DeKalb offers parents two calendars. Weekly early release still under consideration.
Just received this from DeKalb schools:
After hours of collaboration and discussion by a team of parents, teachers, principals and administrators, the DeKalb County School District Calendar Committee has released two calendar options for public review.
The first, a traditional calendar, reflects a start date of Aug. 12 and an end date of May 23. DCSD has historically adopted the traditional calendar model.
The second, a balanced calendar, begins the school year on Aug. 5 and ends on May 29, but has an additional week of vacation in each semester. Balanced calendars are growing in popularity and are utilized by other districts including Rockdale County Public Schools and the City Schools of Decatur.
Both calendars have 180 school days for the students and an additional 10 days for the teachers, comprised of nine work days and four two-hour teacher conference nights.
Among other considerations is a weekly one-hour early release in order to allow for professional development for all teachers and administrators.
“We know that in order to provide the best possible education for our students, our teachers must also be life-long learners,” said Superintendent Dr. Cheryl Atkinson. “These professional learning opportunities will help our staff help our children.”
The calendars will be available for public comment until Sept. 26. Community members may also participate in a brief survey to gauge the level of support for each calendar as well as the early release day.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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82 comments Add your comment
whatever
September 18th, 2012
10:50 am
yes, what we have waited for…another diversion from the problems in DCSS. I find it hard to believe that changing a school calendar one week on the end of the year and one week on the beginning will make the children retain more. These are kids, they take a week off for vacation and they can’t remember anything. DCSS stop trying to re-mediate kids. expect them to learn. Review and keep going. Don’t spend 3-4 weeks reteaching everything. Yet another shining example of DCSS stupidity.
Dunwoody Mom
September 18th, 2012
10:50 am
The modified block seems to be, not positive, but a “compromise” between the traditional 7-period schedule and the 4×4 block. There are classes that are more suited to a longer period, such as science and math, while others easily fit in the traditional 7-period day. Year long Math and Science classes can be incorporated into a modified block schedule. I can remember in high school barely getting the science experiments ready to go when the period was over with. I know that children have said many of their AP classes take up the entire 90 minutes. I don’t have the answers, but I do believe that year-long Math and Science are a given.
whatever
September 18th, 2012
11:05 am
What is interesting is the balanced calendar a takes a week from summer at the start but only gives back 3 days in OCTOBER. I guess you could say there are days added to Thanksgiving but we have a week off this year.
DunMoody
September 18th, 2012
11:16 am
Maureen you have lucidly presented all the reasons the block schedule is such a disaster for any but the most motivated and self-sufficient students. My high school has begged for 8 years to be freed from the block, to no avail. (Teachers and students like it because teachers have just three classes a semester and students can do most of their homework in class.) There are exceptions in terms of teachers fully utilizing the longer class periods but they are few.
The Deal
September 18th, 2012
11:37 am
@whatever, I noticed that, too. It’s not like there’s a long break in October, as it’s being sold.
I also wonder, what specific problem does this “balanced calendar” solve or improve? It’s one week on either end of the school year. My biggest problem is that the kids whose parents can afford to let them relax during those mid weeks will benefit, and those weren’t the children who were suffering anyway.
The kids whose parents (or single parent) must work all day will be shoved into some all-day, quickly thrown together “camp” and will end up just as exhausted or more than a regular week of school. It will be a completely different social situation, most likely stressful to kids who don’t adapt to change well, and they will show up back to school on Monday mentally drained. I really feel for these children because their parents will have very little choice.
I just don’t see the benefit, except to upper middle class kids who get to go to the beach or Disney on non-peak rates.
Pardon My Blog
September 18th, 2012
11:57 am
I question the whole semester system anyway. Virginia, California, and several other states utilize the quarter system with much success in academics. Georgia used to be on the quarter system (I know, I am telling my age) and it did not seem to hurt the students then. Should we change back and possibly solved some of these issues?
WTF
September 18th, 2012
1:47 pm
I think it’s funny that people ignore the biggest problem with DSS. The Board! Replace them all so we can finally hire a competent Superintendent.
d
September 18th, 2012
1:49 pm
During my first two years of high school, we had a “modular” block schedule. We had 6 year-long courses, we only went to all six on Mondays and Fridays and on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, we went to four of the six – so we saw each teacher 4 times a week. Tuesday through Thursday were 90 minute blocks in order to accommodate labs and other activities.
