Alexandria Schools Will Not Apply for Pre-Labor Day Start Date
However, superintendent will seek some changes to the calendar for this school year.
Alexandria City Public Schools' superintendent has recommended that the city's school system not apply for a waiver to open school before Labor Day next year.
However, Superintendent Morton Sherman is recommending some changes to this year's calendar in an effort to increase professional development time, according to School Board Chairman Sheryl Gorsuch.
Sherman plans to change some of the early release days into full days off for students.
Sherman's detailed proposal will be presented at the Nov. 3 School Board meeting and requires board approval.
Additionally, the "School Board will focus our energies on legislative changes in the upcoming General Assembly," Gorsuch said via email to Patch.
Steven
6:06 pm on Monday, October 24, 2011
What does this mean for MVCS's year-round calendar?
Drew Hansen
8:24 pm on Monday, October 24, 2011
That's a great question, Steven. We'll look into it.
twise
11:14 pm on Monday, October 24, 2011
The superintendent's argument for starting Alexandria's schools before Labor Day was that it would provide for more instructional time during the school year. Now the superintendent wants to take instructional time away during this school year by changing student instruction time to teacher professional development time. This is simply outrageous. Every school year there is a full week at the end of August before students come back to school when teachers and staff have professional work days. How was that time used this year and why was it not used to address the current professional development proposed by the superintendent? Why is the recommended professional development required of our teachers? The suggested dates are within the coming months. Why the urgency and how will this change in calendar schedules impact families? Is there public outreach to make the community and families aware of these proposed changes? This appears to be the latest notion thrown together at 3AM with little thought to the impact upon the system or community.
Joanna Serth
9:16 am on Tuesday, October 25, 2011
I have a student at MVCS and I have to agree with some of the points "twise" makes here. I'm surprised that a school calendar isn't "set" at the beginning of each school year. Making changes at this point seems to me like a sign of disorganization and a team working without a clear plan or direction.
msherm
9:06 pm on Sunday, October 30, 2011
We have had TAG and ELL services at my daughter's school eviscerated by some program that goes by the moniker Success for All at a cost of more than $800 per child. There's a rumor that Sherman's new lap dog, Gwen Carol Holmes, was recently the CEO of the company.
Larry Altenburg
8:44 am on Monday, October 31, 2011
A quick Google search identified Dr. Holmes as the former COO of the Success for All Foundation.