A rolling start to the academic year in August, minimizing short weeks and Monday off days are the main highlights in the first look at the Greeley-Evans School District 6 calendar for the 2022-23 school year.
Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Annette Overton presented a proposal on next year’s calendar to the District 6 board of education Monday evening at the district administration building in Greeley.
Overton’s presentation equaled an initial evaluation, or first read, of the proposed calendar for the board. No action was taken.
The board will have two options on the calendar at its next meeting on Feb. 28: move it to the consent agenda for approval with other items; or, if members of the board raise questions on the calendar, those may be addressed along with any discussion before a vote.
The calendar proposal was assembled by the district’s calendar committee, which is a group comprised of teachers from the elementary and secondary levels, Greeley Education Association leadership, classified staff leaders, school and district-level leaders, parents and community partners, according to information included in the meeting agenda.
With an ultimate goal to maximize student learning, the committee works to create a proposal built around parameters established by the master contract, board policy, state and federal holidays and Colorado High School Activities Association activities. The committee met as a group once a month in December, January and February. Committee members also worked with their respective groups for feedback, and a survey was sent to GEA membership and principals.
Committee representatives also solicited feedback from the District Accountability Committee and the Council of Student Representatives.
The proposed calendar mirrors the calendar for the current academic year, allowing for consistency including continued one-hour late starts for all students on 27 Mondays through the year. The calendar schedules 82 school days in the first semester and 88 days in the second semester.
Overton told the board the proposal limits weeks shorter than four days and it consistently places days off on Mondays, as requested by parents. The proposal also includes a weeklong Thanksgiving break, and the calendar aligns spring break March 13-17, 2023 with Aims Community College and the University of Northern Colorado.
Highlights of the proposal for students and families are:
- Students in first through 12th grades return to school Aug. 11-12, while kindergarten students begin school Aug. 16-17. The students’ return is alphabetical by last name, A-L and M-Z.
- Thanksgiving break is Nov. 21-25
- Winter break is Dec. 16, 2022 through Jan. 2, 2023.
- Mid-semester breaks will be Monday, Oct. 10, 2022 (students will also be off Oct. 11) and Monday, April 24, 2023.
For certified staff, such as teachers, those new to the district will have three days of a new professionals academy Aug. 1-3. Returning teachers report Aug. 4 and a professional development day will be held Aug. 10 — the day before students return.
The one-hour late starts will again be part of the district calendar to provide teachers with additional planning time. Overton said in the 27 Mondays where a late start is used, 16 will be designated for teachers’ planning or collaboration and the other 11 Mondays will be for principals to schedule meetings or professional development.
The previous board of education in April 2021 approved the late starts for the current academic year.
Black History Month and National School Counseling Week
Proclamations were read honoring February as BlackHistoryMonth and recognizing Feb. 7-11 as National School Counseling Week. National School Counseling Week fell during a week when District 6 didn’t have a board of education meeting. The district holds board of education meetings on the second and fourth Monday of each month.
District students win Arc of Weld County poster contest
Early in the meeting, The Arc of Weld County recognized three District 6 students as winners of its 8th annual bullying prevention poster contest last fall. The contest is held annually in October, which is National Bullying Prevention Month. The contest was open to elementary, middle and high school students who attend Greeley and Windsor schools.
The winning students were: Mohamed Zubair, a seventh grader at Franklin Middle School with the grand prize; Ingrid Olvera, fifth grader at Dos Rios Elementary in second place; and Genevieve Maldanado, fifth grader at Dos Rios Elementary School in third place.
The prizes for the contest were:
- $100 for Zubair with the poster featured on the Arc website and in its newsletter and calendar (2022 Bully Prevention calendar), plus a $25 gift card. An additional $100 will go to Franklin Middle School’s Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) program.
- $50 for Olvera and the poster was also included on the Arc website and in the newsletter and calendar. An additional $50 was donated to Dos Rios’ PBIS program.
- $25 to Maldanado with the poster also featured on the Arc website and in its newsletter and calendar. An additional $25 was donated to Dos Rios’ PBIS program.
- Nine other posters will be featured in the 2022 calendar.
A group of Starfish Award winners
Greeley Education Association president Andraya Lee on Monday evening presented to the board the names of 253 members of the school district community on a signed belief statement. Lee said the signees want to go on record requesting civility from those who attend the District 6 board of education meetings.
The GEA sent out the statement in late January.
At each board of education meeting, Lee, as the GEA president recognizes an educator for outstanding work with a Starfish Award. In most cases, the starfish winner is an individual who represents a group. On Monday evening, Lee said the honor goes to the collective voice of the “incredibly diverse” people who signed the statement.
“I did think it was important that you knew that there are 253 individuals who feel strongly enough about this topic that they were willing to sign their name and they represent a good portion and a good dynamic of this community,” Lee told the board.
Lee said the signees are parents, students, educators, Republicans, Democrats and political independents. They represent the certified-employee ranks, administrators and educational support personnel.
“They are pretty much every ethnicity we have in our district,” Lee said. “I don’t know how we could get a more diverse group, and yet the people on this list have three things in common.”
Lee said the individuals who signed the statement are invested in the Greeley community, they have a tie and a belief in District 6 and they are all asking for civility at board meetings. She said she didn’t want to call the statement a petition because those who signed the statement are not asking the board “to do anything new.”
Lee read the group’s statement and started by defining civility as reflecting “a respect for others in behavior, regardless of whether we know or like them.”
“As we communicate with each other, we need to remember that we are working together to benefit the children in this community,” Lee continued. “Therefore, the 253 individuals on this list encourage the Greeley Education Association to advocate that as we communicate — students, faculty, staff, parents and guardians — and all the members of the community shall treat each other with courtesy and respect at all times.”
