School districts across the state have long complained about the lack of flexibility in their calendars, particularly when it comes to the first semester for high schoolers.
Chatham County’s public schools may not have to wait for the N.C. General Assembly to act to get that kind of flexibility.
The Chatham County Board of Education will be voting on a proposal next month to establish a new calendar that would place first-semester exams for high school students before Christmas break starting next year.
The plan was presented to the school board Feb. 11 during the board’s monthly meeting in downtown Pittsboro.
Janice Frazier, Chatham County Schools’ assistant superintendent for human resources, presented two drafts of the 2019-2020 school year calendar. One version would be similar to this year’s edition — first semester ending in mid-January and second semester ending in early June — with similar numbers of instructional days in each semester.
But a second version would have the first semester for high school students end on Dec. 20, 2019, with other schools ending their semester on Jan. 17, 2020. That would allow for high schoolers to take their major end-of-class exams prior to Christmas.
District Superintendent Derrick Jordan said a calendar committee sought input from teachers and stakeholders across the district before bringing the proposals to the board. A survey of high school teachers said 64 percent preferred having first-semester exams prior to Christmas.
“From an instructional standpoint, I think that we all agree that giving students the opportunity to complete exams prior to winter break is preferred,” Jordan said.
State law requires that public schools start no earlier than the Monday closest to August 26 and end no later than the Friday closest to June 11 and include a minimum of 1,025 hours of instruction. Both calendars, Frazier said, meet those requirements.
In recent years, citing desires for first-semester exams to be before Christmas and alignment with community college schedules, several state legislators have filed bills asking for local calendar flexibility to make that happen. This year, representatives have sought changes for Alamance, Catawba and Davie counties, among others.
State Sen. Valerie Foushee (D-Chatham) has said she is in the process of filing a similar bill for Chatham, and the school board approved a resolution last month seeking that flexibility.
Frazier acknowledged that there would be a significant disparity between the length of the semesters for high school students under the proposed change — 79 days for the first semester and 101 days for the second semester.
Jordan said other districts across the state have implemented this type of change, but many have been affected by severe weather events this school year, so data on the changes might not be reflective of the calendar alteration.
The superintendent added that the district’s teacher advisory council will meet this month and discuss the proposed change. The school board is planning to vote on the options at its March meeting.