On Saturday, school board member Terry Leve shared with his District 6 constituents an email outlining three proposed 2010-2011 Williamson County Schools academic calendars.
By Sunday, many Brentwood parents already heating up the internet, passing emails back and forth about the proposals.

The calendars, Leve wrote, will be discussed at Thursday’s WCS board work session. A vote is expected to follow at the school board’s regularly scheduled meeting Nov. 16.

Each year a calendar committee, comprised of teachers, administrators and Central Office staff make recommendations to the board. This year, wrote Leve, “The Board was presented with three alternative calendars to choose from, each of which differs significantly from our county’s past school calendars.”

He wrote he was disappointed by the proposals as presented but believes “edits are possible to make for a viable alternative.”

Leve shared the three proposals:

School would begin on Monday, Aug.9. The first semester would end on Friday, Dec.17. The second semester is proposed to start Tuesday, Jan. 4 and end Friday, May 20. If this proposal were to pass, school would start a week earlier than we have traditionally begun, and end 10 days before Memorial Day.

Proposed days off include: Labor Day; one day for parent-teacher conferences; two days for Fall Break; Election Day; three days at Thanksgiving, 17 days between the semesters for Winter Break; MLK and Presidents’ Day; one day for staff development (the Friday before Spring Break); five days for Spring Break (thus, creating a 10-day break); and one day for Good Friday. Spring Break is proposed to be March 21-25.

Finally, this proposal has 87 days of instruction in the first semester, and 90 in the second.

Graduation would occur from May 20-22.

The Late Start proposal is for school to begin on Tuesday, Sept. 7, and for the semester to end on Tuesday, Feb. 1. Second semester would start Thursday, Feb. 3 and end Monday, June 20.

This calendar takes 287 days to complete instruction. Proposed days off include: one day for parent-teacher conferences; Election Day; five days for Thanksgiving; one day for staff development in the fall; 16 days for Winter Break; MLK and Presidents’ Day; one administrative day between the semesters; Good Friday; five days for Spring Break; and Memorial Day. Spring Break is proposed to be April 25-29 (beginning the Monday after Easter).

As with the “Early Start” proposal, this alternative divides semester instruction into 87 and 90 days respectively.

Graduation would occur from June 24-26.

The Modified Start proposal is for school to begin on Monday, Aug. 16, and for the semester to end on Tuesday, Jan. 11. Second semester is proposed to start Thursday, Jan. 13 and end Wednesday, June 1.

Proposed days off include: Labor Day; one day for parent-teacher conferences; two days for Fall Break; Election Day; five days for Thanksgiving; 16 days for Winter Break; one administrative day between the semesters; MLK and Presidents’ Day; one day for staff development (the Friday before Spring Break); five days for Spring Break (a 10-day break); one day for Good Friday; and Memorial Day. Spring Break is proposed to be March 21-25.

This alternative divides semester instruction into 87 and 90 days respectively.

Graduation would occur from June 3-5.

In his email, Leve proposed what he pegged “the status quo calendar’ which is very similar to the traditional one Williamson County Schools has followed for the past several years – opening in August, concluding the school year before Memorial Day and having exams before winter break.

Leve asked constituents to contact him and other school board members to let them know what they think about the proposals. His email is terryl2@wcs.edu.