DeKalb Schools is in the process of putting together the school calendar for the next couple years (2018-2020 calendars)
The Calendar Committee is charged with presenting calendar options to the DeKalb County School District’s community of stakeholders. Stakeholder input, for non-calendar committee members, will be collected through a survey/questionnaire that will be posted on the webpage and pushed out via DeKalb’s app, social media, email networks, local school websites, and other organized communication efforts.
The Calendar Committee will have representation from a variety of stakeholder groups, including students, parents, community members, school-level staff, and district-level advisors. Each school will select six representatives from the identified stakeholder groups to participate in the random selection process: one student, two parents, one community member, and two school-level staff members. Teacher Groups/Organizations have an opportunity to weigh in on the calendar options through teacher membership on the calendar committee and/or through the stakeholder survey.
Inclement Weather/Emergency Days:
In recent years, the Calendar Committee identified only one inclement weather day. For 2018-19 calendar, and going forward, the committee has been charged with the identification and designation of five inclement weather/make up days each semester.
December 4, 2017
The Superintendent will present and discuss the 2018-2020 calendars with the Board of Education (BOE)
January 8, 2018
BOE will discuss and vote on the 2018-2020 calendars.
| 2018-2019 Metro Atlanta Area Calendars | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calendar Attributes | Atlanta Public Schools | Clayton County | Cobb County School District | City Schools of Decatur | Fulton County | Gwinnett County | Henry County | Rockdale County |
| Pre-planning | July 26-31, 2018 | Not Posted as of Nov 2 | July 25-31, 2018 | Not Posted | July 31 – Aug 3, 2018 | Not Posted as of 11-2-17 | July 23-27, 2018 | July 23-27, 2018 |
| First day of school | Aug 1, 2018 | Aug 1, 2018 | Aug 1, 2018 | Aug 6, 2018 | July 30, 2018 | July 30, 2018 | ||
| Fall Break | Oct 8-12, 2018 | Sept24-28, 2018 | Sept17-21, 2018 | Sept17-21, 2018 | Oct 1-8, 2018 | |||
| Teacher’s Workday | Oct 8-9, 2018 | NA | Oct 8, 2018 | Oct 5, 2018 | Oct 8, 2018 | Oct 8, 2018 | ||
| Nov 5, 2018 | ||||||||
| Election Day in | NA | Nov 6, 2018 | Nov 6, 2018 | NA | Nov 6, 2018 | Nov 6, 2018 | ||
| Nov/Staff | (half day) | |||||||
| Workday | ||||||||
| Thanksgiving Break | Nov 19-23, 2018 | Nov 19-23, 2018 | Nov 19-23, 2018 | Nov 19-23, 2018 | Nov 19-23, 2018 | Nov 19-23, 2018 | ||
| Last day of 1st semester | Dec 21, 2018 | Dec 21, 2018 | Dec 21, 2018 | Dec 20, 2018 | Dec 21, 2018 | Dec 20, 2018 | ||
| Winter Break | Dec 24, 2018 – Jan 4, 2019 | Dec 24, 2018 – Jan 4, 2019 | Dec 24, 2018 – Jan 2, 2019 | Dec 21, 2018 – Jan 4, 2019 | Dec 21, 2018 – Jan 7, 2019 | Dec 21, 2018 – Jan 4, 2019 | ||
| Post planning 1st semester/Pre- | Jan 4, 2019 | Jan 3-4, 2019 | Jan 2, 2019 | Jan 3-4, 2019 | Jan 7, 2019 | Jan 4, 2019 | ||
| planning 2nd semester | ||||||||
| First day of 2nd semester | Jan 7, 2019 | Jan 7, 2019 | Jan 3, 2019 | Jan 7, 2019 | Jan 8, 2019 | Jan 7, 2019 | ||
| Feb Break | Feb 18-22, 2019 | Feb 18-22, 2019 | Feb 18-22, 2019 | Feb 15 and 18, 2019 | Feb 18-25, 2019 | Feb 18-22, 2019 | ||
| Inclement Weather Day | NA | NA | Feb 18-19, 2019 | March 8, 2019 March | NA | Oct 1-5, 2018 | ||
| March 11, 2019 | 11, 2019 | Feb 18-22, 2019 | ||||||
| April 1-5, 2019 | ||||||||
| Teacher’s Workday | Feb 18-19, 2019 | NA | March 11, 2019 | March 8, 2019 March | Feb 25, 2019 March | Feb 5, 2019 | ||
| March 18, 2019 | 11, 2019 | 18, 2019 | (half day) | |||||
| May 24, 2019 | ||||||||
| (half day) | ||||||||
