Board gets first look at calendar
By LAURA THORNBURG
Staff
The members of the Alleghany County School Board were presented with a 21st Century calendar plan that has been discussed among members of a calendar committee for two weeks prior to the meeting.
If adopted, the working draft—which includes periods of intersession work—would have schools starting around the first of August and ending in early June. Throughout the year, students would have regularly scheduled breaks, including one week in the fall, three weeks at Christmas and two weeks in the spring. The breaks would offer instructional opportunities for students who are falling behind, enrichment opportunities for other students and some would provide makeup days for inclement weather.
The night marked the first time the board saw the calendar; it will be brought before the board again during next month's meeting.
"This is a draft that the calendar committee has been discussing," Cox told the board, noting there has been feedback on the plan thus far. "Tony (Hall, assistant superintendent) has led the process…we have heard a few concerns but overall have had a very positive response to the calendar. I wanted to go over it a little bit with the board here tonight…
"This calendar is not the typical calendar that we've had every year," Cox continued. "This one we're looking at for next year is what we're referring to as a 21st Century calendar. The board may recall last year we had some conversation of having a year-round calendar being considered. Ultimately, we found that was something we did not want to pursue, but there was some talk of it…For a lot of different reasons, we elected not to go that way. What we've done with this calendar (was take) the benefits of the year-round calendar and benefits of the traditional calendar that we've used and we tried, the best we could, to capture the benefits of both. I think overall we've got a calendar (that) captures the best of both worlds."
Intersession periods could be for remediation for students, as well as enrichment activities for students. Enrichment activities could possibly include building model rockets, taking a hiking or canoe trip, or having a "mini-camp" with members of the local theater groups.
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