Bismarck Tribune - Bismarck News - Bismarck School Board weighs 2009-10 start and end dates

Bismarck School Board weighs 2009-10 start and end dates

Dec 04, 2008 - 10:05:08 CST

By SARA KINCAID
Bismarck Tribune

Community sentiment trumps the tourism industry's request for a post-Labor Day start to the school year.

Every winter, school boards decide the calendar for the upcoming school year. The state's tourism industry wants to push back the traditional August start of school, but it's at odds with the community's desire to end by Memorial Day.

"I think it gets to a point in the spring when they get antsy," said Joe Wangler, a Wachter Middle School parent.

He has a son at Wachter and a daughter at Moses Elementary School. He favors school starting in August and ending by Memorial Day.

Wangler's sentiments are similar to those the Bismarck School Board considered when it narrowed down four calendar proposals in November. The board narrowed the selection to two calendars with August start dates. The other options started school in September and ended in June.

The board's action came down to the results of a parent survey given at parent teacher conferences in November, in which a majority favored ending school by Memorial Day.

"A majority want to end by Memorial Day, but 40 percent is significant," board member Dan Kuntz said about the survey results at a November board meeting.

Results of the Bismarck Public Schools parent survey that was given at parent teacher conferences showed most parents did not want to start school later in the fall and end in June. Out of 5,057 responses, 60 percent did not favor a later start, while 40 percent did want the later start.

There was some variation by school. More parents at Centennial, Grimsrud and Highland Acres elementary schools preferred the later start date, while Roosevelt Elementary School and South Central High School were spilt on the start date. Simle Middle School parents did not vote because conferences were held before the survey was given.

The results run contrary to what the state's tourism industry would like for a school calendar. Proponents such as Sen. Tracy Potter, D-Bismarck, who works at the Fort Abraham Lincoln Foundation, points to lost revenue and student workers when school starts in August. The industry is more profitable in August than in June, he told the board this fall.

There is no easy solution to satisfy those in favor of ending by Memorial Day and those wanting an after Labor Day start. The required days off built into a school calendar would make it impossible to start after Labor Day and end by Memorial Day. The consequence is school would go into the first or second week of June if it started in September.

The state requires a calendar to have 180 days scheduled for teachers to work, and there must be classroom instruction on 173 of those days. The Bismarck School District schedules 186 days, so that it can offer more teacher training days.

Required days off during the school year include seven holidays, two days for the North Daktoa Education Association conference and two days off to make up for overtime the teachers work for parent-teacher conferences.

The holidays the district is required to take off are Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day, Good Friday and Memorial Day. Summer school takes off Independence Day, which is the eighth required holiday off.

Additional days off include the day after Thanksgiving, the days off during winter break between Christmas and New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Day, and the day off for spring break. In all, that is about eight days off that are not required by law.

The reason the district takes those days off is because of parent or staff preference, or cultural sensitivity, in the case of Martin Luther King Day.

"We have a lot of different cultures represented in the district," she said.

The district has taken Martin Luther King Day off since the state recognized the holiday.

Wangler, the Wachter parent, also favors many of the days off. The time off for winter break is definitely appreciated by his children.

"They enjoy the time off," he said.

A poll is under way on the Bismarck School District Web site on the remaining calendar options. Voting ends Friday. The results will be given at the next Bismarck School Board meeting on Monday.

The two calendar choices have an August start date and end by Memorial Day. One option starts Aug. 27 and ends May 27. The second option starts Aug. 31 and ends May 28.

To view the calendars up for voting, visit www.bismarckschools.org and click on "parents."

The Mandan School Board recently approved its calendar for 2009-10, and it starts in August and ends in May.

(Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@bismarcktribune.com.)

