Sutherland wants to align academic calendars
Staff Writer
AUGUSTA – Legislation submitted by Rep. Patricia Sutherland (D-Chapman) that would create a work group to prepare a draft model academic year calendar was approved Jan. 13 by a unanimous vote of the Legislature’s Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs.
The work group formed by LD 1563, “Resolve, To Develop a Model Academic Year Calendar,” would be comprised of superintendents and career and technical education directors. Currently throughout the state, many school administrative units and career and technical education centers have different calendars. These differences not only prohibit efficient and effective sharing of programs and services, but can also cost students important days of instruction.
“This bill would allow schools the ability to prevent the duplication of programs and services,” said Sutherland. “Having a model academic year calendar would eliminate the disruption students experience due to calendar differences and maximize regional resources.”
Representatives from the Department of Education, Maine Children’s Alliance, the Maine Principals Association, Maine School Management Association, and the Capital Area Technical Center spoke in favor of the legislation at the public hearing.
SAD 45 Superintendent Ed Buckley said he hoped the Legislature takes Aroostook County’s potato harvest into account when creating the proposed calendar.
“We have some schools that don’t close for harvest, while others close for either two or three weeks,” said Buckley. “The farmers still need the workforce, so we’re going to have to provide it.
“There’s also things like parent-teacher conferences which vary from school to school to take into consideration,” he said. “Parent-teacher conferences are pretty much covered in contracts, so you’d have to adjust contracts in order to adjust conferences … some take two days, some take a day, some take a day and a night.”
Buckley said his schools try to align their calendars with the Presque Isle and Caribou vocational centers.
“We do that so when we’re in school, we can send our students over there,” he said. “Otherwise the kids have to find their own rides over; we don’t provide transportation when we’re shut down. Maybe there’s a bigger issue with the school calendar in southern Maine; I don’t know.”
Other factors to consider, Buckley said, are in-service and storm days.
“In-service days vary from school to school,” he said, “and what happens when they have all those storm days downstate? We very rarely have a storm day. A lot of factors have to be thought about, and all of Aroostook County is going to be difficult because of the harvest recess. That’s going to be a real stumbling block. It would be hard to have a uniform calendar in Aroostook County right now, much less throughout the state, but it gives us something to shoot for. We’ll have to wait and see.”
A report including findings and recommendations for legislation and policy changes would be submitted by the work group no later than Feb. 1, 2011.
The full House and Senate will consider the bill in the upcoming weeks.
