A special called meeting of the Aiken County School Board gave members a chance to get answers on a modified school calendar proposed for the 2023-2024 school year.
Members of the Board of Education voted Jan. 25 to tentatively approve a recommendation from Superintendent King Laurence to institute a modified calendar similar to one being used in other districts in South Carolina, including Edgefield and McCormick counties.
But the January vote included a caveat: the board wanted answers, a comprehensive plan, to address several concerns voiced by board members and parents before the modified calendar was instituted.
A meeting called on March 1 devoted just over an hour to discussing questions ranging from the impact the modified calendar will have on athletics and band to what changing the scheduled days off will mean for family vacations and parents who share custody of their children.
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Much of the discussion centered on the so-called “intercession” weeks. Laurence said those weeks are designed to help students struggling with their classes.
“It really is looking at the students who were in the greatest need, taking a look at that, who our bottom 20% of students are. Those would be that would be the first group of students who would be invited to participate,” he said. “The first year we’ll be going off of the experience that we have from summer school, and the experience that we gained from school districts who have already accomplished this.”
District six representative Dwight Smith was skeptical about the anticipated results.
“Being an old educator, being an administrator, I’m having heartburn with trying to swallow the fact that we’re going to remediate our children, the 20%, the way they need to be remediated,” he said. “I just don’t see us getting what we think we’re going to get. I know these other counties are telling you and maybe I can get over this between now and then. Because I like it, but I just don’t feel like we’re going to be doing our kids the service that we’re saying we are.”
District two representative Jason Crane turned the discussion to athletics and band.
“I would really like to hear specifically from our athletics and our band programs, about the reduction of summer, and how that’s going to play into their practice schedule,” he said. “During the summer, that’s a big deal for marching band. And I know it’s a big deal for athletics. I’ll just speak as a former band kid. And then how’s that going to impact the athletic schedule in the school year?”
“As far as athletic competition is concerned, it shouldn’t have any impact at all. Those are going to be scheduled by the state and then and then when you get down to the middle school level and those kinds of things. We do our own scheduling for that. So, we would adjust that ourselves,” Laurence said.
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Board President Dr. John Bradley said he was concerned about the impact a change of this magnitude will have on parents and students after dealing with two years of disruptions because of COVID-19.
He was also unhappy about the small number of parents who responded to the surveys.
“I’m bothered by the fact that we only heard from 25% of parents. And I’m afraid the 75% that we didn’t hear from, are people who might be the ones we need to hear from the most. They may be the ones who are going to be most adversely affected by changes, if indeed, there is an adverse effect,” he said.
The modified calendar would still have students in school 180 days and teachers working 190 days. The change would be how those days are distributed through the year.
The modified calendar has July 25, 2023, as the first day of school. The Thanksgiving break is Nov. 22-24, 2023. Winter begins Dec. 20, 2023, and students return on Jan. 4, 2024.
The last day of school will be May 30, 2024.
There is a new fall break from Oct. 2-13, 2023. The first week will be one of the new intercession periods. Spring break will be April 1-12, 2024. The first week will be the second of the two intercession weeks.
The school board is expected to vote on the modified calendar during its March 8 meeting.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a general assignment reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com