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Comments

Krispy wrote on Dec 12, 2008 12:06 AM:

" Call me crazy but I believe school should start after labor day and end before memorial day! This could be achieved by getting rid of a few of the extra days
off during the year like "Good Friday" for instance ( why is it that we can't talk about God in school, courtrooms and ect, but we are forced to take this day off )
Maybe less teacher inservice days, presidents day, ect. If we must have these days off than perhaps the state should shave a few days off of their 180/173 days of instruction per calendar school year, Who came up with this "magical number formula? I do not think this would affect our childrens inteligence level one bit!! It would just make summers more like when I was a kid, the good old days! "

JT wrote on Dec 11, 2008 1:43 PM:

" I still think they could do both - start after labor day and end before memorial day. They need to take out all those extra days off. Teacher conference and work shop days and veterans and presidnets day. My job does not close for those two days. Most jobs have no holidays between new years and memorial day - and school should be the same. Give them spring break, but they don't then needs presidents day and another work shop day and yet another conferene day. "

dadofteens wrote on Dec 11, 2008 9:15 AM:

" I wonder how many weeks total that the kids go a full week? It seems there is not a month where the kids don't have at least one or two days off. These extra days off cost parents with young kids money or vacation days off from work. These parents have to arrange for day care or pay someone to watch there kids. I believe there is too many days off for staff development also. I grew up in a small town and I don't recall having staff development days. They had what was called teachers convention where they would be gone for a couple days a year. There were a couple extra days tacked on at the end of the year for snow days and if we did not use those days we got out early which was the middle of May not the end of May. I graduated on the 17th of May and was happy to be out. But I guess public school system know better then common sense. "

MamaMia wrote on Dec 11, 2008 8:54 AM:

" Grumpy: For the most part, teachers dislike the staff development days and would rather be in the classroom teaching than taking training that someone in an ivory tower has decided they need. I agree that there are way too many of these days out of the classroom-- but again, it's not the teachers' decision. Better staff development would be to allot teachers a certain amount of money each year to take college courses that are relevant to their teaching field. That would be done on their own time and generally would not take teachers out of the classroom. "

free will wrote on Dec 11, 2008 6:09 AM:

" Grumpy: most schools require that teachers be at the school for staff development. These are school sponsored and are required in most if not all cases for teachers to attend. So teachers are still in school it is the students who aren't attending. "

Been Around wrote on Dec 11, 2008 5:52 AM:

" There are school districts around the U.S. that operate on various schedules. Some of those schedules work very well and some of them don't. Why not identify those that seem to work very well and learn from them? We don't always have to 'build everything from scratch' when it comes to considering changes. "

democrat wrote on Dec 11, 2008 1:43 AM:

" The committee didn't discuss adding minutes to the day because that's a budget issue. Perhaps in the future. The board voted last night for the calendar that starts 8/27, since 80% of the people who voted online favored that one. We should have it up on the BPS web site shortly!

This was my response to voting yesterday on the website and I also noted that maybe they could have school a few extra minutes a day like getting out at 3:20 instead of 3:05 so the kids could start after labor day and end befor memorial day...Where was that choice?? "

Law wrote on Dec 4, 2008 6:11 PM:

" Past learner, that is really reaching. The kids in grade schools have plenty of time off during the day. It isn't constant teaching and learning. I sure hope your 6 hours of class a day prepares you for the 8 hour day required in the real world, you may not get a vacation until after you've worked a whole year. How will you do it? "

abc wrote on Dec 4, 2008 5:19 PM:

" TO LAW: I think you have the most well-reasoned argument of all of us so far. Besides, it is an excellent suggestion.

