Champaign schools panel mulls when school days begin

CHAMPAIGN – When the Champaign school board asked the district to move fall semester exams and the end of the semester to before winter break, members knew that meant school would likely start a little earlier in August.

But many teachers, most of whom work in buildings without air-conditioning, objected to the earlier start date. The calendar would have had them back at work on Aug. 14, and children back in the classroom Aug. 18.

"We had so much negative feedback from teachers and families," said board member Sue Grey. "I really felt maybe we had rushed that decision. I was so pleased we had come up with a way to have those finals and end the semester before winter break. We didn't think of the implications of starting school on Aug. 18.

"This really hit our elementary teachers hard," she added. "They have limited time as it is prior to the start of the school year when they can get in and put their whole classroom back together."

The school board took another look at the school calendar at its meeting in late April, at Grey's request, and the board asked the district's calendar committee to push back the starting date for the fall.

The board will consider a revised calendar, with school starting on Aug. 20 for teachers and Aug. 22 for students, at its meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at the Mellon Administrative Center, 703 S. New St., C. The 22nd is the Friday of the third week in August, the same start day as for this school year.

Students in the balanced-calendar schools will start on July 25, rather than July 22 as scheduled in the original calendar.

The revised calendar still puts exams and the end of the fall semester before winter break.

"The board said, 'We still want the calendar to fit the guidelines that were given before.' The original parameters did not change," said George Stanhope, director of elementary curriculum, who is overseeing the development of the calendar.

That meant finding more days in the fall semester when students would be in school, so the start date could be pushed back. The district usually has one institute day each semester. The revised calendar has the fall institute day in the spring.

The original calendar called for a non-attendance day on Yom Kippur (a Thursday), followed by a fall holiday on Friday. The revised calendar puts the fall holiday on Yom Kippur, and requires teachers, staff and students to be back in school on Friday.

Students will also go one day later before break. Their last school day will be Monday, Dec. 22, rather than Friday, Dec. 19.

Deb Foertsch, president of the Champaign Federation of Teachers, said the options considered for the calendar created a dilemma for high school teachers. The district could have put exams before break but not ended the semester until a week or two after break. But high school teachers were concerned their students wouldn't take that time seriously, since they would have already taken their exams, she said.

Ending the semester before break and keeping the later start date means the fall semester will be shorter than the spring.

"If you're teaching a semester-long class and you have a shorter time in the fall, you have to cram in all your material," Foertsch said.

A lot of state testing goes on during the spring, though, and teachers aren't teaching their curriculum when students are preparing for or taking tests.

Stanhope said there will be 12 days' difference between the fall and spring semesters. But "in terms of instructional days, we keep it as balanced as possible even though attendance days will be off," he said. "You want semester courses to look similar, whether they are taught first semester or second semester."

"I really think this is a lot better calendar," Foertsch said. "I'm hoping teachers, when they see it, and families, when they see it, will be happy with it as well."

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