Shorter summer for students
up for debate again?
by Kathleen E. Conroy
kathleen@thecharlotteweekly.com

“The school calendar issue is still bigger than life down at the General Assembly; and with the threat of other opposition bills hanging over us, it is critical that legislators continue to hear from their constituents,” said Louise Lee, president of Save Our Summers – North Carolina.

SOS-NC is a volunteer coalition of parents, grandparents, education professionals and others who seek to establish, protect and maintain a more traditional school calendar throughout the state.

SOS-NC played a large role in the passage of House Bill 1464 (which, when signed into law, became SL 2004-180) during the 2004 session of the General Assembly. More commonly called the “School Calendar Bill,” it establishes a calendar framework to apply statewide – mainly that N.C. schools are not to begin before Aug. 25 – while still giving local boards the ability to fine-tune to meet the needs of their districts. Built-in provisions allow for waivers and exemptions when certain criteria are met.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools currently devises its annual school calendar following the 2004 law, meaning school begins no earlier than Aug. 25 each year.

According to SOS-NC, the N.C. Association of School Administrators, in a recently printed pamphlet, placed “revise the public school calendar law” as the No. 3 priority for the 2007-08 session. The administrators’ group opposed passage of the school calendar bill in 2004.

Now recent literature issued by the group shows that, based on online surveys of its members in September 2006, “the following objectives have been identified as issues that the organization respectfully requests the N.C. General Assembly to address during the 2007-08 biennium.”

• Grant local school systems the flexibility to set the school calendar based on students’ and their communities’ needs.

• Realign the public school calendar with community college and university to facilitate dual enrollment and enhance educational opportunities for students.

• Reinstate five teacher workdays, which were eliminated by law changes in 2004, since those days are essential for professional development of school personnel.

Four N.C. House bills and two N.C. Senate bills regarding school calendar changes are currently pending .

For more information on where bills are within the state legislature or to find out about Save Our Summers NC, visit www.saveoursummers.com.

CMS’s academic calendars for 2007-2008, both in English and Spanish, and 2008-09 can be found at www.cms.k12.nc.us/discover/calendar/calendar.asp.