What do you think? Should SCSD #1 consider an alternative calendar?

4 Comments

  • Tracy Hoover - 13 years ago

    Our summers are very short as it is, so I would like to enjoy it as much as possible. We know June is lousy, so having all of August is great. I know the high school is pretty much empty on Friday's, so the 10 most scheduled Friday's I think is a good alternative.

  • Greg Anderson - 13 years ago

    The Crook County School District in northeast Wyoming releases students at 2:15 on Fridays. This allows additional travel time on Fridays for athletics and also creates time for staff meetings. 45 or 55 minutes doesn't seem like much, but it does minimize the missed class time for many of the athletes. I think this "early out" schedule would work great for all 3 Pinedale schools.

    I appreciate calendars that are approved 2 years in advance. This allows parents to plan spring break or Christmas vacations well in advance. If you travel or have a non-traditional family this extra time is very important.

  • Michele Costello - 13 years ago

    I would support the idea of looking at the Fridays in which most high school events are scheduled and having those as teacher work days and release days for our students. I would support this from a teacher's point of view as well as a parent's point of view! I know a lot of students say nothing happens in class on Fridays when students are gone. But from a mother's point of view... there is something happening because my daughter spends a lot of hours on the weekend trying to complete all of the homework! Please consider this as soon as possible... its been an issue in our district for many years. There has been a lot of talk in the past about the alternative schedule. This is the first time I have heard the idea of just doing the 10 most scheduled Fridays! I love that idea!

  • Janna Lee - 13 years ago

    Our previous school was under a 4-day week school schedule. It worked well for MS & HS students. The school district was very strict about keeping the 4 days in school dedicated to classroom time only. Sporting events, field trips, teacher inservice days, etc. were scheduled on Fridays. Teachers were happier with the 4-day schedule and became very focused on making the most of their class time during the week. Longer homework assignments were made over the weekend and kids in sports didn't have so much work to try to make up. There was a reduced cost for the district in busing, heating, decreased hours for paraprofessionals, janitors, secretaries--which was the reason our previous district first went to an alternative schedule.

    There were down sides to the 4-day week. Longer school year--mid-August through mid-June, daycare issues for parents on Fridays, longer school days were difficult for younger students, less physical days for student contact, sports practice runs later, tired students by the end of the week.

    I would like to see an alternative schedule that considered most missed school days related to activities vs. a full 4-day school week option. There are definitely days when most of the high (or middle) school students are not in class. My boys have both noted that not a lot gets done in their classes on those days--especially when their teachers are coaching. We would be willing to start the school year in August to accomodate some schedule adjustments. I do hope that the district will keep the block schedule in high school. It is wonderful for our son to take 8 classes per year with the alternating A/B days. I would not want to see a decrease in the amount of contact time students have in their classes. Our last school cut the contact hours down to the bare minimum to meet state requirements. Please keep standards high here in the district for our students!

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