Anonymous wrote:I favor options A or D because I'd rather have a slightly shorter summer and more days during the winter. Days less useful over Thanksgiving so not into option B. I'd probably prefer a mix of A and D -- extra days in February, not winter break, but with the school year running earlier.

Yes, exactly. I want an August 21st start date, normal Thanksgiving, winter and spring breaks, a mini break sometime other than the holidays, and to get out June 14th — which is not one of the options.

I favor options A or D because I'd rather have a slightly shorter summer and more days during the winter. Days less useful over Thanksgiving so not into option B. I'd probably prefer a mix of A and D -- extra days in February, not winter break, but with the school year running earlier.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I counted correctly:

The current (2022-23) calendar has 5 professional days and 7 early releases.
Option A: 9 PDs, 4 ERs
Option B: 7 PDs, 4 ERs
Option C: 8 PDs, 6 ERs
Option D: 9 PDs, 5 ERs

It's clear that the additional PDs are what's driving the proposed earlier start dates and/or later end date.

I don’t have time to count, but did you also include the pre-service days? What I don’t understand is why they aren’t the same in all 4 scenarios. You either need them or you don’t. And, for instance, option D could end on June 14 if they did the 7PDs, 4ERs like in option B. So why didn’t they do that?

Those numbers are only counting the days between the first and last days of school, not pre-service. Three PDs are end-of-quarter ones. No idea why there's the variable number of other PDs in the scenarios, although A and D seem to be using extras to make a long February break. Some of the scenarios put PDs on Columbus and Veterans' Days, but not all.

Anonymous wrote:If I counted correctly:

The current (2022-23) calendar has 5 professional days and 7 early releases.
Option A: 9 PDs, 4 ERs
Option B: 7 PDs, 4 ERs
Option C: 8 PDs, 6 ERs
Option D: 9 PDs, 5 ERs

It's clear that the additional PDs are what's driving the proposed earlier start dates and/or later end date.

I don’t have time to count, but did you also include the pre-service days? What I don’t understand is why they aren’t the same in all 4 scenarios. You either need them or you don’t. And, for instance, option D could end on June 14 if they did the 7PDs, 4ERs like in option B. So why didn’t they do that?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I counted correctly:

The current (2022-23) calendar has 5 professional days and 7 early releases.
Option A: 9 PDs, 4 ERs
Option B: 7 PDs, 4 ERs
Option C: 8 PDs, 6 ERs
Option D: 9 PDs, 5 ERs

It's clear that the additional PDs are what's driving the proposed earlier start dates and/or later end date.

Why there are so many more PD days?

School staff wanted more, apparently. The information in the document presented at the board meeting said:

"Professional Days: All four scenarios continue the practice of scheduling a full non-instructional day for professional development and grading and planning time at the end of each quarter.
This end of the quarter planning time is embedded in our negotiated employee agreements,and school staff have expressed a strong preference for an increase in professional development
and planning time during the school year. This opportunity also is reflected in all scenarios with an additional professional development day in each semester. The school system also is exploring
if some professional development days may be counted as asynchronous instructional days."

Anonymous wrote:If I counted correctly:

The current (2022-23) calendar has 5 professional days and 7 early releases.
Option A: 9 PDs, 4 ERs
Option B: 7 PDs, 4 ERs
Option C: 8 PDs, 6 ERs
Option D: 9 PDs, 5 ERs

It's clear that the additional PDs are what's driving the proposed earlier start dates and/or later end date.

Why there are so many more PD days?

If I counted correctly:

The current (2022-23) calendar has 5 professional days and 7 early releases.
Option A: 9 PDs, 4 ERs
Option B: 7 PDs, 4 ERs
Option C: 8 PDs, 6 ERs
Option D: 9 PDs, 5 ERs

It's clear that the additional PDs are what's driving the proposed earlier start dates and/or later end date.

Anonymous wrote:Is it my imagination or does the calendar have even more half-days than usual?

There’s definitely more days for professional development, yes. A number of holidays happen to fall on weekends in 2023-24 so they have some extra wiggle room they may not have in later years.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They have option D ending on Tuesday June 18th now. I think that's too late. June 14th should be the last day.

Agreed. I tried to put that into my comments on the survey. I’d rather end June 14 than have the extra February days off. I’m. annoyed there wasn’t a “normal” calendar option; each one had some change compared to what has been done for the last several years.

I prefer option D although I agree with you that they could have given the normal option instead of ridiculous option B that I can’t imagine anyone will select.

What’s worrisome to me is I think a lot of people would be fine with C or D so those votes will be split and it won’t look like there is a majority preference. I’m getting really into the weeds here but I kind of wish they had given 3 options and done ranked choice voting. I fully get that it’s potentially more confusing, but I think they’d ultimately get stronger results.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They have option D ending on Tuesday June 18th now. I think that's too late. June 14th should be the last day.

Agreed. I tried to put that into my comments on the survey. I’d rather end June 14 than have the extra February days off. I’m. annoyed there wasn’t a “normal” calendar option; each one had some change compared to what has been done for the last several years.

I prefer option D although I agree with you that they could have given the normal option instead of ridiculous option B that I can’t imagine anyone will select.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They have option D ending on Tuesday June 18th now. I think that's too late. June 14th should be the last day.

Agreed. I tried to put that into my comments on the survey. I’d rather end June 14 than have the extra February days off. I’m. annoyed there wasn’t a “normal” calendar option; each one had some change compared to what has been done for the last several years.

What's "normal"? Two of the last four years we started after labor day, two a week before. I certainly don't want to start even earlier!

We only started after Labor Day when Hogan mandated it. That's no longer in effect. Normal is starting the Monday before Labor Day and ending in the middle of June.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They have option D ending on Tuesday June 18th now. I think that's too late. June 14th should be the last day.

Agreed. I tried to put that into my comments on the survey. I’d rather end June 14 than have the extra February days off. I’m. annoyed there wasn’t a “normal” calendar option; each one had some change compared to what has been done for the last several years.

What's "normal"? Two of the last four years we started after labor day, two a week before. I certainly don't want to start even earlier!

Is it my imagination or does the calendar have even more half-days than usual?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They have option D ending on Tuesday June 18th now. I think that's too late. June 14th should be the last day.

Agreed. I tried to put that into my comments on the survey. I’d rather end June 14 than have the extra February days off. I’m. annoyed there wasn’t a “normal” calendar option; each one had some change compared to what has been done for the last several years.

I selected option C. I'd rather start the Wednesday before than end the Tuesday after.

Anonymous wrote:They have option D ending on Tuesday June 18th now. I think that's too late. June 14th should be the last day.

Agreed. I tried to put that into my comments on the survey. I’d rather end June 14 than have the extra February days off. I’m. annoyed there wasn’t a “normal” calendar option; each one had some change compared to what has been done for the last several years.