- November 7, 2024
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Proposed changes to Flagler Schools' 2017-18 school calendar, which would impact staff and student schedules, have been effectively tabled until at least March following the Feb. 21 school board meeting.
The board voted 2-2 to reject the recommendation of Schools Superintendent Jacob Oliva to adopt a 179-day calendar which would have added 15 minutes to the school day of middle and high school students and pushed the start and end times back 10 minutes at elementary schools. Without the required quorum (school board member Colleen Conklin was absent from the meeting), the motion failed to pass.
Currently, students attend schools 180 days spread out over two semesters. But with the closure of schools due to Hurricane Matthew last fall shortening the Thanksgiving break in order to meet the state requirement for classroom instruction, the school board charged a committee made up of school administrators, faculty and parents to study options for reconfiguring the school calendar in such a way that might build in extra cushioning to allow for closures due to emergencies.
That committee submitted a draft calendar that would have had the 2017-18 school year beginning on Aug. 10 and ending May 25. With one less calendar day, however, more time had to be added into the daily schedule of secondary-level students to meet the state's requirement for 900 hours of instruction. It was decided that the only way to add 15 minutes per day for middle and high school students and to avoid the cost of additional buses would be to have elementary schools start and end 10 minutes later. That way, the same buses that are rerouted to carry elementary and secondary students would have enough time to make their routes.
Oliva cited the need to pass a resolution for the amended school year so that faculty had enough time to plan their class schedules for next year.
At the Feb. 21 meeting, school board member Andy Dance introduced a motion to table the vote for several weeks so that, as he said, the district might have more time to better explain the issue to parents and get community feedback. He did not receive a second on that motion, so it failed.
Fellow school board member Janet McDonald agreed that the issue needed more discussion and was concerned in particular about how the changes might affect staff and parent work schedules.
School board chair Trevor Tucker voted to accept the 179-day calendar, saying, "It's February now and we need to make a decision." School board member Maria Barbosa also voted in favor of the change, with Dance and McDonald dissenting.
Dance said, "We either do things with the community's say or not. ... We have the opportunity to make it a positive; otherwise, it's going to be a negative on us."
With the calendar not approved, the issue will be taken up again at the school board's next workshop, March 7. If there is no more discussion at that point, it could then be added to the agenda of the next regularly scheduled board meeting, March 21, for another vote.
