Few changes likely for Newton school calendar

Newton Community School District students may be waving goodbye to their four day weekend in January next year if the district approves proposed changes to the school’s calendar district, administrators said.

District administrators, teachers and board members met Wednesday night during a meeting of the School Improvement Advisory Committee at the EJH Beard Administration building in Newton to discuss proposed changes to the school year calendar for the 2018-19 school year.

Administrators are only looking at making a few small changes to the calendar, Brett Miller, principal at West Academy said. Miller said the district wants to make sure the calendar is consistent, something they feel makes it easier for parents.

The proposed calendar would start the 2018-19 school year on Thursday, Aug. 23, and the last day of classes would be Thursday, May 30, 2019.

The revised calendar features a few minor tweaks; including eliminating a four-day weekend for students in January. This year teachers had a professional development day the Friday before Martin Luther King Day, and both students and teachers had the holiday off. Miller said he’s heard feedback from parents that a four day weekend is too long of a layoff coming on the heels of winter break, and he doesn’t think teachers will be opposed to the change. Carving out time for teachers to meet in their Professional Learning Communities, or PLCs is important, Miller said.

“The main thing is keeping the consistency with the early out Mondays so teachers can meet in the PLC’s,” Miller said. “That gives teachers a time to collaborate and work together.”

The change would also mean the district would only have a single snow day on the calendar, President’s Day. After school was canceled for weather-related issues earlier this snow, students will have school on President’s Day this year.

Administrators also discussed potentially moving the district’s spring break up a week, in order to coincide with DMACC’s spring break, March 20-24.

The school’s calendar is based on a 400 minute school day, giving students a total 1,122.25 hours for the school year. That’s more than the 1,080 hours the state of Iowa requires, and a 42.5-hour cushion for days when schools are have a late start due to weather-related issues. The district calculates time for students by the minute, but contracts with teachers are for a specific number of days. During the 2018-19 school year, teachers would be contracted for 196 days, a number that includes professional development days when they don’t meet with students. Miller said as a parent he understands time set aside for professional development, including the early out Mondays, can present a challenge for parents, but it’s an essential time for teachers to prepare.

“I know it can be a challenge, but you’re giving teachers time to get better prepared for when they’re in front of students instead of having them working at home until 10 p.m. every night,” Miller said.

NCSD board member Graham Sullivan, who led Wednesday night’s meeting, said she understands it can be difficult for parents to adjust their schedules on the early out days. As a parent, she said she often picks up other students to ease the strain on their parents while she’s giving her own kids a ride home.

“I think it’s a change that you have to adjust to, but now that we’re in the swing of it, it’s been OK,” Sullivan said. “For parents that don’t have flex time I’m sure it’s a big change.”

Administrators will take the calendar to teachers next to get their feedback, Miller said, and the group plans to meet again next month to finalize the calendar before sending it to the school board for their approval, which would likely happen sometime in March.

“We feel confident that this is essentially the same calendar would likely be approved,” Miller said.

Contact David Dolmage at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or ddolmage@newtondailynews.com