Jan. 13--School District U46 board members got a look Monday night at staff's proposals for a school year 2016-17 calendar at its bimonthly meeting.
The proposed calendar moved the first day of school to Aug. 17, a few days after the Aug. 15 date that district officials initially suggested late last year.
District CEO Tony Sanders said officials had received more than 900 pieces of feedback on the proposed school year calendar.
The revised calendar offering would allow students to take their semester finals before heading home for winter break, Sanders said.
It also minimizes the days between seniors taking finals and graduation, so as to avoid any cuts to general state aid that would come about with not having those students in the classroom, he said.
The board will vote to finalize next year's calendar at its Jan. 28 meeting.
Sanders said he hoped the board could establish some guidelines for calendar development that staff could work with going forward, thus eliminating the need to draft a new one each year.
"That way, we have parameters that run through our communities," he said. "By and large, you typically only hear from people who have concerns about the calendar."
The proposed calendar also calls for winter break to be held from Dec. 22 to Jan. 6, and for school to end on May 26 if no emergency days are used, according to district documents.
Plans proposed last year that went out for community feedback initially called for winter break to commence on Dec. 19.
In his weekly letter to staff on Jan. 8, Sanders wrote that the Spring Break dates were the only part of the proposed calendar that was overwhelmingly supported by community members.
"Other than Spring Break, the majority of respondents did not like the draft calendar," he wrote. "Comments mostly were in regards to the start of the school year (most want it later), having winter break start too early, and having so many teacher professional development days at the end of the school year."
The draft presented to the board Monday night, Sanders wrote in the Jan. 8 note, "is an attempt to be responsive to the feedback we received."
This upcoming year's calendar was particularly tricky, given that Christmas and New Years Eve fall on weekends, Sanders wrote.
"I have to note that there is no calendar that will meet the expectations of a community of 28,000 families, 40,000 students, and about 6,000 employees," he wrote.
Board member Jeanette Ward said the August start date was still too early, and wondered whether it would be possible to shorten the winter break.
geoffz@tribpub.com
