By Eileen Oldfield Staff Writer
HILLSBOROUGH — County school officials are trying to get local districts on the same page to encourage shared services, but first the districts will have to get on the same calendar.
And Hillsborough Board of Education members aren’t sure the countywide schedule reviewed at Monday’s meeting fits the district.
Superintendent of Schools Edward Forsthoffer asked the board members for input on the county’s proposed calendar Monday, noting that the district can deviate from the proposed calendar to accommodate the in-service days established by a district’s teaching contract, though it would cause several “anomalies.”
The anomalies include the ’teachers’ in-service day typically scheduled on the date of senior proms, and putting in additional days for use as snow days.
”My biggest fear is we buy into this, and say we’ll join on and have the county calendar and we’ll do it,” Dr. Forsthoffer said. “And we’ll be one of three districts in the county that do it.”
State law requires students attend school for 180 days each school year; Hillsborough typically schedules 183 days to accommodate for inclement weather.
According to County Superintendent Trudy Doyle, allowing districts to share transportation services was the main drive for creating a countywide school calendar.
”We’re hoping, in terms of transportation and other areas, to do more sharing,” Ms. Doyle said. “We’re hoping to get districts thinking about working together in a coordinated way.”
Ms. Doyle noted districts often scramble to find transportation for students who attend different schools, including Vo-Tech students and Special Needs students, during winter or spring breaks if the school does not run on a similar calendar with a student’s original district.
The countywide calendar would synchronize the start dates, winter and spring breaks, and end dates for all county schools. The intended calendars would determine the school schedules for the next three years, though Ms. Doyle said superintendents could adjust the calendars to fit district needs.
”Of course, every district has its own little things it has to deal with,” Ms. Doyle said, noting that she hopes most school districts adopt the county calendar next year.
Ms. Doyle said a superintendent’s roundtable discussion is scheduled for Friday, and expected additional input from the district heads.
Hillsborough board members weren’t sold on the calendar, however, expressing concern over spring break and standardized tests, starting school later in 2009 and causing a later end date in June, and scheduling snow days and teachers in-service days.
”The county needs to plug into the calendars all the tests to make sure they are accommodated and don’t disrupt the breaks and don’t cause problems down the road,” Marc Rosenberg said. “If the state isn’t going to give us the testing dates for three years (in advance), I think there will be an issue.”
Board members Greg Gillette and David Lin noted that the proposed Sept. 10, 2009, start date seemed late, and would force students to spend more time in the school in summer.
”What flexibility do we have as far as starting earlier, even on those years when Labor Day falls so late?” Mr. Gillette asked. “Is there a flexibility in having those in-service days on the Thursday or Friday before Labor Day weekend?”
Dr. Forsthoffer said he could reschedule the in-service days, though it was not suggested in the county calendar. He noted that he was unsure of his opinion on scheduling the days.
Mr. Lin said that committing to a three-year calendar could compromise the district’s ability to accommodate for problems in coming years.
”I am somewhat concerned about approving three years worth of calendars now because I think it will limit our flexibility in terms of reaction to any other issues or situations down the road,” Mr. Lin said.
Later in the meeting, Dr. Forsthoffer agreed that committing to a single year would be a better option for Hillsborough
Board member John Donnadio asked how the calendar would allow districts to save money through the shared services. Dr. Forsthoffer noted the calendar could encourage shared service, particularly when districts with different breaks share busing services.
Board member Judy Haas said she liked the idea behind the shared calendar, but disliked the calendar’s set up.
”My biggest problem with this calendar is that I really think Thursday, the 24th of June, is way late for ending the year,” Ms. Haas said. “The schools get really hot, the kids lose interest and I think dragging the school year to the 24th of June is a bad thing.”
Ms. Haas said the calendar could cause conflicts for planning Project Graduation, noted the spacing between the days students are not in school, and reiterated the board’s goal to end school earlier.
Board President Neil Hudes asked student representative Ben Forrest for input on the calendar, to get a student’s perspective.
”From what I hear, I see a couple problems that students may have,” Ben said. “The start and the end of school, they like to start school early and end school early.”
”Another thing is with testing,” he added. “I don’t know if this would affect finals and midterms.”
Dr. Forsthoffer said the schedule would not affect the finals and midterms, addressing Ben’s concern about students having a weekend to study between testing periods.
Hillsborough student Michael Zhang offered his input on the calendar during the public comment, in addition to requesting a day for the district’s Asian students to celebrate Chinese New Year.
”How would we account for different weather situations in different towns,” Michael asked. “If in Montgomery it’s snowing, and here it’s not, and they take a snow day, wouldn’t that mess up our collective calendar?”
Dr. Forsthoffer said the superintendents contact local police for road conditions and speak with each other to make a decision regarding snow days, though he said that individual districts make the decision about whether to have a snow day.
Dr. Forsthoffer said the he would present the concerns to Ms. Doyle before the board’s Nov. 17 meeting.
