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Local students to start school later next year
By Lynn Hotaling
Though local school officials are less than pleased about it, Jackson County's students will get another three weeks of vacation this summer.
That's because recent state legislation mandates that school districts cannot start classes before Thursday, Aug. 25, 2005. Local students returned to their studies on Aug. 2 this year.
"This summer will be a change," said Superintendent Sue Nations.
Because the N.C. High School Athletic Association has not yet adjusted any play dates, Smoky Mountain High School could have at least two football games before school is officially under way, Nations said.
School districts that qualify for a waiver may begin classes sooner than Aug. 25, but Jackson County will not be eligible, Nations said. To receive a waiver, a district must have missed at least eight school days during four of the last 10 years, she said. While Jackson doesn't qualify this year, the school system could meet the waiver requirements for the 2006-07 school year.
"We've already missed two days," she said. "This means we'll have to plan a calendar year by year."
Planning for the 2005-06 school calendar will begin Tuesday, Nov. 30, with a 3 p.m. meeting of parents, teachers and administrators, Nations said.
If at all possible, Jackson County will preserve its traditional weeklong spring break. However, most of the days scheduled will have to be teacher leave days, she said.
That means spring break days would become school days if winter weather forced repeated school closings.
Under the new guidelines it won't be possible to save holidays and use them as part of spring break, Nations said.
"We'll have to take holidays on holidays," she said. "We'll have to use leave days for spring break and hope for good weather."
The General Assembly's calendar legislation also mandates that teachers cannot work past June 10. Because teachers are entitled to 10 holidays per year, using those days as part of spring break would be risky, Nations said. To do so could mean a district would not have time to get in the required 180 days of school in bad weather years, she said.
Nations predicted Monday that the new calendar will impact local high school students the most, because it will no longer be possible to finish the first semester before Christmas vacation. Grades on end-of-course tests could suffer if students are not able to take exams immediately after classroom instruction is completed, she said.
The legislation passed last spring by the General Assembly reduces the number of teacher workdays from 20 to 15.
Nations said local schools will make the best of the hand they've been dealt by the legislature.
"We'll try to make the best calendar for everyone," she said.
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