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Schools have to reinvent their calendar

Parents and students are surveyed on when school should begin and which holidays to observe.

By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK
Published September 8, 2006

Do you like having school closed on Presidents Day? Thanksgiving? Do you care whether first semester exams come before or after winter break? Do you want specific religious holidays off?

A 36-member committee is gathering information from students and parents on these questions and more, so it can create a workable calendar for 2007-08. Part of its effort includes a survey that it randomly distributed throughout the county this week.

The committee also will accept written suggestions. The co-chairs are director of administration Debi Veranth and area director Valerie Orihuela.

The group is working within some new state-ordered constraints. Primarily, it cannot set the first day of school before Aug. 20, 2007, because of a new law banning districts from starting classes more than 14 days before Labor Day.

For years Hillsborough students began school in the first days of August, in response to high school students' requests to take their first semester exams before winter break. That becomes difficult, but not impossible, under the new law.

"If we stop on Dec. 21 ... that's 89 days," Veranth says.

Which might be enough instruction to qualify for a high school credit. But - and this is a big but - the 89 days includes all holidays as school days. By Veranth's figuring, the district should be able to squeeze out three more days off, but which ones?

A survey of surrounding districts shows that none has off the Jewish holy day Yom Kippur or Eid al-Fitr, the day many Muslims wanted off. Sarasota and Manatee counties give students off the full Thanksgiving week, while Pasco County has off only Wednesday through Friday.

Each district has a two-week winter break that includes Christmas and New Year's Day. All this mentions nothing about Fair Day, Presidents Day, the day after Easter and all the spring vacation days that also will come under scrutiny.

What's going to give? Will winter break start after Christmas? Will Thanksgiving be the only first-semester holiday? Can the School Board avoid turning the matter into national talk show fodder?

Stay tuned. The committee next meets on Sept. 27.

* * *

Parents who have had kids in school for more than a year or two know the routine well: Each fall, teachers are shuffled around after just a few weeks of classes, to make up for any miscalculations in the school district's enrollment projections.

Schools with more students than expected gain teachers. Those with fewer than anticipated lose teachers. The children, school officials say, quickly adjust.

Tell it to the parents of kindergarteners.

Small but upset groups of kindergarten parents from Lewis Elementary in Temple Terrace and Gorrie Elementary in South Tampa have complained to top administrators that they don't like the upheaval for the youngest students. They're also not happy that classes grew larger.

How, they wondered, could the school district make such decisions based on just five days of classes? What if attendance climbs afterward, and the children must switch classrooms yet again?

"Kindergarten is the most important time going in," said Chrysa Dunser, a Gorrie mom. "Eighteen-to-one gives promise, yet we have 26 students in one room, and the teachers are somehow supposed to teach them."

What gives?

Easy answer first.

Many parents, especially those new to the public school system, mistakenly believe Florida law now requires classes of 18 children to one teacher in kindergarten through third grade. It's not so.

Lawmakers gave school districts seven years to work toward classroom counts. This year, the class size mandate requires only that a school must average 18 students to one teacher for the primary grades, and not necessarily have 18 students in each classroom. That comes in 2009.

Tougher answer next.

The school district moves teachers each year, and the method remains an inexact science. Officials start with fifth-day enrollment, and then look at three years of growth rates for each school. They project the numbers forward and then reallocate teachers based on these estimates of where the students will be.

Officials do not wait to see the actual 20th day attendance because that would put off the teacher transfers until mid October. Right now, the new teachers began on Tuesday.

This doesn't rule out midyear changes, says Cindy Wood, director of planning and related services. If the need arises, the school can hire more teachers later on.

Have ideas for future columns? Contact Jeffrey S. Solochek at solochek@sptimes.com or 813 269-5304 .

[Last modified September 7, 2006, 11:37:42]