2009-2010 School Calendar

2010-2011 School Calendar - Adopted January 12, 2010

KEY POINTS & ASSUMPTIONS IN PREPARATION OF 2010-2011 CALENDAR; DRAFT C, NOV. 18, 2009

OVERVIEW & KEY DATES

School district regulations require that a calendar for the following school year be presented the Board of Education in December. Every comment received on the calendar is provided to the Board. The calendar proposal will have a first reading Dec. 8 and a second reading Jan. 12. Public comment is taken at all Board of Education meetings. Written comments can be sent to Assistant Superintendent Laury_Scandling@jsd.k12.ak.us.

KEY DIFFERENCES FROM CURRENT CALENDAR

• Early release (of 45-60 minutes) on two Mondays a month intended for professional development time focused on student learning
• Classes and the contract end before Memorial Day
• In order to do that, the contract and classes start earlier in August
• There is one more contract day (total of 183) which is an added instructional day
• A teacher work day, Nov. 12, precedes elementary conferences
• The three professional development days during the year are scheduled on state holidays to ease family day care issues

KEY CHANGES FROM DRAFTS A & B

Draft C reflects the work of a district-wide committee and an initial round of feedback, Nov. 13-17, on drafts A & B (see bottom), from principals, other administrators, and staff which:

• Supported maintaining Veterans’ Day as a holiday
• Supported ending all contract days prior to Memorial Day
• Supported first semester secondary conferences earlier in the first quarter
• Supported an early release, rather than late start, on second and fourth Mondays

KEY CONSIDERATIONS

• Effective staff development is embedded in the person’s job and day and is focused on student learning.
• Early release of 45-60 minutes on Mondays twice a month is intended as professional development time.
• To support instructional time, an additional instructional day has been added.
• Schools that have improved student achievement have done so through teacher collaboration time.
• Three local schools already practice weekly late start or early release.
• Stimulus funds used to support collaboration at schools that do NOT have a late start or early release (by hiring subs or enrichment providers) will expire at the end of this year.
• Having a late start or early release day on a predictable basis is important for family planning
• Conducting professional development days, conference days, and teacher work days on state and federal holidays can assist families who, then, may not need to arrange for child care
• Ending classes prior to Memorial Day is intended to result in sustaining meaningful instructional time, which is more challenging to achieve when school continues a day or two after Memorial Day
• Elementary teachers need a work day prior to first trimester conferences to prepare considerable data
• At middle and high schools, it’s important that conferences be early in the quarter in order to assure that student interventions and catch-up opportunities are timely
• Fall Elementary and secondary conference days do not sync; however, spring conferences do.
• JESS negotiated holidays include Presidents’ Day Feb. 21, which is proposed as a conference day

KEY PARAMETERS

• There will be 183 contract days in the 2010-2011 school year, one more than this year
• There will be 171 instructional days, one more than this year
• An instructional day is 4 hours at elementary and 5 hours at secondary, exclusive of passing time or lunch
• State law requires a school year of no fewer than 180  “student contact” days
• Of those days, no more than 10 can be used for conferences or professional development; 9 such days are proposed
• No teacher “work days” (teachers working individually without students) count toward 180