Every two years, the school calendars for two future years are deliberated and brought forward with staff and community input through negotiations for approval by the Board of Education.
In accordance with the collective bargaining agreement, representatives from the Palo Alto Educators Association (PAEA), the California School Employees Association (CSEA), and the District met in September to develop and negotiate the work calendars for the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 school years.
2011 Calendar Survey Results
In January, the Palo Alto Unified School District surveyed school staff, parents, and high school students to gather input on future school year calendars. The primary purpose of the surveys was to identify how various district constituents felt about those elements of the school calendar that had been the topic of discussion this fall—whether to end the first semester before the winter break, how much variation to have in the length of semesters and, directly related, when to start school? If you are interested in the results of each survey, there are links below for each of the groups surveyed (High School Staff, Elementary/Middle School Staff, High School Students, and Parents).
The Board of Education is scheduled to consider school calendars for 2012-13 and 2013-14 at its April 26 meeting. The item will be third on the regular session agenda and will not start prior to 8:00 p.m. It is anticipated the Board will consider taking action at the May 10 regular meeting.
Presented Board Items
FAQs on Proposed School Calendar 2011-12 and 2012-13
Who adopts the school calendar?
The Board of Education of the Palo Alto Unified School District has the final authority to adopt the academic calendar for the district. Article VII, Section C of the Collective Bargaining Agreement with PAEA states that calendar development is part of negotiations for the teacher work year.
What considerations did the Calendar Committee use in configuring the proposed calendars?
The committee uses the following criteria to begin building the Calendar.
- Include 186 teacher workdays (180 student instructional days, 3 staff development days, 3 teacher workdays)
- Have two semesters with similar instructional days
- Take into account the needs of all grade levels K-12
- Balance workdays and vacation/holidays
- Follow legal guidelines
- Consider staff, student, parent, and community input
- Consider academic/program needs to support student learning and social/emotional needs
- Consider external calendars that impact the schools (Stanford, CIF, state & national testing windows, etc.)
- Be formatted effectively for people to understand and use
Other considerations in building the calendars were:
- Staff, student, and family opportunities may be impacted by shortened summer break
- Numerous instructional days are lost in second semester due to testing, special schedules/activities, etc
- Allow for more instructional days prior to AP exams (first two weeks of May)
- Paly WASC recommendations included suggestion that finals occur before winter break
- Student and parent organizations presented information on student stress with a request to complete finals before winter break
- Semester exams after winter break did not allow students to have a “real break”
- Homework free winter break language on previous calendars was not policy and not perceived by students to be followed by all teachers
Why is PAUSD considering an earlier start in August for the 2011-2012 and 2012-13 school calendars?
A major reason is that staff believes a more cohesive semester maximizes instructional time and reduces student stress. The 2010-2011 calendar cuts off instruction for two weeks just as students are approaching the end of the semester. Students then need additional review when they return to school just to get back up to where they were when they left for winter break. Many of our middle and high school teachers know how disruptive it can be to review areas of the curriculum lost over the winter break. The proposed early start calendar will also allow more instructional time to occur prior to the standardized and advanced placement tests our students take in late April and early May.
Did the committee consider ending the semester before Winter Break but keeping the same late August start date?
The committee did consider this idea. The proposed calendar does not incorporate this idea because several school departments have semester-long courses that would be substantially impacted by the uneven semesters. A traditional start with finals before the break would necessitate an 81-day first semester with a 99-day second semester in 2011-12. This 18-day difference would seriously affect a teacher’s ability to cover the necessary material in the course description in the first semester.
What are some of the arguments in favor of starting school earlier in August in order to end the semester before Winter Break?
Arguments in favor include:
- The material being tested in semester finals will be fresh in students’ minds
- Students do not have testing hanging over them during the winter break
- Testing after break is inefficient because it requires longer review time for students to get back up to speed
- Requires an isolated “semester break” day off in January
- A recent WASC report for Palo Alto High School recommended finals before break
- A poll of over 1000 Paly students showed a 70% preference to have finals before break, during the previous calendar adoption, SHARE (Palo Alto School District Student Health Awareness Committee) and SOS (Stressed Out Student Committee) both strongly supported the pre-break finals
What are some of the arguments for keeping the current calendar start date and not ending the semester before Winter Break?
