Citizens debate best school calendar:Both sides have their say during public forum
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“I see no valid reason to change,” said Dibrell Elementary School teacher Sheila Gann. “If you can give valid statistical data to show our students would achieve better test scores, maybe. If not, I can’t see why. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. And if it is broke, don’t fix it with something worse.”
The forum was held by the school board as a way to gauge community feeling about adopting an alternative calendar next school year. Up to 10 people in favor of each proposed calendar, 45-10, 45-15 and traditional, were allowed to speak for three minutes apiece. No one, however, spoke in favor of 45-10.
Proponents of the 45-15 calendar, under which Bobby Ray Elementary has been operating since last school year, cited a number of reasons to adopt that calendar, including the school’s higher Value Added Gains scores on the TCAP assessment and higher morale among students and teachers since beginning the two-year pilot program.
“This community has been faced with several major decisions over the past couple of years that have come with many what ifs,” said Nick Gawel, father of a Bobby Ray student. “With this decision, however, you have the luxury of the 45-15 pilot program,” Gawel continued. “You don’t have to worry about what ifs. You can look at the differences they’ve seen.”
Another Bobby Ray parent, Lisa Davidson, said the 45-15 schedule has been a blessing for her family. “I support 45-15. It’s worked beautifully. There’s no burn-out for the students or teachers, the intersession time, when extended day care is open, is wonderful and we can better spend time with our kids as two working parents,” she said.
Not all in attendance were convinced of the Bobby Ray success story.
“In looking at Bobby Ray I think it would be too quick to change the whole system based on a year and half’s worth of information,” said Terry Gallagher. “As a parent, I have several concerns: Have you done an impact study? What about day care during the breaks? What about students with summer jobs?”
Carlene Brown, director of Parks and Recreation for the city of McMinnville, voiced her concerns on how an alternative calendar could affect the Civic Center and its summer programs.
“Our main concern is our new pool, which will be open for only summer use. The taxpayers will lose thousands of dollars in revenue if a traditional calendar is not used,” Brown said, noting an alternative calendar would also directly impact programs such as Kids Camp and the ability of the department to hire high school students during the summer.
Also in attendance Tuesday night was County Commission Education Committee chairman Bill Zechman, who thanked the school board for allowing the public to take part in the decision-making process and urged them to always keep the county’s education needs first.
“The major consideration to look at for any calendar is the educational benefit to our students,” Zechman said. “All else is secondary.”
As the forum was a listening-only session for school board members, no decisions regarding next year’s school calendar were made. Board member Deborah Watlington, who moderated the forum, said a decision could be made as early as next month, but no later than the board’s March meeting.