School Board To Review 2011-2012 School Calendar

By Eliza Hallabeck

A draft of the 2011-2012 school calendar was presented by Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson to the Board of Education during its special meeting on Thursday, January 6. The board postponed a decision on the calendar during the meeting until more information is presented by Dr Robinson and Assistant Superintendent of Schools Linda Gejda on certain costs associated with the calendar.

A committee of parents, administrators, and teachers met to work on both the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 school calendars, according to Dr Robinson. Only the draft of the 2011-2012 school calendar was presented to the Board of Education on Thursday, because, Dr Robinson said, the area superintendents are discussing the possibility of creating a regional school calendar. Board of Education Chair William Hart said a regional school calendar could have cost savings for the community.

“There were some very outspoken discussions going on,” said Dr Robinson, while outlining the calendar committee’s work, “but I give the group credit. They came to some compromise situations.”

This year’s calendar committee chose to continue having students attend school on Veterans Day and on Columbus Day, she said, because both days have become schoolwide experiences for students. Teachers will also be starting the school year on August 25 for professional development days, while students will start school on August 30. A full-week February break was also added to the 2011-2012 calendar, a change from this year’s four-day-long weekend from February 18 to 21.

“There was a lot of strong opinion about the February break,” said Dr Robinson. “The feeling being that because it was spread between two weeks there were some parents who took their students out for an extended time the first week and some parents who took their students out for an extended time on the second week, creating some lack of continuity and instruction.”

Bringing a full-week February break back still has the projected last day of school on June 13, which is the projected last day of school this year’s calendar also.

Dr Robinson said she also brought concerns expressed by parents regarding this year’s conference schedule to school administrators. For next year, conferences will be returned to a one-week schedule with Reed Intermediate School and Newtown Middle School having one extra day for conferences, she said.

“All the conferences now fall within the week of November 14,” said Dr Robinson.

November’s early release Wednesday for staff professional development was also removed for next year to help the month be more consistent for instructional time, she said.

School board member Lillian Bittman said the full-week February break was originally changed to a four-day weekend after another calendar committee surveyed residents on the topic.

When the 2009 School Calendar Committee released a survey asking residents to respond to questions about the then current calendar, 78.6 percent of the 598 responders said they preferred a long weekend to a weeklong February break. The 2009 School Calendar Committee was co-chaired by then school board members Kathy Fetchick and Anna Wiedemann.

Early Release Days Discussed

The Board of Education voted unanimously last June to release students early on the first Wednesday of each month, starting in October 2010, for teachers and administrators to hold professional learning community meetings.

Having days before the school year starts for professional development time is important, Dr Robinson said, but blocking out professional development time during the school year is also needed. Introducing the development of professional learning communities, Dr Robinson said, cannot be done in August and not through the rest of the school year.

“You have to have time to do it,” she said. “The high school has no ability, no time to do it. The other schools are able to set up some time, but we have to have time for the ongoing short professional development that we need to do. It’s only a two-hour time that we get them.”

Meeting after school is not possible, she said, because the schools are released at different times.

“We need it to bring together all the teachers by grade level to work on this writing initiative and the professional learning communities,” Dr Robinson said. “We also have a need in this district to do vertical planning [for grades kindergarten through 12] and we need to have a time when they can do it.”

Looking back on the professional development in the district since October, when the early release Wednesdays began, Dr Robinson said there has been big growth.

“If we give up that time, then it just goes away,” she said. “It can’t be done in another way.”

Dr Robinson also said Dr Gejda is working to gather concrete information on all the professional development in the district, and costs associated with moving the early release Wednesday professional development time to other days.

“We need that documented,” said Ms Bittman, “because, when we vote on this calendar, whenever that is, we can explain this is what we are doing and this is what the state is mandating us to do.”

The school board also discussed different options that can be looked into regarding the 2010-2011 school calendar.

“People are saying they are really struggling with child care issues,” said board Vice Chair Debbie Leidlein, saying moving the Wednesday early release days to Fridays may make it easier for parents to schedule.

Ms Leidlein also brought up the suggestion of moving some of the monthly Wednesday release days to reflect the monthly calendars, like moving November’s early release day to the last day of school before the scheduled Thanksgiving break.

Member David Nanavaty also asked Drs Robinson and Gejda to look into determining costs associated with the professional development time, reiterating comments he made at the board’s December 7 meeting. 

“I asked the administration to look at the [professional learning communities], see if some modification can be done, and then quantify it educationally and financially,” said Mr Nanavaty. “If we can have teachers come in on a Saturday, once a month, let’s quantify what the costs are going to be.”

Many parents, he said, who work full time have difficulty finding daycare. There may be room for compromise in the calendar, said Mr Nanavaty.

School board member Keith Alexander said it seemed like the public was unaware a calendar committee was working to review the 2011-2012 calendar, and also asked Drs Robinson and Gejda to ask the calendar committee for explanations on why some of the decisions were made.

The Board of Education decided to postpone deciding on the school calendar until its next meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, January 25, at 7:30 pm, at the Newtown Municipal Center.

Other topics during the meeting included a presentation by Newtown Middle School administrators and faculty members, and discussion between the school board and a representative of the auditing firm Kostin, Ruffkess & Company, LLC, which produced Newtown’s latest municipal audit. (To read more about the board’s discussion on the audit, see the related story in this week’s edition.)

Informal Online Survey Available

Share comments and perspectives on the proposed school calendar for an informal survey with The Newtown Bee at www.newtownbee.com.

The informal survey linked to this story online will be used to collect community response in next week’s edition of The Bee. The survey will be open until Monday, January 17, and includes both comments and multiple choice questions.

(The informal survey was designed by The Newtown Bee to collect public comments and perspectives on the issue of the school calendar. While members of the Board of Education are invited to participate in the survey along with the rest of the community, the survey was not created in conjunction with the school board and has no formal connection to the board’s consideration of this issue.)