After more than 80 percent of staff responded to a survey in favor of a modified calendar, the Lowndes County School District has announced it will consider implementing one for the 2023-24 school year.
Prior to the public announcement, administrators and staff completed a survey asking how they would favor adopting a modified calendar. LCSD Superintendent Sam Allison said a superintendent advisory team shared the ideas with the schools’ staff before the survey was sent out.
“At (the administrative) level, it doesn’t affect us a whole lot,” Allison said. “We’re looking at ways that we can do things better and better reach kids. … We put out a survey just to see if there would be interest, and over 80 percent of teachers and faculty were in favor of moving forward. So now we’re trying to get the information out to parents and try to answer questions.”
Modified calendars are commonly referred to as “year-round school,” but the school calendar is still 180 days for students and 187 for teachers.
The proposed calendar LCSD posted on its website has the 2023-24 school year beginning on July 27, 2023, and ending on May 30, 2024, for students. It includes an intersession around both fall and spring breaks after the first and third nine-weeks, respectively.
The district is hosting input meetings at different school campuses next week for parents and guardians to learn more about the calendar and for the district employees to answer any questions the parents may have.
There will be four meetings beginning Monday and ending Nov. 10. The first meeting will be at West Lowndes Elementary School at 5:30 p.m. One at Caledonia Elementary will follow at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, while Wednesday’s meeting will be at 5 p.m. at the Career Technical Center and the last meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 10 at New Hope High School.
The district has also set up an email for those who cannot make the meetings to ask questions and voice concerns or their favor for the modified school calendar. Those interested in using this form of communication can email [email protected].
LCSD’s Public Information Officer Chelsea Vincent said the district wants to foster ongoing conversations following the meetings, and they are the first step to allow parents and guardians to know the benefits of a modified calendar.
“It’s going to be an ongoing communication process,” Vincent said. “There’s going to be open discussions among staff and parents. … The one thing I’m seeing is that parents just want a better look at what the modified calendar would look like, but I think a lot of parents are waiting for the meetings next week to find out more information and have those open conversations.”
In determining whether to propose a modified calendar, Allison said he looked at districts like Petal and Lamar County, and he spoke with Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District Superintendent Tony McGee as the only district in the Golden Triangle currently with a modified calendar schedule. SOCSD began its modified calendar this school year.
He said while he’s looked at some things SOCSD is doing — such as intersessions with accelerated learning to allow students who are behind in school work or credits to catch up and enhanced learning to offer new learning opportunities for students — he mostly wants to focus on helping students who fall behind in the first and third nine weeks.
“The first thing, the most intriguing thing, a modified calendar provides is an opportunity to fill gaps, remediate, outside of the normal school day,” Allison said. “One of the biggest challenges we face is education differentiation, which means meeting the needs of all students at all the different levels. Once a student falls behind, it’s always going to be a struggle. The calendar offers an opportunity where helping the students can be the focus in small groups.”
Because the intersessions, like SOCSD’s, will not be part of the 187 work-days for teachers, Allison said the district will need volunteers for those days. As the district is still in the beginning stages to see if a modified calendar is best for all, there was no number of how many teachers will be needed or how much they would be paid, though Allison said the advisory team is looking at ways to obtain the money for teachers.
“If it helps grow kids, we’ll find the money whether it’s through federal funds or district money,” Allison said. “There’s a lot of talk about how to get funding (to pay those who work during intersession). We feel comfortable there. … I think you always have to be looking at different ways to be better, or you don’t move. We’ve been successful. We’re proud of the success we have, and there’s always room for improvement.”
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