Decatur Schools Seeking Feedback on 2015-2017 Calendar

CSD sent out this email blast this afternoon…

Dear Parents and Community Members:

The District Calendar Committee presented the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 academic year calendars to the Board of Education during the July 2014 Board Work Session and Meeting.  The Board tabled the approval of the calendars for 30 days to allow the community to offer feedback.  If you have thoughts or questions about the recommended calendars, please email [email protected] and place the word “Calendars” in the Subject line.  The deadline to offer comments is August 7, 2014.  The calendars can be downloaded below for your perusal.
  • Draft 2015-2016 School Year Calendar
  • Draft 2016-2017 School Year Calendar
The District Calendar Committee met during the spring of 2014 to accomplish the charge of drafting the 2015-2016 calendar and 2016-2017 calendar to recommend to the superintendent. The calendar committee is comprised of School Leadership Team (SLT) Members, staff and parents.
The committee reviewed several factors that were used to develop our current school calendars. The current calendar pattern has been utilized for the past four years, since 2010-2011 school year. This calendar pattern was evaluated after two years of use and continues to be recommended by the committee after the review of data.
This year’s District Calendar Committee has recommended the calendar structure be maintained, thus offering the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 draft calendars for the Board’s review.
Each year poses its own challenges in calendar construction.

2015-2016 Draft Calendar
The committee seeks to create balanced semester schedules as close to 90 days per semester. The committee agreed that +/-2 days of 90 days in each semester was acceptable. This calendar shows 88 days in the first semester, 92 days in the second semester.
The committee recommends that the following dates be used for make-up days if needed:
  • March 14, 2016
  • February 15, 2016
  • February 16, 2016
  • February 17, 2016
It was noted that other options would be considered for make-up days required after these dates.
2016-2017 Draft Calendar
The calendar committee identified January 2, 2017 to be used as a professional learning day for staff. Teachers will be able to use part of this professional learning day to prepare for receiving students. This would allow the students to return to school on Tuesday, January 3, 2017.
The committee seeks to create balanced semester schedules as close to 90 days per semester. The committee agreed that +/-2 days of 90 days in each semester was acceptable. This calendar shows 88 days in the first semester, 92 days in the second semester.
The committee recommends the following dates to be used for make-up days if needed:
  • March 13, 2017
  • February 13, 2017
  • February 14, 2017
  • February 15, 2017
It was noted that other options would be considered for make-up days required after these dates.
2014-2015 School Year
With the numerous make up days that were needed during the 2013-2014 school year due to weather occurrences, the calendar committee further recommends that the following four days of February break be used for make up days during the 2014-2015 school year:
  • February 16, 2015
  • February 17, 2015
  • February 18, 2015
  • February 19, 2015

 

It is recommended that other options be considered after these dates
Calendar Development Parameters
  1. 180 days are required for students
  2. The number of days in each semester must be balanced as much as possible
  3. 1st semester to end before winter holidays and second semester before Memorial Day if at all possible
  4. Spring Break scheduled following the first Sunday in April (This is typically what metro districts follow)
  5. 6 marking periods – have breaks to coincide with the six marking periods if possible
  6. Professional Learning Days for Staff are included on the calendar
  7. Avoid starting school in July if possible
If you have thoughts or questions about the recommended calendars, please email [email protected] and place the word “Calendars” in the Subject line.  The deadline to offer comments is August 7, 2014.
Thank you!  We look forward to welcoming our students back to school onAugust 4, 2014.  Have a great remainder of the summer!

7 thoughts on “Decatur Schools Seeking Feedback on 2015-2017 Calendar”


  2. I don’t understand the makeup days blocked in the Winter break ( Feb 2015). Are those days off school if there have been no snow days at that point? The problem is that this past year,I believe the snow days came after the winter break, so this seems odd.

