Published: August 25, 2008 04:46 pm         

Kids are in school, but still no calendar in place yet

School may be in session, but the rest of the 2008-'09 school year remains a mystery.

During Friday's special-called meeting, the Cumberland County Board of Education decided to start school on Monday but save the task of choosing a new calendar for a later date.

"What we will do is register on Monday until 10 a.m.," said Director of Schools Aarona VanWinkle. "Then on Tuesday, we will have an administrative day at each school, giving them time to organize ... before the first full day of school begins [on Wednesday]."

The motion to start school on Aug. 25 passed 6-1.

Voting in favor of the motion were school board members Brian Houston, 1st District; Robert Safdie, 2nd District; Board Chair Shirley Parris, 3rd District; Victor Randolph, 6th District; Mary Smith, 7th District; and Dan Schlafer, 9th District.

While Rick Smith, 4th District representative, was not present to vote, Gordon Davis, 5th District representative, preferred starting school on Wednesday to give parents and personnel more time to adjust.

After some thought, Safdie made a motion for the board to reconsider starting on Monday and allow the audience to provide feedback on which day they preferred to start. The motion died for lack of support.

Two complete calendars were then presented by Bruce Simmons, director of curriculum and instruction for K-5th grade, for consideration.

Both of the calendars included several days off for holidays, such as Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Presidents' Day and Memorial Day, and breaks for fall (October 13-17), winter (Dec. 22-Jan. 2) and spring (April 10). If 10 days or less are missed due to weather, students could be off for two more days for staff development (Feb. 13, April 13 and May 22).

In addition, both calendars showed students at school until 11 a.m. on Dec. 19, the last school day before Christmas, and returning to school on Jan. 5.

The calendars differed when it came to the months of March and June. While one only included the April 10 spring break, the other one had a second spring break on March 6-10. The extra time off pushed back an administrative day from June 4 to June 11 and changed the last day of school for the calendar.

“If we have both spring breaks, the last day of school is June 12, and if we don’t do that, the last day is June 5,” explained Schlafer.

The board seemed to prefer the calendar that ends on June 5 because it provides more academic time before students take the TCAPS on April 4-24. However, voting was held off for another day because the adoption of a new school calendar was not on the agenda. One could be approved at another special-called meeting or the board's monthly meeting in September after the public has an opportunity to share some input.