A Greeley-Evans School District 6 committee is looking at potential changes to future school district calendars to learn if time might be used more effectively for the benefit of students and staff.
A representative of the 17-person Time and Learning Subcommittee presented four calendar proposals to the District 6 Board of Education on Monday afternoon at the board’s work session in the district administration building in Greeley.
Committee co-chair Kristina Crain, director of recruitment and retention in the department of human resources, emphasized the committee’s work on calendar changes is in the “exploration phase.” Crain, who presented the proposals to the board, added the 2024-25 school year is the “soonest” any changes would be made — if at all.
“It’s an initial investigation,” Crain said.
The District 6 Board of Education is expected to discuss the calendar proposals during a nearly daylong work session Friday at Aims Community College. The work session begins at 8 a.m. and will be held in Ed Beaty Hall. The work session is open to the public. District 6 Chief of Communications Theresa Myers said the work session is scheduled until 4 p.m., but the board might not use all of the time.
Superintendent Deirdre Pilch said if there appears to be serious conversation and consideration around any of the calendar proposals, the district would then need to host community meetings or send out a survey for additional feedback.
“A broader student perspective, too, would be sought,” Pilch said.
She also said any dramatic changes would not be changes implemented for the 2023-24 school year. Those might occur in a year or two if they were to have an impact on the entire community.
The board was joined for the presentation by four students from the Council of Student Representatives: Jilly Huang, a senior at Greeley West High School; Ragan Medeles, a junior at Greeley Central; Tommy Medina III, a senior at Greeley Central; and Richard Alania-Canto, a junior at Union Colony Prep. The students listened to Crain’s presentation, asked questions and responded to questions from board members.
The 11-year-old council is a group of two students from every high school in the district convened to discuss issues they face at their schools and try to make changes where needed.
The four calendar proposals presented to the board — each with pros and cons — were:traditional, extended access, balanced and four day.
Traditional calendar
The traditional calendar is similar to calendars in recent years, according to documents on the district website.
In the traditional calendar, the days per quarter break down to 38, 45, 41 and 46, respectively. There would be 184 educator contract days with new educators starting Aug. 2, returning educators starting Aug. 7 and a professional development day in early January.
Students would return to school in mid-August with graduation on Memorial Day weekend.
Some of the benefits of the traditional calendar are:
- Avoids a July start for new educators with a savings of about $200,000 in benefits costs.
- Provides a “transition” day at the end of each quarter.
- Adds an extra day off in October for educator refresh.
- Provides flexibility for an additional January professional development day.
- Lengthens the fourth quarter for days used for testing.
- Provides an option for summer learning (college/university level) as well as summer employment and internships for students and staff.
The limitations are:
- Students experience summer learning loss.
- Only one day break in the fourth quarter.
Crain said potential changes to the district calendar have been a topic of conversation for several years. The idea originally came out of contract negotiations with the Greeley Education Association. Erin Snyder, GEA president, is a co-chair of the Time and Learning Subcommittee.
Extended access calendar
The extended access calendar is billed as a calendar “that retains staff, fosters a healthy learning/work environment, (and) provides additional access to adaptive learning in order to innovate for future generations,” according to meeting documents.
Under the extended access calendar, short summers allow for more frequent breaks during the school year. Four to five weeks of instruction would be followed by a one-week break, which could be used for: rejuvenation, enrichment/supplemental learning and an option for educators to earn extra money.
Students would return to school in late July. New teachers would start in mid-July, and returning educators would begin the year in between.
Spring break would be in late March, and the final day of school would be in early June.
The limitations of the extended access calendar are:
- Several publications noted an extended school year calendar causes disruptions for families.
- A survey of teachers and families would be needed to ensure enough interest in supplemental learning opportunities.
- Uncertain cost of extended learning opportunities.
The benefits are:
- Flexibility, resilience and retention: Educators and students need time to rejuvenate and manage their lives; educators desire a healthier work-life balance and are seeking schools that offer more attractive schedules.
- Academic achievement: Added time at school is a proven way to increase achievement; improved academic retention with a shorter summer break.
Balanced calendar
The District 6 community must retain high-quality staff and foster a healthy work environment for adults to ensure a safe and efficient learning environment while increasing access for students, according to the subcommittee.
The balanced calendar adds frequent and extended breaks to reduce staff and student burnout without drastically reducing summer break. It also adds a weeklong break in October and retains traditional breaks to allow staff and students time to relax and recharge.
With the balanced calendar, new educators begin the year in late July, and returning educators and students start in early August. The end of the year for students comes before Memorial Day weekend.
In addition to the one-week October break, there would be professional development/work days for educators. The one-week Thanksgiving break is also maintained, along with the two-week and three-weekend winter break.
Parent-teacher conference and professional development days would be scheduled in early February, as well as a professional development day/educator work day later in February, a weeklong spring break aligned with the University of Northern Colorado and Aims Community College and an educator work day/professional development day in mid-March.
The limitations of the balanced calendar are:
- New educators begin the school year in July.
- Returning educators begin two days earlier (in early August).
- Limited break time in the spring with state assessment test window.
The benefits are:
- A weeklong fall break in October.
- Maintaining a week off in November for Thanksgiving and a two-week winter break.
- Graduation date before Memorial Day.
- More frequent and extended breaks for staff and students.
- Addition of three days for work/professional development to ensure work time for report cards at both quarter and trimester points.
Huang, one of the four Council of Student Representatives members sitting in on the presentation, said later in the evening she favors the balanced calendar. Huang said she likes the balanced calendar because of the week break in October, and that it maintains a longer summer. She said she doesn’t mind starting school a week earlier.
Huang said she felt “really valued” with the board seeking student feedback.
“They counted the student input,” she said.
Four-day calendar
With this calendar, students must “engage, achieve, and harness opportunities in order to be physically and mentally present,” according to the committee.
The four-day weeks would add flexibility for students and educators. The calendar maintains traditional breaks (Thanksgiving, winter and spring breaks) and extends them all to at least 10 days.
Monthly professional development days would be scheduled on Mondays without affecting student contact days. Having Mondays off and a longer school year provides consistent child care planning with the same number of care days as with a traditional calendar.
The limitations of the four-day calendar:
- School year begins in July and extends into the first week of June.
- Shorter summer.
- Less vacation time for educators and families during summer.
- Child care needs on Mondays.
- Food insecurity on Mondays.
- Additional benefit costs for staff beginning in July.
The benefits are:
- Four-day week boosts student engagement, achievement and opportunity by promoting physical and mental well-being.
- Student assessment success: unsatisfactory scores dropped by 2.5%; proficient scores increased 2%.
- Consistency in schedule: uniform four-day weeks for students and staff; magnifies importance of state testing with five-day weeks in April.
- Shortens summer to one month to mitigate learning loss.
- Facilities and transportation costs reduced by about 20%.
- 69% of school districts in Colorado (124 of 178) are on four-day calendars. The majority of these are smaller districts, Crain said.
- Allows for improved educator retention instead of losses to other districts.
- Provides a consistent day off, for additional work for educators or students; will potentially reduce after-hours employment.
- Creates one day a week for families and staff to take care of personal business.
- Current start and end times do not change.
Pilch said the committee looked at the four-day week option last year, but it was decided that calendar wasn’t right for the district. The option was again evaluated with assistance from consultant MindSpark to see what calendar options are impacting student achievement and teacher attraction and retention.
“Those are the big pieces when we look at a calendar and how we utilize the instructional day and the time during the day,” Pilch said.