| Spring Break | April 8-12, 2019 | April 1-5, 2019 | April 8-12, 2019 | April 1-5, 2019 | April 1-5, 2019 | April 1-5, 2019 | ||
| Last day of school | May 24, 2019 | May 22, 2019 | May 24, 2019 | May 23, 2019 | May 24, 2019 | May 24, 2019 | ||
| Post planning | May 28, 2019 | May 23-24, 2019 | Not Disclosed on Posted | May 24, 2019 | May 28-29, 2019 | May 28, 2019 | ||
| Calendar | ||||||||
| Number of days 1st semester | 92 | 91 | 90 | 91 | 91 | 92 | ||
| Number of days 2nd semester | 88 | 87 | 90 | 89 | 86 | 88 | ||
| Total number of school days | 180 | 178 | 180 | 180 | 177 | 180 | ||
CALENDAR DEVELOPMENT CONSIDERATIONS
Calendar Attributes:
• The calendar contains 180 student-contact days.
• The calendar contains a maximum of 190 teacher days.
• The calendar includes one evening workday comprised of parent-teacher conferences (2 per semester). Conference schedules are determined by individual schools.
• The calendar contains nine teacher workdays.
• The state designated testing windows and dates are considered during the development of the calendars.
• The calendar includes designated inclement weather days each semester.
• In recent years, the District has chosen not to employ ½ days or early release days; however, the committee may consider ½ days or early release days.
Inclement Weather/Emergency Days:
In recent years, the Calendar Committee identified only one inclement weather day. For 2018-19 calendar, and going forward, the committee has been charged with the identification and designation of five inclement weather/make up days each semester.
2018-2020 Calendar Committee Scope of Work and Status Report
• Randomly select committee members and notify them via email (In Progress)
• Gather calendars from metro area districts (In Progress)
• Gather testing calendars from Research, Assessments and Grants (Completed)
• Develop survey and communication plan (In Progress)
• Publish survey for stakeholder feedback (Not Started)
“Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue.”
Thank you for providing this information Stan. As a block schedule parent, I would hope the calendar committee would also include under considerations having the same number of days in each semester. Even a 2 day difference means one semester is short changed basically 4 days of instructional time while the other semester has an additional 4 days of instruction time for the same content.
For transparency sake, can you ask the district to publish the members of the calendar committee? Stakeholders should know who is making the recommendations rather than hide behind anonymity.
Thanks for all you do to keep us informed. Wish other BOE members would be as engaged.
Also, can we get new people on the calendar committee? It seems to always be the same people year after year that are on all the committees. I agree with AB, if the county is going to keep doing block scheduling in some schools, then the first semester and the second semester have to have the same number of days.
I’ll find out who is on the calendar committee. Where do you recommend we add the days to the 2nd Semester?
Honestly, what is the ROI on block scheduling? Doesn’t this look like a good time now, to look at a 7 period day? Then we really do not have to worry about making each semester equal. I know years ago we asked under Dr. Lewis leadership about the ROI and they said they would get back to many of us that asked. I know I have not asked lately, but I am asking now. Just a thought.
Where will these 5 days per semester come from? Are we now starting the school year earlier and ending later to accommodate these days? Or, are they going to make holidays double up as make up days? If so, you are now potentially reducing holiday breaks such as Thanksgiving, Winter Break and Spring Break from your students and staff.
