SCCPSS Board Approves '10-'11 School Calendar, Postpones Decision on '11-'12

The school board has decided to vote on next year's calendar, but to postpone the vote on the school calendar for 2 years from now. School will start next year on August 30th and end on June 14th. After long discussion in the informal meeting, the board decided that they would like the calendar committee to go back to the drawing board for the 2011-2012 school year. (That option would have had the school year going from August 3rd to May 22nd.) Motion passes 7-1-0

"I do pride myself in listening to the people, however, I really have to look at the responsibility I have to ensure that on opening day that everything is in place and that the students can be welcomed into their educational environment. I need one more year to prepare for the recommendation that they made and then we're going to do that," explains Dr. Lockamy.

Parent, Kelly Bright, says she doesn't understand why there were online survey results when the superintendent and board aren't going to vote for the option parents and the community recommended. Bright says students need long breaks over holidays so families can travel to visit relatives who may live out of state.

Julie Gerbsh of district 7 is not at the meeting because she's attending school board business. A written statement says she understands Lockamy's reasoning behind going with calendar C for next year. She also approves of moving the start date to early August with calendar B for 2011-2012.

Greg Sapp says he understands the need for a transition year, but that he's not in favor of the late start date. He says the purpose today is to have a bridge that gets the Passport to Excellence off the ground and that he supports the superintendent's recommendation.

Ruby Jones of district 8 says she has not talked to anyone who likes an August 3rd start date.

Previous Version:
The Savannah-Chatham County school board is slated to vote today on the proposed school calendars for the next two years. This will take place at their regular meeting today at 3 p.m. The board is currently hearing about all of the items considered by the calendar committee while structuring the calendars.

David Fields, executive officer for the district, is telling the board about factors such as testing, holidays, teacher work days, etc. that he and the calendar committee took into account when deciding on a calendar. Fields says it's important to finish first semester testing before winter break. The committee did talk about extending the school day by 15 minutes per day to eliminate 10 days of school, but ultimately decided against it because children are already tired when they get home and because some don't get home immediately after dismissal.

The board did present the public with several different calendar options submitted by the Calendar Committee. Four draft calendar options were finalized and posted for 30 days to the district’s website for public review and comment.

The Calendar Committee reviewed and discussed the feedback received from the web posting and also considered feedback and perspectives from the various constituent groups represented.

Most of the feedback they received indicates that parents, teachers and community members are in favor of Draft Calendar Option B was the best option for both the 2010-2011 and the 2011-2012 school terms. Option B was presented to Superintendent, Dr. Thomas Lockamy. Option B has school beginning in early August and ending in late May, while Option C has school starting at the end of August and concluding in mid-June.

Spring break will now be the week after Easter so there will be a 10 day break then.

Fields says that there is no "right answer" to what the school calendar should be because they received feedback on all 4 options that were up for review. Superintendent Lockamy says he likes the late start dates and that despite what people said about not being able to meet the testing deadlines, there were

Lockamy says he's in favor of Calendar A: After every 9 weeks at school, students have 2 weeks off. He says it's important for families to spend holiday/vacation time together. Lockamy also says that students who are falling beind don't get the 2 weeks off if they don't meet those benchmarks. He says he's not recommending Calendar A though.

Superintendent Lockamy is making a tough decision by recommending that the board vote to approve Option C for next school year and Option B (which is what most of the state does) for the 2011-2012 school year.

Lori Brady, of district 6, says she was on the calendar committee, but did not vote then because she would be making a public vote. She's in favor of Option C, the later start date. Brady says it gives the district time to re-test students. She says that test scores are going up with Calendar C, so why change it.

Here's a statement from Dr. Lockamy, justifying his recommendation.

"As Superintendent, I appreciate and value the work of the Calendar Committee. The committee membership was inclusive of the broader school community and included parents, teachers of the year, principals, central office administrators, instructional support persons of the year, students, community leaders, heads of the professional organizations, and representatives of the faith community. I have thoroughly considered the input they have provided. It is clear from the committee’s recommendation that there is a desire in this community to begin and end school earlier.

"I have also reviewed and considered a number of other financial, operational, and instructional factors that are relevant to success of the district. In my view, adoption of Draft Calendar Option B for School Year 2010-2011 would adversely impact our ability to successfully implement new attendance zones and planned grade span / programmatic changes at existing schools under Passport to Excellence. I am also concerned about our ability to have our newest school facility, Godley Station, on-line and operational by early August (material completion is currently estimated at August 2nd). Therefore, I am recommending to the Board that Draft Calendar Option C, which starts August 30th and ends June 14th, be adopted as a transition calendar for School Year 2010-2011. For the subsequent year, I am supporting the recommendation of the Calendar Committee of Draft Calendar Option B which begins on August 3rd and ends on May 22nd.

The school board will vote on the school calendars for 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 at this afternoon's school board meeting, which will be held at the Whitney Complex, located at 2 Laura Street, just off of President Street.