Get Real
September 18th, 2012
1:50 pm
@WTF how about you exhibit some class on here and use a different name. Before you talk about replacing anything you should replace that name.
Flabberghastedforsure
September 18th, 2012
2:05 pm
Thanks Maureen. DCSS finally posted it visibly on their home page. Maybe they are reading your blog. Sad commentary on DCSS’s communications dept. that the stakeholders had to get it from you first. We’re paying Dickerson and Woods a chunk of change to communicate.
Dunwoody Mom
September 18th, 2012
2:08 pm
@Flabberhastedforsure…Woods was RIF’d and the calendars were on the page this morning under current news.
Get Real
September 18th, 2012
3:56 pm
@Flabberghastedforsure…Just received this from DeKalb schools: If you read the top of the article is says Maureen received the info from DCS. Lets make sure we read the entire post before we take the conversation down the wrong path.
Flabberghasted4sure
September 18th, 2012
6:41 pm
@ Dunwoody Mom: Woods may have been RIF’d but he is still on first class as the Chief Communications Officer and his emails don’t bounce back.
@ Get Real: Not sure what you are trying to say. I did read her post. Maybe you should re-read what you wrote: “Maureen said she just received it from DCSD”. Maureen did not say she found it on the DCSD web site. It was sent directly to her from DCSD. She called out Atkinson recently related to communications and they are responding by keeping her in the loop. She called them out again today for communications. DCSD is communicating with her but doing their typical poor job communicating with stakeholders. Until mid day today, DCSD had not put up the survey on their web site – wasn’t there when Maureen posted hers. I checked. Lots of emails circulated yesterday and early today looking for it since DCSD sent a press release at the end of August stating it would be public yesterday. No one here is going down the wrong path. Just expecting DCSD to do what they state in a press release.
Pinkribbon
September 18th, 2012
7:23 pm
I am in favor of the balanced calendar. I want to take my children on vacations other than spring break and summer. We have family in another state and it would be nice to have options to visit than the common times when flights are expensive and crowded. Also, going on a family ski trip would be nice in Feb rather than December or April….. I feel it really is balanced (school and family).
Pride and Joy
September 18th, 2012
7:51 pm
MAUREEN talks about dozens and dozens of camps in the Summer for kids and suggests the same will happenf for those weeks the kids are off during the year. I’ve used those camps. They aer expensive and often then don’t provide care from 8 to 5. Often they start at 9 or ten and end at 2 — harldly qualifies as something working parents can take part of.
What is the PURPOSe of letting kisd off for a week at a time durng the school year — so that Summers will be shroter and kids will more likely “remember” waht they wre taught durng the year?
If kids forget during the summer it means they were never taught in the first palce — they just memorized. Traditional calendars are best.
Student Advocate
September 18th, 2012
9:42 pm
Why not offer 2 calendars – the traditional , with a true SPRING break in the mde of spring semester, and call it what it is, a year round calendar? Different clusters have different needs. Give parents – and teachers – a choice.
Mandella1099
September 18th, 2012
10:03 pm
Maureen – I look forward to your blogs on Gwinnett’s, Decatur’s, APS’s, etc… calendar surveys/votes/committees. Do you know when you might be posting them?
concernedmom30329
September 18th, 2012
10:08 pm
Mandella
Maureen blogged plenty when Cobb and Decatur changed their calendars. In fact, Cobb changed, changed back, changed again, etc and Maureen blogged mutliple times.
If Gwinnett wants to change their calendar, they just do it. They don’t ask for parent or teacher input. This seems to work because parents have faith in the product Gwinnett is offering. In DeKalb, not so much.
Mandella1099
September 18th, 2012
10:26 pm
Well, there you have it Gwinnett parents – you are all satisfied (according to concernedmom30329)
By the way, I asked about the future calendars, not what Maureen has been done in the past. According to several bloggers here, DeKalb used to be the best district in the state – should we concentrate on what it was like then, or where things are now?
Maureen Downey
September 18th, 2012
10:29 pm
@Mandella, Not sure of your point. If another major district decides to change its calendar, I will post about it. The calendar debate last year in Cobb was a frequent topic here.
http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2011/06/09/cobb-calendar-wars-flare-up-it-is-time-to-just-a-pick-a-starting-date-and-stick-to-it/
http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2011/03/09/cobb-board-will-revisit-balanced-calendar-will-they-change-back/
http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2011/02/18/cobb-axes-balanced-calendar-did-system-move-too-fast/
http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2011/02/15/cobb-reconsiders-its-balanced-calendar-and-shorter-summer/
Mandella1099
September 18th, 2012
10:40 pm
Maureen – FYI – Gwinnett’s proposed calendars are “out there” (just not for the public) – Nonetheless, I look forward to seeing the blog!
