By Nate Jones

Staff Writer 

This summer’s vacation could be as short as nine weeks if the school board follow a suggestion to begin school a week before Labor Day. School officials are also considering reducing the number of early release days in the upcoming school year. Both topics were discussed in a school board meeting scheduled for Thursday after the Leader’s deadline.

Superintendent David Doyle said the school year has typically begun just before Labor Day, and he believed students were “ready to go” back to school earlier in the summer, which means they could be released sooner in the spring.

 “We prefer to have them a few days before Labor Day to get them back into the swing of things,” he said.

Scarborough High School Principal Patricia Conant said she would rather return to classes earlier in August than delaying summer any longer than necessary.

“In mid-August students start feeling positive about school; they haven’t been there for a while,” she said. “When June comes around [students] are pretty much done with us.” 

Conant said by July and August students have adjusted to the summer climate.

School Board Member Annalee Rosenblatt said she did not plan on supporting a school calendar that begins before Labor Day, as it was “educationally unsound.”

“The summer’s too short as it is,” she said. “From my perspective, it’s wasted time.”

Last year’s school calendar began on Aug. 29, three days before the Labor Day holiday, with a teacher workshop followed by a full school day with only grades kindergarten through second, third, sixth and ninth attending.

The first full day of school for all students was the day after Labor Day, Sept. 4. 

“I’ll say that it was nice starting after Labor Day,” School Board Chairman Chris Brownsey said. “But next year Labor Day is so early, I’m just not sure what the board’s going to do.”

Doyle said the last day of school this year has been pushed back to June 23 due to the five snow day cancellations this winter.

“The fact we’re going to be in school until June 23 is not positive for anybody,” Conant said.

Brownsey said the school board has received a great deal of feedback from parents concerning the 2007/2008 calendar schedule. Many parents feel that their children should be spending more time at school, he said.

“The increased number of early release days and the snow cancellations have created a sort of staccato attitude this year, which has been difficult,” Conant said.

Rosenblatt said although she voted for the additional early release days last year, she said they were “too many” and “too long” after receiving input from teachers and parents

“Not only did it inconvenience people, but it also made people really aware of the change. It was probably the most email I’ve ever gotten in response to school policy,” she said.

Brownsey said while the early release days do not directly affect the amount of time students are in the classroom, it can interrupt the educational flow.

“[The school board’s] goal is to add more educational time,” he said. “Less early release days mean less interrupted time, which is the most effective way for students to learn.”

Doyle said the increase of early release days was an attempt to allow educators more time to interact with each other concerning the various projects going on in the schools

“We went to 14 [early release days] to see if it fit what we were trying to do,” he said.

The superintendent’s office was going to suggest there be only seven early release days in the upcoming school year, Doyle said.

He said many educators felt the 14 early release days didn’t allow them enough time to prepare for the workshops and develop strategies for the projects they were working on.

“At least some of the staff were not enamored with the idea of more early release days,” Rosenblatt said. 

 Conant said unfortunately the school often does not know what projects they will need to schedule training for until after the school calendar is voted on. 

“I’ve seen everything from early release days every Wednesday to none at all,” Conant said. “My preference would be to have the time spaced to be applicable to the topic being addressed. It really depends on what we’re talking about that particular year.”

This year the school addressed a wide variety of issues including educational intervention programs and curriculum coordinating. 

“[Teachers] are all over the map in what they were doing,” she said. 

Rosenblatt said she believed the additional early release days also could have had an indirect effect on the shortfalls in the school budget.

“Students weren’t eating lunch at school, but we still had the same operating expenses,” she said. 

To contact Nate Jones call 282-4337 or email news@scarboroughleader.com.