Bummed out over school calendars

by Tom Campbell, Executive Producer and Moderator, NC SPIN, March 26, 2015.

After this hard winter students, parents and educators were all looking forward to the traditional spring break, but instead of rest and relaxation many were upset to learn their schools scheduled make-up days during the period. Empty classrooms and angry students demonstrate that North Carolina needs a better solution to school calendars.

When my generation went to school we started after Labor Day and ended before Memorial Day. The addition of teacher workdays, coupled with an extension of five days to the school year saw school calendars get longer and longer until some started as early as the second week of August and dismissed the third week of June. The state’s tourist industry and parents who wanted traditional summer vacations led efforts to reign in calendar creep.

A 2013 law stipulates that public schools can start no earlier than the Monday closest to August 26^th, and must end classes no later than the Friday closest to June 11^th. Weather related calendar waivers may be granted but must be approved. Students must attend 185 days or 1025 hours of instruction each year. There also must be at least 9 annual teacher workdays and 10 vacation days, in addition to the predetermined recognized holidays.

Any postponement of more than a couple of days causes school scheduling problems. Administrators don’t generally like sending children to school on Saturdays but frequently must to satisfy requirements. Parents often schedule vacations months in advance, booking travel and rooms to coincide with published fall, Christmas or spring break calendars. This presents a conflict any year when there are more than a couple of days of cancelled classes – and let’s face it, that is most years.

Something must be done. This past week Wake County Schools reported as many as 25 percent of their students absent during make-up days taken during spring break. You can be sure teachers were scrambling to try to make instruction meaningful.

We have several options. The state could loosen the requirements on the number of days of instruction but most feel we need to add rigor to public schools, not ease up on requirements. We could reduce the number of teacher workdays, certain to be opposed by teachers and educators. We could give school systems more flexibility for weather-related closures. The worry here is that schools will not be judicious. Or we could give parents more flexibility in attendance requirements for their children.

Another workable solution that’s been around for years is year-round calendars. While it might not be perfect for everyone it has many benefits. For starters, parents will have prescribed vacation time periods in summer, fall, winter and spring so as to schedule vacations if all the family’s children are on the same track. Teachers could be employed for twelve months a year with time for training and workdays. If multi-track year-round calendars are employed a school facility can house as many as one-third more students than buildings that sit vacant during summer months or when children are on vacation.

We can surely find a solution that will please most people and not shortchange our children’s education. While at it, lets also address those days at the end of the year after all tests are done and students largely watch movies or go on field trips. What we’ve got isn’t serving us well.