Bad weather during the construction projects in the Columbia School District has forced a change in the school calendar.
During last Thursday’s meeting of the Columbia School District Board of Trustees, new Superintendent Jason Harris discussed the issue with the Board.
“Our Seattle weather has caused a few problems,” Harris said. “I had a conversation with Chris Albritton (Albritton Construction, the bond issue project contractor) about the schedule and we determined that we would get more bang for our buck if we were to go ahead and have the teachers come back on Aug. 2 and the students start on Aug. 7. This schedule buys us an entire week without students where things can get done.”
The changes will require some other modifications to the school calendar, according to Harris. He and other administrators have also been working to align the local calendar with state standards.
“The removal of an early dismissal day in October is because you are only allowed to have two per year,” he said. “It was early dismissal, but we truly weren’t dismissing early. I’m not sure what the intent of that day was. You would have been getting out after 1 p.m. and technically you could have gotten out at 11:45 a.m. We were basically getting out of school an hour early. Instead of a 60 percent day, we were doing an 80 to 85-percent day. We called it an early release day, so we needed to remove that. In lieu of that, we’ve changed the Christmas holidays where Dec. 15 will be a full day and we would come to school on the 18th and 19th, which would be an early release day. Most schools would be out by around noon. That’s the best we can do. It’s just got to stop raining.”
Board President Marie Shepard spoke about the revisions.
“Hopefully, this will allow the construction to get done and we won’t have to modify it again,” she said.
The Board then voted for the revisions and will begin notifying teachers and students of the changes.
“We’re going to look at sending some messages,” Harris said. “I’m sure that once the teachers hear it from the principals, it will get out to everyone. To be honest most of the teachers I’ve spoken with like it because of the whole stigma of coming back in July, when they were previously scheduled to come back.”
The Board also discussed calendar-related handbook items.
“We’ve also adopted a true early release schedule where it is actually 60 percent of the day,” Harris said. “The principals have worked out a schedule that fits their buildings. Again, it wasn’t truly and early release day.”
On a similar note, the Board was also informed that Harris wants to set up Board meetings at each of the schools during the fall to allow Board members, parents and residents to tour the renovations that have been completed.
“I’d like to see the meetings set for 5 p.m. so that there could be a walk around before convening at 5:30 p.m.,” he said.
The proposed schedule currently includes showcasing Jefferson Middle School at the Sept. 14 meeting, Columbia Primary on Oct. 12, Columbia Elementary School on Nov. 9 and Columbia High School on Dec. 14.
The Board is slated to meet next in regular session at 5:30 p.m. on July 18.
