Christopher J. Marczak
By Chris Marczak
We want your vote..one more time! The Oak Ridge Board of Education has asked for one more community vote for the two calendars that are being proposed for the Oak Ridge School system starting for the 2015-16 school year.
The first vote collected on Feb. 10 showed English-speaking parents favored the balanced calendar 1,094 to 183; Spanish-speaking families were split down the middle with a 43-to-43 vote; and staff favored the balanced calendar 395 to 176.
The two calendars being proposed are called a traditional calendar and a balanced calendar. Both of these proposed calendars have been looked at and discussed by the district’s Curriculum and Instruction team; a district Calendar Committee comprised of teachers and administrators; the Superintendent’s Parent Advisory Board made up of parents from all schools; Superintendent Bruce Borchers; and me. Both calendars give staff and parents a choice in the type of calendar they want for the children of Oak Ridge.
The traditional calendar is the calendar that most of the Oak Ridge schools have had for quite a while. Students come to school in the middle of August, have a one-week fall break, two weeks off for winter, a one-week spring break, dismissal at the beginning of June, and an eleven- to twelve-week summer.
The balanced calendar is a new calendar that Oak Ridge has never had before. It is called a balanced calendar due to the balance that it gives for instructional time in the classroom—about nine weeks at a time. Students typically arrive for school the first week in August, have a two-week fall break, two weeks off for winter, two weeks off for spring break, dismissal at the beginning of June, and a seven- to eight-week summer. The balanced calendar is not like the Willow Brook Elementary or PreSchool calendar where students start school in mid-July and have three-week breaks.
Opportunities with having the balanced calendar mean that during the two-week fall and spring breaks, schools are able to offer time for students to make up things they missed in instruction, called remediation, or offer opportunities for students to extend their learning, called enrichment. In addition, because of the shortened summer when compared to the traditional calendar, students are able to get back into the classroom quickly to continue their learning.
All parents and Oak Ridge staff will have the second opportunity to vote for their choice of calendars for the 2015-16 school year. On Thursday, March 13, both groups will receive another automated call out vote. All parents need to communicate with their child’s school to make sure their primary phone numbers are accurate in our call out system. All parents will get to vote again on Thursday, March 13, at 6 p.m. All staff will get to vote again on Thursday, March 13, at 7 p.m.
The two voting options will be: Press 1 if you would like the balanced calendar for all schools for the 2015-16 school year; or Press 2 if you would like the traditional calendar for all schools for the 2015-16 school year. A message at the end of voting will let all parents and staff know that their vote was counted.
We are excited to see how both the parents and staff vote, a second time, for either of the proposed calendars and the comparison to the calendar vote that was conducted on Feb. 10.
Chris Marczak is assistant superintendent Oak Ridge Schools.
See the traditional calendar here:Â 2015-2016 Traditional CalendarB
See the balanced calendar here:Â 2015-2016 Balanced CalendarB
David Allred says
Quick clarification… is the traditional calendar B, or is the balanced calendar B? 😉
johnhuotari says
Sorry, David. I’m not sure why the B is in there, and I probably should have removed it before uploading these documents.
The voting options are in the second-to-last paragraph in the guest column above.
Dave Smith says
Para Espanol, marque ocho.
Karen Thompson says
What information about each calendar’s impact was discussed? “…calendars have been looked at and discussed by the district’s Curriculum and Instruction team; a district Calendar Committee comprised of teachers and administrators; the Superintendent’s Parent Advisory Board made up of parents from all schools; Superintendent Bruce Borchers; and me.” Has any of this information been shared with the community?
Michael Embree says
the answer is, as everyone suspects, no
David Allred says
I’ll just be glad when the vote’s over because I honestly don’t care one way or the other. I’d be more interested in our community having an honest and open debate about whether what is best for test scores is ultimately what is best for children… or honestly, is a series of great test scores what’s best for education at this point?
http://www.amazon.com/The-Mismeasure-Education-Jim-Horn/dp/1623963915
A great read for those curious enough to take a hard look at the questions, although it’s not light reading by any means.