Public input sought on scheduling for next two academic years
It’s time to vote on the White County School System 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school calendars.
During the White County Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 30, Schoool Superintendent Dr. Laurie Burkett shared drafts of four options to be presented for public input.
“These would be, not for your approval, but just for you to put your eyes on so that we could put them out for a survey,” she said. “We’ll put them out to our community, our staff, our teachers and staff at all of our schools so that they can vote.”
This year, the board will vote to set calendar for the next two school years, Burkett said.
“We are going to try and approve two years out, instead of just one year every year,” Burkett said. “I think it’s nice for parents to be able to make plans. If you want to vacation a couple of years out you would have the ability to schedule that.”
The superintendent pointed out that school officials have some limitations in calendar scheduling.
“With block scheduling, we’ve got to come close to 90 days before Christmas and 90 days after Christmas, so we have 180 days and that needs to be close and balanced,” Burkett said. “In order to do that, there’s not a lot you can do. What we’ve realized is there’s only a couple of places you can tinker with dates.”
For the 2020-2021 calendars, the main difference between the two options involves fall and winter breaks. Option 1 has a long weekend in October and a long weekend in February. Option 2 has a week off in February, but no long break in October.
With the 2021-2022 calendars, the difference is also in the fall or winter breaks. Option 1 has a long weekend in October and a long weekend in February. Option 2 has a week off in February, but no long break in October.
The public can share their thoughts by voting on the calendar options, which will be open through Friday, Feb. 7, and can be found by visiting this link.
To view the calendars, click below:
Final approval of the calendars will be voted on by the board members at a later date.