By Beth Christian
Broschart
The Parsons Advocate
PARSONS – A public meeting was held Monday to discuss the 2016 to 2017 school calendar. Superintendent of Schools Dr. Eddie Campbell shared the results of the online school calendar survey.
“There were 676 responses to the survey,” Campbell said. “We did a separate survey with students. The first thing we asked was when folks wanted school to begin in the fall. About 68 percent indicated they want to start the week of Aug. 22. I will talk about why that is a problem in a few minutes.”
Campbell said the next question dealt with the issue of being off school the entire week of Thanksgiving.
“Overwhelmingly, 62 percent said yes, they would want the entire week of Thanksgiving off,” Campbell said. “That is in contrast to our findings last year and I think a result of the experiment we tried this year with a shortened Thanksgiving break. We suffered from no bus availability as well as low attendance.”
Campbell said the survey offered a 6, 7 or 8 day option for the Christmas break.
“43 percent chose the middle option,” Campbell said.
On the matter of spring break, Campbell said 60 percent of those responding indicated they prefer a three or four-day weekend.
Campbell said more than half of the folks responding to the online survey were parents. He said about 100 were students and 92 professional educators responded
Middle and high school student were polled and 343 students responded to the survey.
“Nearly half of the students indicated they want the first semester completed before Christmas break,” Campbell said. “If you add in those who probably wanted the semester to end before Christmas break, that number is 90 percent.”
Campbell said the conflict is that school cannot end by Christmas break and have school start on Aug. 22. He said if the semester is to end by Christmas break, school would need to begin by Aug. 11. He said that coincides with the calendar with the current school year.
“Except for Thanksgiving, the calendar has worked out well,” Campbell said. “I have received zero complaints about the calendar and think folks are excited that school should get out before June 1. I consider that a minor miracle.”
Tucker County BOE student representative Kaylee Nedrow said the students are extremely excited about the prospect of ending school prior to June 1.
“Everyone is really excited. I don’t think I remember getting out this early before. I think that will make up for starting the school year so early.”
BOE president Janet Preston suggested going to school on two days in November so the students could start school on Aug. 15.
“Personally, I am not a fan of starting school on a Monday,” Campbell said. “It’s five full days, coming off of a two month break and it makes an extremely long week for the first week of school. It is especially hard on the younger kids. I think it’s better to get a few days under your belt and have a weekend.”
A suggestion was made that the next school calendar public hearing be later in the evening because the bus drivers and some community members work until later and the meeting was scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
The next public meeting for input into the school calendar is slated for 6 p.m. April 4 at the Tucker County Board Office.
