The Gilbert Unified School District is asking parents and staff their calendar preference for next school year. The district sent out 35,000 invitations to participate in the survey, spokeswoman Dianne Bowers said. It includes questions about using a modified year-round calendar or three different options for the traditional August start the district now uses.
A handful of East Valley districts — including Chandler Unified School District — and charter schools use a modified year-round calendar, with a start in late July, longer fall, winter and spring breaks, and an end date in May.
Results of the survey will be discussed in a work study session Dec. 4, with a board vote shortly after.
Ty Meeop posted at 6:39 pm on Thu, Nov 29, 2012.
Placing two-week interuptions throughout the school year, as in the Chandler and Queen Creek districts, totally disrupts the academic continuity of the school year. A one week fall break and spring break is difficult enough and changing those to 2 week breaks will only make it worse. Athletics will also be disrupted. Athletes will be unable to attend practices and games because of family vacations (again something that is already difficult enough with the one week fall & spring breaks). And, of course, it will be hard to justify the additional expense of air conditioning the buses and classrooms during peak summer heat when the budgets are supposed to be so tight.
WesternConnections posted at 3:30 pm on Wed, Nov 28, 2012.
BIG Question: Exactly who among the many GPS constituencies had input into the "five calendar options" GPS selected for this survey? We wonder why only these five options are offered. (Yes, it’s the Gilbert way to offer a pre-ordained set of constrained choices and then claim that the community has spoken.) We’ve heard many people say that starting school at the hottest point of the year (July/August) is crazy and expensive in this climate; they were advocating for the traditional school dates of post-Labor Day through early June. According to SRP, the absolutely most expensive time of the year for electricity is July 1-August 31 each year. SRP distinguishes those “Summer Peak Hours” from regular “Summer Hours” (May 1-June 30 and Sept 1-Oct 31) for their time-of-use discounts for valley residents and businesses.
Based on what we’ve seen the GPS administration do in the past, the current board probably will be told that they MUST vote on this RIGHT NOW on December 4th, that there’s no other option than whatever he has already decided GPS will do. Ready, Fire, Aim!! Don't let the new board members (who will have to live with this decision) have any input!