By Amanda Estes
Staff Writer
            The Scarborough School Department distributed surveys to parents earlier this month asking for their preferences regarding two calendar options for the 2007-2008 school year following the Board of Education's first reading of the choices on April 5. With only four members present, the board unanimously voted to move the second calendar option- in which the orientation day for students entering a new school will be August 30 and the first pupil day for all students will be September 4-to a second reading.
            Annalee Rosenblatt, chair of the Board of Education, said it was the first time she could recall the board being given options to choose from. The calendar option that failed to get board support called for the student orientation day and the first pupil day to take place on Aug. 28 and Aug. 29, respectively. Last Wednesday, Rosenblatt said she was surprised when she saw the survey with three options in an email Friday morning. She said she responded to it and another board member contacted administrators to correct the projected in and out dates. 
    At press time, the surveys had yet to be tallied, but Superintendent David Doyle said the district received nearly 1,000 parent responses. Doyle said the purpose of the surveys was not to have parents vote on the options presented to the Board, but rather to get an estimate of parents' opinions on whether students should start before or after Labor Day, which will fall on Sept. 3. In talking to parents, he said the general consensus was students should start school following the holiday.
    "It's not a true feeling that it always needs to be after Labor Day," said Board Member Colleen Staszko. "I would be supportive this year of possibly looking at doing a couple of days before Labor Day…because Labor Day is not that late this year," she said. Staszko said she would also like the district to consider having two teacher days before the start of school.
    The 2007-2008 calendar draft calls for early release professional development days to increase from seven to fourteen. Dismissal times on these dates will also be one hour earlier. To make up for the lost instructional hours, the draft calls for three new student days to total 180 student days for the year. Not including any snow days, the last day of school would be June 17.
    "More sustained, more frequent professional development is better for teachers and ultimately better for students," said Rosenblatt. She said the earlier release times would provide teachers with two hours within the school day for development needs. Rosenblatt said this aspect of the calendar should have been included in the parent survey, as parents will have to arrange child care and high school students may have to arrange rides back to school for extracurricular activities.
    Doyle said Scarborough has had seven early release days for several years and there hasn't been a lot of negative feedback from parents.
"Most of the students that go to day care…the arrangements are already in place," he said. The increase in early release dates is the result of staff feedback and "the direction coming out of Augusta for more frequent opportunities for teachers to meet," he said.
        The second reading on the 2007-2008 calendar is scheduled for May 3.