Conflict of Interest Discloser

	BEEVILLE ISD 2010-2011 School Calendar FAQ The following frequently asked questions and answers provide some of the reasoning in the development of the school calendar. 1. What determines the school start date? In spring 2006 the state legislature passed legislation in House Bill 1, that Texas schools cannot begin classes before the fourth Monday in August, with no provisions for a waiver. For 2010, this date will be August 23. 2. What is the process the District will use to determine the 2010-2011calendars? To establish the 2010-2011 calendars, representatives from each campus, special education, central office, athletics, parents and community members will meet to develop and propose a school calendar. The committee will also consider community and campus staff input during the development process. The Calendar Committee will use a set of parameters to guide the work of developing a recommendation to the Superintendent by December 2009. An online survey will also be posted October 13 through October 20, 2009 for staff, parents and community members to seek their input. The Calendar Committee‘s first meeting will be held October 22, 2009. The Committee will go over guidelines and survey results. The Calendar Committee will meet again on November 5, 2009 to review calendars that were developed. The committee members will take the sample calendars to their constituencies and review the calendars. The committee will meet again on November 12 to discuss calendar similarities and develop three calendars by the next meeting. They will come back on December 3, 2009 to decide on the top three calendars. The three calendars will be placed on the website. The principal and consultants will have a closed vote during their faculty meeting. Parents and community members will be allowed to vote at any campus or central office. The last day for voting will be December 16, 2009. The calendar selection will be announced December 18. 3. How many days must children attend school? The state requires 180 days of attendance, but districts may apply for waivers down to a minimum of 175 days to use for staff development purposes. In 2009-2010, BISD has 177 days of instruction as adopted by the Board of Trustees. 4. How many days are teachers required to be in attendance? State law requires teachers to be on duty for a minimum of 187 days. BISD teachers are currently on duty 187 days. BISD strongly supports the professional growth of its teachers in order to remain proficient on state curriculum requirements, share and learn new teaching techniques, and to have time to plan in subject matter teams. Teacher Work/Planning Days August 21; Jan. 4; May 29, 2009-2010 Teacher Staff Dev. Days Aug. 14-20; Oct. 30; Jan 18, 2009-2010 5. Why are there professional development days for teachers? Before school starts, teachers need time to develop their instructional plan for the year, and to work with grade level or content peers. During the school year, occasional staff development days are needed to assess how students are doing with the instructional plan, and to make adjustments where needed. Also, teachers need time to absorb new instructional techniques, and immediately apply the knowledge learned back in their classrooms. In the 2009-2010 calendar, teachers had five professional developments and one workday prior to the start of school. There are two professional development days and one workday scheduled during the school year, and one workday following the last day of school. 6. Could teachers take professional development classes during the summer? Many teachers do take professional development classes during the summer. Teachers use the summer to take university courses to further their credentials. It is also important to schedule training days inside the school year so teachers can immediately apply new teaching strategies in the classroom and for remediation of struggling students. Scheduling mandatory staff development during the summer would interrupt teachers’ college course work, work study trips, and supplemental jobs. 7. What happens when school ends later than Memorial Day? Given the mandated late August start date, and the District’s desire to maximize instructional days, finishing school prior to Memorial Day weekend is not possible with the traditional length Thanksgiving, Winter and Spring breaks. Ending school after Memorial Day compromises the number of instructional days prior to early May\ Advanced Placement (AP) tests. A student can earn college credits towards a degree by passing an AP test, as well as passing Dual Credit classes, at costs lower than traditional college tuition fees. In addition, by starting college with some credits already earned, students and their families will have to pay college tuition rates for a shorter period of time. The early start date and possible later end date has an impact on students’ preparation for Advanced Placement (AP) Tests. Since these tests are given at dates predetermined by the College Board (generally early May), a later school start date in August results in less time available for instruction before the exams, possibly compromising the ability to get a passing score. Ending school after Memorial Day can affect both graduating students and teachers needing to begin summer school at colleges and universities, many of which begin the week after Memorial Day. Additionally a later end date affects the ability of BISD students and teachers to get and begin summer jobs. 8. How will the district receive public input into the calendar development process? See question #2 9. Can there be a difference in the number of days per semester? Yes, there can. However, efforts are made to “balance” the number of instructional days each semester to accommodate secondary courses offered on a semester basis. All TAKS testing days are scheduled in the second semester, so these are subtracted from the actual number of instructional days per semester. An increase of eight to ten days in the second semester over first semester would effectively “balance” the semesters’ number of Instructional days. Other than balancing the semesters to accommodate testing dates, semesters should not be drastically different in length, because some semester courses would be covering more information than others though students are tested on the same material. BISD high school students have options to participate in more rigorous Dual Credit courses on a semester basis, whereby they earn college credit for certain designated classes. Since the classes are conducted on a semester basis in alignment with the Coastal Bend College schedule, finals must occur prior to Winter Break. However, if the BISD first semester was not scheduled to end until January in order to balance the semesters, Dual Credit finals would take place prior to the end of first semester thus compromising the amount of instructional time completed prior to Dual Credit testing. 