TO PAST LEARNER: I imagine that being 37 years-old when you graduated from college that you had a lot more going on than just going to school. As a result, I am sure that you did welcome the extra breaks. That is about as charitable as I can be about your argument. "

past learner wrote on Dec 4, 2008 4:26 PM:

" to abc: when is the last time you went to school to learn. It does get very tiring and you need a break. I graduated from college this spring. I am an 37 years old and let me tell you after a while your brain only can handle so much information before it shuts down. Those little breaks "helped" me get refreshed and allow all of the information to sink in. Yet you expect young kids to sit and learn new things day after day with no break. Maybe you should go to college and see how well you do with no days off. It is not easy. "

Law wrote on Dec 4, 2008 2:49 PM:

" The schools need to adjust their mentality about the schedule. Some years it would be feasible to start after Labor Day and going past Memorial day would be ok. This year is a good example. Labor Day was early and there is 4 days after Memorial Day in May. Next year would not be feasible to start after Labor Day since it is late. Pay the teachers two days for attending the teachers convention, then they must attend instead of just having two days off. Go until the 23rd of December, and go a few days past Memorial day. It can be done but God forbid if something was different than it was before. "

bis parent wrote on Dec 4, 2008 11:08 AM:

" While I agree with Mr. Wangler that the kids do get "antsy" in the spring - I'd rather see a start date after Labor Day. And it has nothing to do with the travel and tourism. Has anyone actually gone into the school in August?!? The school my children go to was ungodly hot. My kindergarteners class was 88 degrees - with fans going. This was at noon. How many of us would sit in a room like that all day. Not many I think. The teacher even talked about how horrible it was for the kids and to try to teach them in these type of conditions. If the Bismarck schools are going to have our kids sit in class rooms in August - they need to get on the ball and get some Air conditioning in the schools. I think it is pathetic and neglectful to place children in conditions like this. Granted yes - this is for a few days - Hmmmm - in AUGUST!! Start school the beginning of Sept and so what if they go a few days into June. What are people going to miss then for their "summer"? Some lakes that are too cold to swim in, weather that is usually either raining or barely above 70 degrees. I say let them be ansy for a few days instead of getting heat stroke in school! "

Grumpy Old Republican wrote on Dec 4, 2008 10:41 AM:

" "Staff Development Days" are the biggest reason they can't start after Labor Day and end before Memorial Day. Cut them out already! It's not a crime for a teacher to be inside the school building walls for 40 hours a week. "

Online Editor wrote on Dec 4, 2008 9:32 AM:

" To wrong Web site: Thanks for pointing out our error, I changed this version. "

wrong website wrote on Dec 4, 2008 8:45 AM:

" The website to go to for voting is listed wrong; the article should read: visit www.bismarckschools.org and click on "parents" "

Dewdrop wrote on Dec 4, 2008 8:02 AM:

" I sure do not understand. When I was a youngster we began the schoool year the day after Labor Day, got two full weeks off for Christmas and still had school end before Memeorial Day! What happened? Too many other days off that they don't need to take off? "

xx wrote on Dec 4, 2008 7:53 AM:

" If school should end the first week in June and I decide to go on vacation (not ND) I will choose to take my kids out of school to leave. Heck with school. June is vacation time not school time. "

anon wrote on Dec 4, 2008 7:44 AM:

" to abc...yes actually, it does remind me of my own work. I have a govt job, and work a flex schedule, so my day off can and does frequently fall on a paid holiday, therefore I get quite a few 4 day weekends throughout the year. That many coincidentally fall on the same four day weekends as school holidays, well, what a bonus! But, really, I do see the sense in having a short week to get the ball rolling, followed by a nice break. How many families actually are traveling farther than the closest lake to camp anyway? And if you planned a longer family vacation, no big deal. Pull your kids out and go, it's not like they are going to miss anything. Merry Christmas! "

abc wrote on Dec 4, 2008 6:18 AM:

" I will never understand why we start school before Labor Day. I suspect it is because the "school people" always threaten us with "Well, we will have to go to school into June". Other schools districts start after Labor Day and finish right around Memorial Day.
Why don''t we ever talk about eliminating some of the "vacation" time we have during the school year? So far this fall we have had two three-day weekends in September; a four-day weekend in October; TWO four-day weekends in November; and 8 days s off in December 9including Christmas and a weekend. Ten days off, not including weekends and holidays. Does this remind you of your own work? "

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