The calendar for the 2022-2023 school year has been approved in Aiken County.
The calendar includes a fall break originally proposed for a modified school calendar that the school board voted to delay.
The calendar has teachers returning on Aug. 8 with students back in the classrooms on Aug. 15.
The calendar includes a fall break from Oct. 17-21. That was one of the items from the proposed modified calendar that most people supported.
“The calendar action team felt really good about wanting a full week,” Eric Jeffcoat, elementary school executive director said. “We discussed doing some shorter breaks, long weekends, and they really were not in favor of that. The compromise was if we do a full week there, we would not do a full week for the Thanksgiving break.”
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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.
Laurence had wanted to start that calendar in the upcoming school year, but board members thought there was not enough time to prepare for it.
The district could move to the modified calendar in 2023-2024, but only after there is a comprehensive plan dealing with a number of issues that had been raised by parents who attended two town hall meetings and responded to a survey.
MORE: Aiken County school calendar change delayed until 2023-2024 school year
Under the 2022-2023 calendar the board approved Feb. 8 the Thanksgiving break will be Nov. 23-25, Christmas begins Dec. 19, 2022, with students returning Jan. 4, 2023. There is a Feb. 20 President’s Day holiday and spring break is April 3-7. The last day of school is June 8, 2023.
In other action, the board voted to approve incentive pay to boost teacher retention, particularly in high need and difficult to staff locations, as well as specific content areas.
“We’re focusing on at-need areas, both campus and subject matter,” said Jennifer Hart, Chief Officer of Human Resources and Administration. “Specific schools that have been identified as priority schools or more difficult to fill, higher vacancy rates, longer time to fill. There’s also critical need areas, content areas that we have a greater shortage in and typically take longer to fill.”
A $2,500 sign-on bonus will be paid to newly hired teachers working at four elementary schools, Ridge Spring-Monetta, Busbee, Greendale and North Aiken. It would also be paid to new hires at Ridge Spring-Monetta Middle and High Schools and A.L. Corbett Middle School and Wagener-Salley High School.
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The same bonus would be paid to newly hired teachers in Special Education and Middle and High School Mathematics as well as school psychologists and speech language pathologists.
A teacher hired in one of the targeted schools and within one of the specific disciplines could be eligible for a $5,000 sign-on bonus.
Special Education teachers currently employed by the district who transfer to one of the eight identified schools would be eligible for the $2,500 bonus.
The sign-on bonuses would end on Sept. 30, 2022, unless the board extends them. It is estimated the district would spend $250,000 on the program.
The board also approved extending the current Summer Program Pay through this summer. The hourly pay ranges from $16 for bus monitors to $45 for lead teachers. The goal is to incentivize employees to sign up to work during their normal off periods.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a general assignment reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com