Arguments against starting earlier in August in order to end the semester before Winter Break include:
- Some seniors use December to complete college applications, not to prepare for finals
- Some teachers use the winter break to write recommendations and to grade work
- Many students use winter break to catch up in classes and to be better prepared for finals after the break
- The weeks immediately prior to the winter break are also a time for family events
- The earlier August start date conflicts with traditional family vacations
- Since most schools are not air-conditioned, the hotter temperatures in August negatively impacts instruction
What do other districts in the surrounding area do?
A survey of school calendars for districts with high schools in Santa Clara, San Mateo, and Marin counties found:
- In the three counties, 15 of the 21 districts have pre-break finals. That includes 8 of the 12 unified districts
- In Santa Clara County, 7 of 11 districts and 4 of 6 unified districts have pre-break finals. In 2008 it was 3 of 11 and 1 of 6. The number has more than doubled in two years
- San Mateo: 4 of 6 districts have pre-break finals, 1 of 3 unified and the only districts without pre-break finals have 1 high school each
- Marin: 4 of 4 districts have pre-break finals, including 3 of 3 of the unified districts.
- None of the districts have switched back from pre-break finals
- Most of the districts with pre-break finals started in the third week of August, one week earlier than PAUSD’s current school calendar.
Why give separate holidays for Lincoln’ Birthday and Washington’s Birthday? Why not have a single “Presidents’ Day?”
The committee has no choice in on this issue. Education Code 37220 specifies that schools must give off the Monday or Friday closest to Lincoln’s birthday, and the Monday or Friday closest to Washington’s Birthday.
Why is the Wednesday before Thanksgiving a local holiday instead of an instructional day?
Attendance records indicated that a substantial percent of PAUSD students were absent on the Wednesday when it was a minimum day, greatly diminishing the instructional value of the day.
Why are some staff development (SD) days scheduled during the year rather than outside the school year?
School staff have generally found that a SD day six to eight weeks into the school year Is helpful. Professional development is an ongoing process for staff. When new textbook or curricular adoptions take place, often the most effective professional development strategy is to spend SD time before school starts for the staff to review the new materials in greater depth, develop new instructional techniques, and then have another SD day in the fall to bring staff together to continue that professional conversation after teaching from the material for six to eight weeks.
Is summer vacation shorter with the proposed calendars?
This is true for the first year of the transition. The summer of 2011 would be 9 weeks in length because of the one week earlier start to the 2011-12 calendar. The following summers will then continue to be 10 weeks long.
One argument against the pre-break finals is the added stress for seniors taking finals and completing college applications at the same time. So, when are the college application deadlines?
College applications deadlines vary greatly from college to college. The earliest deadlines begin in early November for Early Decision applications. Most regular admission deadlines are in early January, but may be as late as May. The following are typical deadlines:
November 1-15 Early Decision/Action: Most selective colleges
(e.g. Stanford, Harvard, Michigan, MIT, Pomona, Georgetown)
November 30 Regular Decision: All UC and CSU schools
(e.g. Cal, UCLA, Davis, SJSU, Cal Poly-SLO, Santa Cruz)
January 1-6 Regular Decision: Many selective private colleges (e.g. Stanford, Williams, Pomona, Princeton, Kenyon, Duke, BC, Cornell)
January 7-15 Regular Decision: Other colleges
(e.g. Santa Clara, USC, Georgetown, San Diego, Oregon, Colorado, UPS)
February 1 Regular Decision: Other private or public colleges
(e.g. Michigan, Lewis & Clark, UOP, Gonzaga)
Will the earlier start date on the proposed calendars mean that fall sport athletes will have to come back even earlier to begin practicing?
The start date for fall sports practice is not affected by the school calendar. The California Interscholastic Federation sets sports practice start dates each year for all schools. In 2010-11, the first day of practice for fall sports was August 13th.
How may I submit comments regarding the proposed calendars?
Please send emails to calendar@pausd.org prior to October 19.
When will the Board of Education take action on the proposed calendars?
The Board of Education is scheduled to discuss the calendars at their October 26 regular meeting and to take action at their November 9 regular meeting. Meetings are held at the District Office Board Room, 25 Churchill Ave., at 6:30 p.m. Board packet materials are posted the Friday prior to the Board meeting at http://www.pausd.org/community/board/agenda.shtml. Proposed School Calendars for 2011-2012 and 2012-2013  presented in the September 28 Board packet. |