Dunwoody Mom
September 19th, 2012
6:46 am
@Flabberghasted4sure…First Class has not been updated completely. There are still teachers/administrators still listed that I know for a fact have left DCSD.
FJ
September 19th, 2012
7:02 am
@ Maureen – FYI – APS is currently asking all families to complete a calendar survey and rank their choices between a traditional, balanced, or year round calendar.
Anonymous
September 19th, 2012
7:06 am
@Dunwoody Mom- You’re right about FIrst Class, the DCSD employee e-mail system, not be updated. When you combine that with an Organizational Chart with NO names listed, it’s nearly impossible to know who is in charge of what.
I wonder if they’ll show SACS an Org Chart with names on it……..
Flabberghasted4sure
September 19th, 2012
7:42 am
@ Dunwoody Mom and Anonymous: Thanks for the update on first class. That just highlights 2 more DCSD communicatioin issues: MIS and HR. They have not updated their systems to acknowledge changes and have not deleted email addresses that no longer have recipients on the other end so that the public is informed there is no one receiving their communication…or they haven’t set them up to be forwarded to the person overseeing the area or they haven’t set up an auto reply tha tthat person is no longer there and to contact someone else…between that and the lack of names on an organizational chart, you are right – it is impossible for principals, parents, teachers to know who is in charge of what…perhaps some of the BOE members wouldn’t have to ask so many questions of the administration for their constituents if constituents could determine who to contact…
Dunwoody Mom
September 19th, 2012
7:57 am
Yes, I would like to see names associated with the Organization Chart. I think HR has just been overwhelmed to this point and the fact that they are behind in cleaning up First Class does not bother me so much.
concernedmom30329
September 19th, 2012
8:59 am
Mandella
Do you think things are ok in DeKalb? Do you think the media scrutiny is a bad thing?
Lee-Ann Williams
September 19th, 2012
11:09 am
Isn’t this the same proposal that was rejected last year? Why did that take “hours” to develop?
There are plenty of comments about why the balanced calendars and early release are bad for working families (which is most people). What about this idea:
Longer school day, with extra breaks for recess and enrichment, supervised by non-certified part-time employees. Teachers do professional development by webinar during the time their classes are on their daily breaks (so it wouldn’t matter when their break was). Kids would benefit by breaks during the day, when they really need it most, instead of a week off in a chunk. Enrichment activities could be developed by the county that reinforce academic content, like games, and arts and crafts activities.
Longer school day = better schedule for families, physical activities for kids, low-stress academic reinforcement for kids, time for professional development.
Of course, even with parapros, it would cost more. Still, why can’t we put THAT to a vote? Like, here is what we propose to use the money for, please give us a penny sales tax for this (or whatever, not proposing a specific tax plan here). It would help if people felt their money were being well spent. It would need to be targeted to specific use, not dumped into the general fund.
Tired in DeKalb
September 19th, 2012
1:16 pm
Instead of looking at Cherokee or Rockdale as examples of “successful” models (calendar or otherwise) shouldn’t we be looking at best of breed school systems in the entire country? People always talk about how northern schools are better. Why? What can we do to replicate that? Looking at the top schools in an educationally bottom ranking state isn’t the answer.
I’ve heard friends in Cobb say that they love the breaks because Disneyworld isn’t as crowded in Feb. But in DeKalb how many families have that choice? You have to consider socio-economic factors when considering when to close school. And that early release day? Who, exactly, is that going to benefit? That will be the easiest hour to furlough when times get tougher and then no one benefits.
Murphey
September 19th, 2012
1:23 pm
Maureen, did you notice Ty Tagami’s front page article on the DCSD calendar today included NEW info on the weekly early release days: “The lost hour would be made up by starting a few minutes earlier each day or by getting out a little later the rest of the week, a spokeswoman said.”
So, do teachers get a raise, or are they just expected to work an extra hour for free?
This is a significant detail. Why is there no mention of this on the DCSD website or survey?
This resolves the issue of lost instructional time but I don’t know any teachers who can tolerate any more poor treatment.
