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Fulton students last to class in 2010
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FULTON COUNTY – Gone are the days when metro-wide calendar committees attempted to synch school calendars for all of the metro school systems, given the reality many staff members live in one county and work in another.
While Spring Break is still generally the same week for all area public school systems, the start dates for next year are all over the board – from proposed July starts in Atlanta City Schools for a year-round option to Aug. 23 for Fulton County youngsters in 2010. Both Cobb and Gwinnett County are looking at calendars that will start school Aug. 9 or Aug. 16, while Cherokee County has already adopted a calendar with an Aug. 2 start date.
"We've all really gone on our own at this point when it comes to the school calendar," said Katie Reeves, school board member for the Fulton County School System.
Giving in to intense lobbying from parents demanding a later start date, the Fulton County Board of Education approved a 177-day calendar for the 2010-11 school year which starts school on Aug. 23, 2010, and ends May 27, 2011. This final calendar came after months of looking at a multitude of calendar options and wading through thousands of e-mails from the community on both sides of the debate.
The start date for 2010-11 is two weeks later than the Aug. 10 start of school for this year, and is a compromise for those who had pushed hard for a post Labor Day start. While a few members of the board supported such a late start, it was not possible to do so and keep end of course tests for high schoolers prior to the Winter Break. That situation appeared to be the unavoidable obstacle with such high stakes for students involved.
Although three days are being trimmed from the current 180-day school year, the school system is actually increasing the hours of seat time by nine hours for each student by giving up the five Early Release Days and adding 10 minutes to each day. The board is discussing allowing schools flexibility to use the extra time where they see fit, i.e. adding it to a specific subject.
While school board members batted around statistics and debated how time spent in class affects student achievement, the issue was purely budgetary. Faced with declining revenues at the state and local level, school systems across the state are looking for ways to cut budgets. The 177-day calendar is anticipated to save $1.1 million each year from reduced expenses in transportation and facility operations and some personnel costs.
However the elephant in the room will continue to be staff salaries which account for nearly 90 percent of the overall budget. While students get a shortened school year, teachers will continue in their 190-day contracts.
A more likely scenario to help struggling school systems will be a statewide mandatory furlough of teachers, expected to be decided when the state legislature convenes in January. Already, Fulton has had three days of mandatory furloughs this school year, with four more a possibility later in the school year. Those three days alone saved Fulton Schools nearly $7 million at the start of the school year.
To create the proposed calendars, a 17-member Calendar Committee reviewed school board policy, testing dates, major religious and national holidays, and also examined new state calendar guidelines. The school board rejected the calendar committee's recommendation for an Aug. 16 start date.
The only "nay" vote came from Roswell board member Linda Schultz who has been an opponent of any calendar that strips days from the school year. While she said the 177-day calendar was a vote she could live with, she opposed an Aug. 23 start date saying it gave kids fewer days to prepare for statewide testing. 2010-2011 Calendar Highlights
First Day of School Aug. 23
Thanksgiving Nov. 24-26
Winter Break Dec. 23-Jan. 3
Spring Break April 4-8
Last Day of School May 27
Tags: Milton
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