School District 43 won't go it alone in changing summer, spring and winter breaks, the board of education was told Tuesday.
SD43 superintendent Tom Grant said Metro districts want to make sure their school calendars are aligned to avoid problems for families, teachers, sports teams and other extra curricular programs.
Even summer school could be affected if schools make changes to their school calendar, which are now allowed under the School Act.
"Most people were arguing for consistency and planning for consistency," Grant told the board.
Next year, SD43 will have a two-week spring break to save money, an extra day added to the Remembrance Day long weekend, plus regular winter and summer breaks. There will also be four district-wide professional days and two flexible dates for school-wide pro D days.
The board is expected to approve the 2013/'14 calendar at its next meeting.
Still, there is some interest in a balanced calendar that would spread breaks more equally throughout the year and shorten the summer vacation period.
Approximately 25% of respondents to a SD43 survey want the district to do more research on a balanced calendar and some people expressed concern about the loss of learning over an eight- to nine-week summer break, according to assistant superintendent Carrey Chute.
But he said 70% of 1,152 respondents stated they like the current calendar.
