School board delays alternative calendar
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Last updated 2/25/1997 at Noon
Instead, the board sent a proposal back to the administration for further work, with instructions to bring a revised plan back to the board on April 14.
The proposed calendar will put all grades, K-12 on the same schedule. This schedule will have a break in the summer of eight to nine weeks, with shorter breaks in the spring and fall of three to four weeks.
There were actually two votes on the alternative calendar. The first, based on a motion made by Harold Gott, sent the new calendar, the "pink calendar," with some changes, to the administration for implementation next year.
The vote was three to two in favor of Gott's motion, with Gott, Charles Warren and Jan van den Berg in favor, Board Chair Bill Reed and Connie Morris opposed.
Reed argued that a continuation of the traditional school schedule would be appropriate for another year or two. Morris believes more work needs to be done look at other ways to alleviate overcrowding.
Gott, Warren and van den Berg have said that the alternative calendar with shorter vacations would improve academic achievement and should be adopted regardless of the overcrowding issues.
And that's how the vote went. However, the vote on Gott's motion was reversed after a recess called by Reed.
During the recess, board members huddled for approximately 15 minutes and when they reconvened, Reed explained that the earlier vote had not been fully understood by all board members and asked that the motion to approve a plan be explained and voted on again.
Gott clarified that his motion would be a definite move toward adoption of an alternative calendar.
On the second vote, van den Berg voted with Reed and Morris and the motion failed.
It was then that van den Berg offered his motion, essentially the same as Gott's but without the mandate of a definite move toward an alternative calendar. Van den Berg said that he favored more review by the board of the alternative calendar, to make sure it would address parental concerns.
He also wants a calendar that will provide a smooth path to a multi-track system.
Superintendent Steve Swisher had recommended that the board take a "pro-active action rather than crisis reaction" and put planning on a multi-year path toward a solution.
Swisher recommended that the board adopt the plan included in the motions by Gott and van den Berg and that the board support a formal evaluation system to measure its impact over several years.
On Tuesday, Swisher said the delay until April may not be fatal to adoption of an alternative calendar next year, but would "possibly not give us as much time as we would like for people to become comfortable" with the proposed changes.
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