After receiving considerable input from parents and staff, the Board of Education gave its approval to the calendars for 2015-16 and 2016-17 at their meeting on January 13, 2015.

A committee of teachers, support staff, parents, and administrators developed the calendars. In presenting the calendars to the Board last month, Assistant Superintendent Marla Robinson said the committee kept several core concepts in mind:

• Develop calendars that are based on the best interests of students and families, not driven by testing;
• Consolidate conference, professional and clerical days where possible, so that there will no longer be days when elementary schools are in session and secondary schools are not, and vice versa;
• Increase time for professional learning while reducing the need for teachers to be pulled out of class for professional learning sessions;
• Use the November Election Day for parent-teacher conferences;
• Maximize the number of full five-day weeks of instruction;
• Give students the full week of Thanksgiving off; staff will have two days of professional learning;
• Provide a two-week Winter Break similar to what it has been in the past;
• Provide a one-week Spring Break.
• Have kindergartners start full days with the rest of the students, eliminating the phase-in;
• Hold orientations for all new students, including kindergartners, the week before the opening of school.

The calendars as approved may be downloaded at the bottom of this page.

Robinson shared the process the committee used to establish the calendars. “There are a lot of moving parts and competing priorities,” she said. “We discussed several scenarios and we wanted to make sure we proposed the best calendars possible.”

The calendars exceed all state requirements for instructional time. Under state law, the Board must allow 30 days between presentation of the calendar and final adoption.

Members of the calendar committee are:

Marla Robinson (Administration), Chair

Peggy Caldwell (Administration)

Sue Garber (Clerical Staff/OAPSE Representative)

David Glasner (Middle School Principal)

Michael Griffith (High School Principal)

Christopher Hayward (Fernway Principal)

Ruth Heide (Woodbury Teacher)

Erin Herbruck (Administration)

Jeff Isaacs (PTO Council Co-President)

John Morris (High School Teacher/Teachers’ Association President)

Tracy Peebles (PTO Council Co-President)

Lorene Rider (Clerical Staff/OAPSE President)

Bernice Stokes (Administration)

Tom Wise (Parent)

Dale Whittington (Administration)

Matt Zucca (Fernway Teacher/Teachers’ Association Vice President)