The Juneau School District Board of Education may eliminate spring break for the 2012-13 school year, according to a proposal the board will take up tonight.
The proposal to axe the March break is to give a full week of instruction before the Standards Based Assessment tests, and consequently would end the school year a week earlier. A second proposed calendar includes spring break.
Aside from those differences, other changes include having no school during any level of parent-teacher conferences to avoid confusion (this year elementary and secondary schools have different dates and therefore different days of no school), and early release Mondays are on hold for next year pending a McDowell study of teacher feedback.
In other business, the board is expected to approve a fiscal year 2012 budget revision, ultimately adding $65,000 to the year-end fund balance. It also is expected to approve an adjustment in the food service budget, which has a $93,000 fund balance from 2011 remaining. The district proposes to take $63,000 and transfer it to Juneau-Douglas High School for activities. The rationale is that Mac's Cache was a student activity and the school fund suffered losses for that activity until it was taken over by food services. This would be a one-time reimbursement payment. The remaining fund balance would be shifted into the 2012 food service fund balance.
The board also will take a final look at success indicators proposed last month. The indicators identify seven areas the district wants to monitor and includes a list of measurement instruments, data reporting, responses to data and accountability for each section.
Tonight’s meeting is scheduled for 6:15 p.m. in the Juneau-Douglas High School library
For a full agenda and related documents see: www.juneauschools.org/board/meetings/packets.
• Contact reporter Sarah Day at 523-2279 or at sarah.day@juneauempire.com.
Comments (44)
Add comment@Persnickety Persimmon
I just read your profile, and it reads:
"Hi. I live in an ivory tower where I bathe in Perrier, eat caviar and fois gras for lunch every day, and spread liberal bias in the media with my almighty trust fund, all in a sinister effort to promote a secular-Islamist agenda in turning the world Marxist. I also kill puppies."
Yeah, I don't need to continue a conversation with you.
@alaska49 - p's basically
@alaska49 - p's basically harmless and only about 90% of his profile is true!
Engage him - it's enlightening to see how the other side thinks.
@Alaska49: I just read yours,
@Alaska49: I just read yours, too. It says:
"I come up with an excuse to disengage when someone disagrees with me and puts forth an argument I can't refute because I don't base my opinions on logic or facts.
I also like cake."
NCLB
Drop "no child left behind". most teachers are against this.
Oh! and I think PP is a female.
I wonder
It seems that about half of the people on this board complain that kids aren't in school enough and the other half acts like school is an inconvenience that gets in the way of family travel and sporting events. What I wonder is how many of you will actually take your comments to the next level and direct them at people who are in a decision-making position.
Here, I will make it easy for you. The school board has set up a specific email account to take comments on this issue. It is calendar@jsd.k12.ak.us
I have school-aged children in my life at every age and school level; toddler through high school. There are benefits and costs in making the change or keeping things the same. To me, those costs and benes are about equal, without a clear winner on either side.
Nothing I have read on this board has swayed me, and I can come up with a, "yeah but" arguement - as many of you already have. I will have to think on this some more before I send my email to the school board.
laughing...
I had such a hectic and busy day at work today...seeing this gave me he laugh that I needed. ;o)
keep it
Keep thanksgiving, Xmas, spring break & all federal (& state for that matter) holidays & make the school year all year long. Parents will have their babysitters free breakfast & lunch, the kids'll have their playmates we can hire additional administrative staff & school bus drivers (& some teachers) won't have to endure stupid tourist questions, like how far above sea level are we.
oriosbow1
PPs nothing but low hanging fruit, used to go by porcupine kisser, but changed its tag when empire reformatted their site. No matter just as a zebra can't change its strips PP or PK can't change its nastiness.
Inside Info
In my opinion, as a student at JD, this cut would only serve to artificially raise test scores, which doesn't make for correct test results. Also, in most of their recent actions, JSD has not really attempted to help the students OR teachers, with next generation, funding cuts, and an increase in Grad requirements. To answer other questions, the purpose of Early Release Mondays is so teachers can get together and talk about learning techniques, teaching skills, etc. Also, the main reason you see students at all hours of the day is as follows: Advisory & Enrichment periods (parts of next generation), provide a risk-free portion of the day for students to skip class. As there is no credit value, they have nothing to lose. Enrichment days are essentially a 65-minute lunch period, and Advisory is simply an annoyance which cuts into valuable class time. If the school district really wants to raise scores, they should cut the useless Next Generation program, and allow time for students to actually work.
Spring Break
I have no kids in the school system, but have had. Maybe what we should do is have 12 weeks of school, 6 off and just repeat it year round. This gives the kids ample time to learn and ample time to screw off, but some other countries use this system and the kids seem to learn better than having three full months off, it keeps the brain working.
While we're at it, let's also
While we're at it, let's also make sure children sign up for selective service. If adults can be drafted, why should kids get a free pass?
Your posts reek of resentment and insecurity, Grim.
It seems to me that removing
It seems to me that removing Spring Break (which is recognized by districts everywhere) is another foolish attempt by the District higher ups to be able to leave Juneau for the summer earlier. I have plenty of friends who are teachers and every single one of them hates the idea of not giving the kids and their families a break and time to travel and relax.
MAPS is a joke. I have three daughters who have been doing untold hours of MAPS tests for the past three years. I KNOW that this information is not used in any meaningful way for my girls. Their teachers were supposed to get time to use the test scores to help teaching, but the time is now mandated for PLCs (even though they still do the testing). I know that there are teachers that are upset because it takes away from their actual teaching.
Finally, when I asked one of my daughters about MAPS last night, she said that she was told her last score and that she should do better. That’s it. No specific strategies or information to actually let her know what she needed to study. Maybe that’s all my oldest daughter needs to do for her SAT…just know what she got last time. That will automatically make her do better.
I used to be a special education teacher in this state and I know when something is broke. Its too bad that it sometimes takes bureaucracy so long to recognize the damage it has done to our children.