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NewslettersCommittee moves slightly closer to calendar start date
jcribbs@beaufortgazette.com
843-986-5517
A Beaufort County School District committee designing a unified calendar for all county public schools next year inched closer to a start date Thursday.
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The group settled on two options: sometime around July 20 or Aug. 17. After several teachers and principals said it is more difficult to teach students after a large number take standardized tests in May, leading to wasted days, the committee agreed to end the calendar before Memorial Day.
"Once the (Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test) has been given, the kids are kind of like done," said Jill McAden, principal of Hilton Head Island International Baccalaureate Elementary School, which is on a traditional calendar.
The committee cannot choose a date before the third week in August without a waiver from the S.C. Attorney General's Office, and district officials have said if the committee wants to start before then, it is unlikely to get a waiver unless the date is indicative of a bona fide year-round calendar with a start date in mid-July.
The committee also waded into slight disagreements for the first time since its first meeting two weeks ago. Several principals said a large number of students transfer into school long after the first day, making it more difficult for them to catch up and pass classes. Starting school on July 20 would exacerbate that problem, said Randy Wall, a district academic improvement officer for teaching and learning.
Wall, who is running the committee with Lady's Island Middle School principal Terry Bennett, said he has received several complaints that he is "steering" the committee toward one calendar. He reiterated that although he was highlighting that particular problem, it may not be the district's obligation to accommodate students who show up to school late.
Two parents agreed.
"If they don’t have that kind of responsibility, sorry," said Andy Lancaster, a parent from Coosa Elementary School, which is on a traditional calendar.
A July start date will also force students to ride buses without air conditioning during the county's hottest months, McAden said.
"It is mighty hot for those kids," she said.
At the request of several committee members, the district also provided data showing the district spends the most on energy from July through September. Between July 2007 and June 2008, the district spent the most, more than $500,000, in August 2007. It spent the least, about $290,000, in January 2007.
Mike Allen, a teacher at Beaufort High School, said he had no problem with a year-round calendar but worried that a week for remediation in the fall could harm athletic teams because players may be unable to find rides to practice if the school buses aren't running.
Players, however, aren't given rides during preseason training in the summer, said Catherine Smith, the district's director for career and technology education. The committee will probably have to put about a week of remediation in the fall regardless, Wall said.
"I don’t think it's going to be well-received if we don't include at least four or five days in there," he said. The committee will choose a start date at its next meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday at M.C. Riley Elementary School, Wall said. It will submit a proposed calendar to superintendent Valerie Truesdale, who will review it and make a recommendation to the school board for a vote in October.
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