Lastly, going from 1 day a year to 10 seems a bit like overkill. Years ago there were 3 bad weather make up days built into the second semester- all on Fridays. Can’t DCSD find a happy medium?
The school district is going to identify 5 inclement weather days. That means the school district will identify 5 vacation days that will be turned into school days should school be closed due to inclement weather. I imagine one of them will be election day. DeKalb Schools is usually off the Thursday and Friday before Columbus Day for Fall Break. I forsee the school district using that Thursday and Friday as inclement weather days. So, we’ll have those days off unless school is unexpectedly closed due to inclement weather or other unforeseen emergency.
Nothing stirs folks up more than the school calendar- with the possible exceptions of redistricting and FNN t- shirts.
As for me, give me summer, or give me…summer. I do not understand this passion for attending school during the month of August and sending teachers back for preplanning in July. It’s bad for the economy as summer vacations spots in Georgia close down, bad for families with out of state relatives, bad for the environment as we put buses on the road during times of heavy smog, bad for the the schools that have to crank up AC units to the extreme.
These long holidays during the semester aren’t good for education. Continuity is lost, and kids come back after a random week out needing a day or two to get back in gear. Give me a 3 day weekend every now and then and I’m good to go.
Let’s start the year in mid August at the earliest, even if it means exams in January.
Agreed. Add FNN shirts to the list of triggers. I enjoy the philosophical civics discussion. As for the rest … I guess haters gonna hate.
Why are Summers getting shorter? – You bring up one of the most common questions. Different areas have different needs. Areas with the most academic challenges prefer to have as short a Summer as possible. Students forget more the longer the Summer is … aka the Summer Slide.
The public puts a lot of pressure on school administrators to perform academically. I gently put a lot of pressure on the Superintendent to perform academically. I think academic performance drives this more than anything else.
Edugator…. summer is either mid June to Mid August (roughly 2 months) or all of June and all if July (again, 2 months). There is no real loss of summer, just a shift.
Yes wit, I have that. I’m a fan of the time shift, not added days to summer.
The Superintendent is supposed to present the calendar on Dec 4. I still haven’t seen any documentation on this agenda item.
Any update on the calendar and who is/was on the committee?
Hello, did the BOE meet and vote on Jan 8? Is the calendar for 18-19 set? Do we know the first day of school for sure? Trying to plan a summer vaca with Northern Va cousins. We get out a month before them and go back a month earlier. Throw in swim team or any camps there is not much to work with! Having the dates is a good place to start! Thanks
Yes. The first day of school is Monday Aug 6, 2018. I’ll post all the details later today. –Stan
I agree mid August is a better schedule for returning to school. Still no 2018-2019 calendar posted. Who makes up the committed to redistrict schools? I feel we need a completely new committee, because the one that is currently in place has not made wise redistricting decisions, I live 2 blocks from Freedom Middle School, but they bus my grandson to Stone Mountain Middle School. They closed Rockbridge Elementary School 2 1/2 years ago to rebuild the School but never knocked a brick out until late last year. But my 5 year old grandson had to get up at 5 am to get ready for school. Keep in mind that in kindergarten they no longer allow them to take naps in school. But wonder why the kids are sleepy. Schools shouldn’t be closed until they are ready to demolish the old school and start building the new one. They bused the kids across town from Stone Mountain to the other side of Columbia Dr. in Decatur. Now the kids are in the new Rockbridge Elementary,(as of the Thursday when they came back from winter break) about 3 blocks from the house.They want to send them to another school miles from home again, what they need to move or remove is some of these teachers and get more educated ones. DeKalb County School’s are almost on the bottom of list when it comes to education in every subject Why??? I sent my grand kids to the after school program, when I checked their homework most of it, if not all was wrong , (I’m talking about 1st grade and 4th grade work) but these are the same teachers that teach our kids in the classrooms at that school. I showed the Principle several times the pictures of what the teachers stated they helped the children with. These kids need to stay at Rockbridge Elementary, they have traveled to fare for to long. It’s not fair to the kids nor is it fair to parents. Let’s work on getting better teachers please, that needs to be the top focus point blank.