Big Picture
September 20th, 2012
8:14 pm
Murphey hits the nail on the head. Early release days are NOT at all proposed to ensure teachers’ professional development. We all know that parents will schedule conferences, after school programs are staffed by teachers who must supplement salaries to pay rent, meetings will be called on these days because teachers are already there. The true purpose is to implement Fake Furloughs. Teachers add hours to every day to make up instructional time, and continue to work late on these days as required. And there is no move, from what I can see to pay them for this time. I’m not a teacher. But if we think about this carefully, it seems like actually funding full days for professional development is the fair and legitimate route. It would suggest no shenanigans…. I just really believe that this is a way to continue to require more from teachers than they want to pay for. Morale has tanked, and I don’t believe that this is a real way of dealing with the issues.
Certainly, paying for doctorate degrees for 8 principals while teachers struggle to find time to plan lessons and do not get any funding to do so seems like a slap in the face.
As a parent, I dread the idea of making a tedious, test filled day for my child any longer. He hates school because “all we ever do is take tests,” is learning reading out of order with the new curriculum and is, with his parents, reaching the end with DCSS. Really, longer days? We can barely schedule in our tutors time three days a week as it is to keep him current. And the tutor is necessary because she has the energy to make learning fun. DCSS has killed educational progress for s many students, and destroyed the joy of teaching for so many teachers.
Does anyone know what the science lab funding was this year. Our title one school was requesting science lab fees so that at least a few experiments could be done. $.50 isn’t enough for real hands on learning. But favored friends and family will get their PhDs with our tax dollars. Sorry, Atkinson does NOT have her eye on the sparrow. She’s just feathering up her fine nest. Enjoy your car, Dr. A, while you starve kids’s minds. Sorry for typos.
Double Jeapordy
September 21st, 2012
12:40 am
Where is the balance in balanced calendar? As others have said, most systems that are on the balanced calendar, have one week off in October and February. Dekalb is only proposing three days off in October which equates to a long weekend only it’s Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Who does that in the middle of the week? They are advertising weeks off in October and February but look at the balanced calendar closely before voting. Also, I am really concerned about the early release days every week for a couple of reasons. Unfortunately, I work and live in Dekalb. This is not that little country town the supertindent came from where crime is probably at a minimum. As an educator, when the kids are released early every week with nothing to do, while I’m in a staff develpment meeting, kids will be at my home attempting to break in because they have nothing else to do. Remember, we let them out early! I am curious to know if she has done any research to find out whether crime increases during early release days for students. Also, in the middle school setting, we release kids daily at 4. Some of the kids who are car riders don’t get picked up until 5, 5:30, 6:00 right now. Sometimes these students fight and run off to the neighborhoods or nearest parks to participate in “sex” or other things. When we release them an hour earlier, who is going to supervise them while staff members are participating in staff development? If anything happens to either of the students whose parents can’t get off of their jobs every week to pick up their child, of course Dekalb will be looking at a law suit and who can pay for that? Next, I am upset that Dr. Atkinson is going to pay for 8 principals to receive doctoral degrees with my tax paying dollars!!!! Too many kids are failing math, not reading on grade level and could use some extra help. Wouldn’t it make better sense to take that money, hire substitutes and send the teachers off for additional training to empower them in the classroom? These 8 elite people will get those degrees, expect money that Dekalb says that we don’t have to pay them now that they have another advanced degree, while teachers, bus drivers, custodians, para’s, secretaries, security officers and especially students will not benefit from those prinicpals having docturate degrees. CRAZY idea when we should use that money to directly affect teachers and students! I wonder how many of these elite people are from her beloved Charlotte! Seems to me that she’s hiring quite a number of her friends, bringing them here and paying them huge salaries when our salaries have been cut, benefits cut, no pay or step increases, and no matching funds into our teacher’s retirement! Her idea of cutting secruity officers has backfired as we are begining to see more loaded hand guns in the schools! That was her idea! Never have I heard her suggesting that she give up some of her allowances or take a pay cut like many of us have. Her idease are driving good, qualified people away and not making it attractive for people to live and especially work in Dekalb. There are no incentives or advantages for working here anymore. Guess she and her clonies who have no ties to Dekalb or Georgia for that matter, will continue to make a mess here then move on some where else, leaving us with the mess to clean up! Guess it doesn’t matter to her anyway since I hear that she lives in Rockdale! When are we going to get as smart as Fayette County and let her go?