual leave day
and December 22nd a holiday to accommodate 12 month employees. With
recommended changes from the board, the draft calendar will be sent
to schools and posted on the website to solicit feedback for thirty
days. The draft calendar will be brought back to the board on
February 15, 2010 for approval.
I made this comment in Chatlist #3624:
The draft 2010/2011 calendar will be posted on the district website
and at the schools until the Feb 15 board meeting, at which time the
calendar will be voted on for next year. There is very little
flexibility in the calendar because of state requirements. The key
issue is that Easter if very late. If spring break is Good Friday
through the week after Easter, then AP exams will start the first
day back, May 2. An alternative favored by staff of only 2 of the 16
schools is to have spring break the week before Easter through
Easter Monday, giving the kids 4 school days before AP exams start.
If you have an opinion, weigh in before Feb 15.
The calendar (the first of the two in the agenda item) was posted on the
district website for more than 30 days. I don’t know if anyone gave
their feedback to the board during that time, but no one spoke at the 2
board meetings where they could have made public comments on this.
From the Feb 15 school board agenda item:
Click to access Agenda%20Item-School%20Calendar%202010-11.pdf
The draft 2010-2011 calendar is presented for approval for the
upcoming school year. The draft has remained on-line and in the
schools for more than 30 days for review and comment by staff and
public. School-based administrators were asked to seek feedback from
their staffs and parent communities. Additionally, an electronic
survey was sent to “all users†for individual feedback (see attached
survey results). From the survey, 652 responses were received, a
return rate of 63.36% (statistically reliable). Four options were
presented and the respondents were given an opportunity to submit
comments. 337 or 51.69% of the respondents selected the recommended
draft which includes the optional and inclement weather days as
April 22 and May 30. 46.32% chose attending school on Saturdays in
lieu of April 22 and May 30. Additionally, 43.40% preferred that
Spring Break remain during the week of April 25-29 as opposed to
42.18% for the week of April 18-22. 12.88 % preferred the observance
of Spring Break in March. Other feedback received included: starting
school earlier, administering exams prior to the Winter Break,
moving the protected workday closer to the end of the 6 or 9 weeks
grading period, observing one grading period and observing Spring
Break in March. Starting school earlier is not an option; therefore,
exams cannot occur prior to the Winter Break. The protected workday
is placed as close to midway points of the two grading periods as
possible. For example, if the protected day occurs immediately after
the six weeks period, then it will occur three weeks before the end
of the nine weeks period for K-8 schools. Moving to one grading
period is a decision that has to be made prior to the development of
a calendar and the question from a parent regarding moving Spring
Break to March was included in the survey. Based on the feedback and
the survey results, CCS’ Calendar Committee’s recommendation or the
draft calendar presented at the January 11, 2010 BOE meeting is
submitted for your approval.
I think the board should have considered the timing of the AP exams more – there was a little discussion, but the board unanimously decided to go with this calendar because the administration recommended it and the plurality of survey respondents chose it. (That detail isn’t in the minutes, but I was at the meeting and remember the discussion.) As the mother of sons who took many AP exams, I understand that this is a bad idea – I would have moved spring break a week earlier. (I am also not a
fan of pure block schedules because of AP exams, as well as the effect on math and foreign language.)
In November/December, school committees will develop the 2011-12 calendar. If you are concerned, ask your principal if you can participate. At the January 10, 2011 school board meeting (6pm, Central Office in Pittsboro), the 2011-12 draft calendar will be presented.If you are concerned, come to the Jan 10 meeting or to the February 14, 2011 board meeting (6:30pm Central Office in Pittsboro) and make your comments.