    1. Yes, I think you have that correct. Some were before the break, and there is the March teacher workday and days could be tacked on at the end of the year for any late bad weather days. Last year was unusual, but really school could be cancelled for bad weather at any time of the year–during the 2004-2005 school year (I may have the year wrong) the bad weather days were in September following two remnant-of-hurricane storms that brought down large trees and caused power outages. It would make more sense to make up early bad weather days before the holiday break, if possible (thinking about older kids taking part year courses).

      I am not 100% sure what kind of feedback the school system is looking for here–seems like they only want feedback about if February break should be used as make-up days or not, not the entire calendar.

      1. I think they consider this due diligence for requesting feedback for the entire calendar. But you’re right that probably the February make-up days may be the highest priority for them. Last year, the February break was quietly designated as potential make up days but many calendars sent home and sitting around the schools didn’t show it. When CSD considered using those make up days, many families had non-reimbursable vacation or college trip plans already in place. There was a huge group of DHS juniors going to Spain to study and travel that week. So they lengthened the school days for a while instead. I think CSD wants to advertise the make-up days better this year so they can be truly used. No one can say they didn’t know. Not sure what will happen to the trips often led by CSD teachers that week. Given the exciting climate events we’re having in recent years, I suspect that make up days will be used more often in the future.

        Mr. B mentions on Decaturish that the 6-week break model of current and recent CSD calendars are driven by the preferences of teachers and parents who like the opportunity for off-season vacations. However, I know that CSD teachers with kids in other school systems with traditional calendars find ours hard. And not every family can take off from work–either for financial or work schedule reasons. September in particular tends to be busy in the business, government, and academic world with lots of conferences, deadlines, events, etc. But I doubt that this aspect of the calendar is going to change without a huge groundswell of opposition. Law of inertia…

        1. I don’t have a kid in the system, so this is pure curiosity- does a camp cost a lot more in Sep vs the summer? I realize camps were hard to find when the “new” calendar model was adopted, but I thought there were now camps springing up to fill the void?

          1. There’s definitely options now but much less variety than in the summer. When students are young, not as big a deal-they go where you put them. IMHO, the biggest problem is when the kids get to be about fourth grade and don’t want to do camps unless their best friends are doing them. If their best friends’ parents can take off of work but you can’t….. And then there’s the middle school gap–9 hours a day (counting commute) with no adult supervision for 5 days is not great parenting but no way will some preteens be caught dead at a little kid camp. We all figure out a way to cobble together creative solutions like taking turns watching a small group of friends, teen babysitters, teleworking when possible, etc., all of which work great for some jobs (like editor, consultant) but not so much for others (like ICU nurse). First world problems, I know. But reasons that not everyone loves the September break.

            1. What do the middle schoolers do during summer? Wondering if there is business opportunity here…

              1. I’d be real curious what others have to say because I’ve never found the perfect answer but I believe that, for many families, it’s a patchwork of things that include:
                – sleep away camps
                – specialty vs. general camps, e.g. drama, computer, science, specific sports
                – sports, e.g. traveling or club sports or swim teams
                – visiting relatives
                – every once in a while a job or volunteer position, e.g with a pool or camp–those are heavenly
                – babysitting or mother’s helping, but not as much as in my day; parents don’t seem to want young teens as much
                – pet sitting
                – hanging out when a parent takes tons of time off or goes part-time or decides to retire or works a job with summers off
                – church youth group activities
                – family travel

                I think there’s a niche to be filled with what to do with middle schoolers during breaks and the summer. Hanging out by themselves for anything but a day here and there is asking for trouble with some young teens/preteens and a lonely experience for others. But I don’t know the answer. CSD tried for a couple of summers to offer some neat courses for middle schoolers with neat teachers–e.g. Spanish cooking, techie subjects, and I don’t remember what else. But they didn’t get enough sign-ups and were cancelled. I was heartbroken that they didn’t catch on. Maybe they would now, especially with better organization and earlier promotion.

                The trick by the way is to make your offering cool. Since I am not cool, I cannot advise on how to do that.

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