August, 18, 2008

Calendar Committee to Reconvene

Too early, too late, just right? Those questions will be the work of the Jeffco Public Schools calendar committee when it reconvenes next month to work on and possibly revise the school calendar for the next two years.

“We have heard from many parents that our August 12 start date this year was too early and because of that, we’ve decided to ask our calendar committee to come back together and work on the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 calendars,” said Jeffco Public Schools Chief Academic Officer, Debbie Backus.

The committee is made up of parents, teachers, students, staff and community members. The committee met over the course of four months and made its decision on the current calendar around four main areas of focus:

• Adding an October mini-break
• Final exams before the winter holiday break
• An adequate number of teaching days before student assessments in the spring
• A balance of instructional days between semesters

“The work of the committee is difficult because you can’t please everyone and we have to design an educational calendar that will provide the best learning opportunities for our students,” said Backus.

The calendar committee will begin its work in September.