This school year is moving right along.Much has happened and there is still much to do!
In December, the Board of Education approved the school calendar for the 2010-11 school year.There will be some major changes in the calendar that I would like for you to be aware of.
By way of background, the Calendar Committee comprised of many from all different departments of Stillwater Public Schools including administration, transportation, food service, technology, support personnel, elementary education, middle school, high school, OSU, SEA, and SESPA.This group convened to begin work on the calendar in November and it was not an easy task.As I tried to convey to as many people as I could, some of the factors that we had to consider were:
Protecting free/reduced lunch funding if our 30th student day is on or after October 1st meant we could not begin school prior to Friday, August 20.
For the secondary, attempting to end the semester before Winter Break, including scheduling for EOIs and semester tests.This meant trying to get 82-84 days completed before the Winter Break in December.
Scheduling professional days and parent conference days in such a way to still get enough student contact days.
Scheduling one Early Release Day per month to be used for grade level and other professional development needs and requirements of the sites and district.
Initially the committee discussed the idea that we may need to schedule essentially no “breaks” in the calendar from Labor Day in September to the Thanksgiving Break in November (this is what I discussed with many of you and tried to prepare us all for).However, in discussions with the secondary teachers it was decided that the semester could be carried into January IF we could schedule a whole week after Winter Break, not just a day or two as occurred this year.This would provide time for review prior to semester testing.With this compromise (THANK YOU secondary teachers!), the committee was afforded much more latitude in scheduling.Here is a brief breakdown of what was approved:
Teachers’ first day is Wednesday, August 18, 2010.
Students begin on Monday, August 23, 2010.
There will be a true Fall Break October 21-22, 2010.These are non-contract days—individuals can choose (and we certainly hope that they do) to attend workshops on the 21st but will not be mandated to do so.
Parent Conferences have been scheduled for October 26 and 28, 2010, and March 29 and 31, 2011, from 4:00-7:00 each evening.We will have a Teacher Work Day on November 22, 2010 and April 22, 2011 which will count as a contract day for you but you do NOT have to be at school.This day will compensate your for working evenings during Parent Conferences.
Thanksgiving Break will be the entire week of Thanksgiving, November 22-26, 2010.
There will be six Early Release Days.These will take place on Wednesday each month September through April, excluding December and March.Students will be released after lunch on those days.The secondary student schedule will be modified for students to attend all their classes for shortened periods on those days.Teachers will be required to stay for site or district professional development on those days.
Winter Break will be December 23, 2010 through January 4, 2011.Like this year, January 5, 2011 will be a Professional Day and the students will return on January 6, 2011.
Spring Break will be March 14-18, 2011.
The last student day will be May 26, 2011.May 27, 2011 will be a Professional Day.This is a site day to have last meetings (at least 3 hours) and get checked out.
As you can see, there are many new features to the 2010-2011 calendar.Many new concepts are being attempted.While the committee submitted calendars not only for next year and for 2011-2012 as well as 2012-2013, the Board of Education wisely opted to approve only next year’s calendar for now.The Calendar Committee will meet again Fall 2010 to review the changes and decide how the following two years’ calendars will be presented to the Board.
As part of the committee, I was extremely pleased with the process.I fully believe that all voices were heard and all points of view were taken into account during this process.I was astonished at just how arduous a task establishing a district calendar is.
A BIG THANK YOU to Dr. Kristy Ehlers and Diane Fix for organizing us, keeping us on track and soliciting (as well as allowing others to solicit) input from as many people as possible.While we know not all will be pleased with every single part of the product, please be assured that we tried to take all factors into consideration and I believe the new calendar reflects that.
Best wishes to all of you in 2010!It is my privilege to serve as President of SEA!
