The school year in Lebanon starts pretty early--August 10 this year, August 9 in 2010. Mr. Bob Ross will present potential school calendars for the next few years at the October board meeting. He works with a group of people to accommodate complex calendar demands.
Indiana mandates 180 days of instruction, and schools take federal holidays off. Those are the most basic parameters we have. Here are some other questions to think about:
- When would you like to see school begin?
- Lebanon currently schedules a one-week break in the fall and another in the spring. What do you think of these breaks?
- How much time do students/staff/families need off at Christmas? Lebanon usually schedules a full two weeks (10 school days)
- ISTEP+ and ECA (End of Course Assessment) testing takes place in late March and April. Students are tested over their curriculum at this time, e.g., 5th-graders are tested over 5th-grade standards. We want as much instruction as possible before this testing date, so there's sufficient time for teaching and learning the material. (As LHS principal Kevin O'Rourke pointed out to me, if school A has 130 instructional days prior to the testing and school B has 150, it puts school B at a big advantage. Like it or not, the consequences of these tests are significant.)
- Is it important for the first semester to end before the Christmas break? We want to keep the number of days in each semester roughly equal (this year the Fall semester is 87 days and Spring is 93 days).
I'm not opposed to school beginning earlier in August, if it is necessary but I would never want to see schools beginnning in July, period. Also, I do believe the fall and spring breaks are important. However, a lot of athletics fall on these breaks and it is mandatory for an athlete to be present. I would like to see that change. If we're going to have mandatory athletics then we might as well be in school. My thoughts are that a break is exactly what it is....a break. I also think the 2-week Christmas break is important. With regard to testing, I like that testing comes at the end of the year and agree that it gives our students an advantage. For me, it is not necessarily important for a first semester to end before Christmas break but I do think the number of days should roughly equal. These are just my thoughts Michele - thanks for asking!
ReplyDeleteI don't necessarily think LCSC needs to wait until Labor Day to start school. With that said I think August 10 (or August 9 as possible for 2010) is too early. Starting in mid to late August would be my preference. I love our week long breaks in Fall and Spring and think they should continue. They are very conducive to spending time with family. My one complaint is that students involved in athletics during those breaks are forced to choose between games/practices vs. potential time away with their families. If a student athlete, or more importantly their parents, chooses to take time away on a school approved break, the athlete should not be penalized. I personally think there should be a moratorium of scheduled sporting events during school board approved breaks such as Fall, Christmas and Spring breaks. I know my friends in coaching will disagree with me on this issue and we will agree to disagree. Regarding Christmas break, I would give up two weeks at Christmas in order to keep a week of Fall break. As a parent, it does not matter to me if the semester break falls before Christmas break or after. However, I believe our teachers and administrators are the individuals best qualified to make the determination of # of days in each semester.
ReplyDeleteAre you going to enable any comments made about this topic? I've been watching this post and am curios to read what others are saying about the school calendar.
ReplyDeleteSincerely,
Anxiously Awaiting
Thanks for the comments! Sorry it took me a couple days to moderate and publish them--I'm new at this comment business and I just didn't quite get how to do it ... MT
ReplyDeleteA little late on this one but personally I think the fall semester should end before the holiday break. there is a reason it works on the college level. We should follow suit. Not only would it make the transition easier when gets move on to post secondary schooling but it just makes more sense with regards to testing. I hate to point out the obvious but it seems to me that most students will not perform as well on tests after a 2 week hiatus. Why not wrap things up in December when they are focused and have been working on materials all semester long. Just my two cents.
ReplyDelete