While it may seem early to work on a school calendar, each fall the school’s calendar committee reconvenes to take a look at the following year’s calendar. At first glance, it might seem like this process is simple since the calendars often mirror each other from one year to the next. A few years ago, BEA decided to try out a Spring Break. The reason behind this was to allow students and families a chance to take a break during the long stretch from January to the end of the school year, which often has few days off during those months. These breaks allow students a chance to rest, take a break from the daily rigor of school, and return to school refreshed and ready to learn.
Last year, the calendar committee was tinkering with the idea of starting the school year a week early, but by the time the committee started to take a look at creating a draft, they were already ready to present the draft for final approval by the board. As such, the committee put it on their agenda for the following year to create two versions of a draft calendar for the 2024-2025 school year. And, last month, two of the committee members presented both options to the board for their consideration with the intent to allow a month of gathering feedback from the public so they can make a final decision at the February board meeting.
In Minnesota, public schools are typically not allowed to begin their school year prior to the Labor Day holiday without permission from the Minnesota Department of Education. However, a school can start prior to Labor Day if it has at least $400,000 in construction projects to complete. