Calendar Committee seeks approval for 2015-16 calendar

Every year the calendar committee for Stillwater Area School District comes together to discuss and recommend a new calendar for the coming school year.  The committee is made up of district employees and parents. The Calendar Committee is working to finalize a calendar for the 2015-2016 school year and wants feedback from the community. The committee has developed two proposed calendars which are designed with the learning needs of students in mind.

Option one proposes to start school on Aug 31 and end on June 3. Students would attend school for 170 days in this calendar. The calendar was designed with more professional development time for staff built in throughout the year. Option two is a more traditional calendar. School would start on Aug. 31 and end on June 7. Students would be in school for 173 days, which is the same as the current school year.

The calendar attempts to give everyone an opportunity to plan ahead.  They see when vacations or trips can be planned.

The final recommendation will never make everyone happy.

Nelson explained , “We all like to plan and use our time differently.  We may want to start after Labor Day and go later into June.  We may want to start before Labor Day and get out earlier in the spring.  We all do not use our holidays the same.  We always have as many different concerns and we have people involved.”

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The School Board makes the final decision.

Junior high principal Mr. Ochocki said, “Being on the calendar committee is an exercise in patience.

Being a part of the committee takes up a lot of time and dedication.

Nelson explained, “ The school Board will have all the comments from those who post on the web.  They review the comments and make the final decision.  The calendar is presented at two Board meetings.  It is not adopted at the first meeting allowing everyone to comment.  It is voted on at the 2nd meeting.  The Board has the right to make changes from the committee’s recommendation.”

The new 2015-2016 school year calendar idea was proposed to the School Board on Feb. 27 and will be voted on in April.