10. Do bad weather days affect the calendar? By state law, the district must provide for two bad weather days in the second semester. Should weather conditions postpone instructional days, the day would be made up by eliminating one or both of the second semester holidays. In the 2009-2010 calendar, there are two bad weather days identified. 11. How do graduation and college schedules affect the calendar? The ability of students and teachers to attend college during summer semesters is a consideration. Many colleges’ summer sessions begin in late May during the week following Memorial Day. Many students like to, or are required to, complete some college work prior to entering a university in the fall semester; and teachers who need or wish to take college courses during the summer often like to take the first summer session to enable them to have a break later in the summer. College summer school courses are densely packed into a five week schedule. Missing one day is like missing a week of class since so much material is covered each time the class meets. However, most colleges and universities do offer two summer school sessions, and those wishing to take college courses during the summer could consider attending during the second session. Some students conclude their high school requirements midyear. Their intent is to begin college in January. By concluding the first semester after winter break, these students would more likely have to wait until summer or the following fall to enter college. Additionally, some colleges require a transcript with first semester grades by early February prior to a student being selected for admission. If first semester does not end until mid January, this might be a problem. 12. How does the testing schedule impact the calendar? Most students have five to eight testing days in the Spring semester. In order to balance the number of instructional days in each semester, eight days are usually subtracted from the second semester total to see how it aligns with the total number of instructional days in the first semester. For example, in the 2009-2010 calendar, there are 80 students’ days in the first semester, and 97 in the second semester. By subtracting 8 from 97, there are about 89 instructional days in the second semester. There is an eight instructional day difference between the two semesters, which is not ideal, particularly for classes that only one semester long. Students taking the same class second semester will have approximately eight more instructional days in class, which could make comparisons between first and second semester grade unequal. The majority of TAKS testing now occurs during the first week in March and the last week of April, which are one week later than recent testing history. 13. How do holidays affect the school calendar? Traditionally the following are the holidays the district has traditionally observed with time off from school and work. With the late August start date, the holidays listed in bold will be student holidays during the 2009-2010 school year. Labor Day Columbus Day Thanksgiving Christmas Day (included in Winter Break) New Year’s Day (included in Winter Break) Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Presidents’ Day Good Friday Independence Day Memorial Day 14. How do energy costs affect the school calendar? Certainly the cost of electricity is a consideration. August is a hot month, and buildings have to be cooled when school is in session. A later start date reduces the number of August days that all schools need to be completely cooled. A later start in August sometimes pushes the end date past Memorial Day in May, which is usually somewhat cooler than August, thus potentially reducing the amount of air conditioning needed. 15. Is there evidence to show that students do better on finals when they are after winter break? There are multiple factors that affect academic achievement, but there is no direct evidence that the calendar is a determining factor. It is likely the December absenteeism rate would be higher if semester exams were given in January, thus reducing the likelihood of successful finals results due to reduced instructional time. Teachers report teaching days were lost when final exams were given in January in previous years, because they had to spend significant time reviewing class material prior to testing. Students were more apprehensive about taking the exams then, thus reducing satisfactory results. 16. How much does student absenteeism cost the district? Every day an enrolled student is absent in a 178 instructional day calendar, costs about $30 in lost revenue from the State. Multiply that times the number absent each day for all 178 days and the financial impact becomes significant. For example: If 6% of students, or roughly 210 students, are out on a single day the District loses about $6,300.00. 17. Is the start date influenced by football and extracurricular? No. The University Interscholastic League (UIL) sets the start date for football practices for all districts. Currently, Volleyball and Football practices start in early August. UIL has not yet made any provisions to adjust this schedule in light of the later August start date mandated by the Legislature (see question # 1 above). According to (UIL) Band cannot start preparing for competition before August 1. Fundamental marching practice and music rehearsal can be held at any time during the summer.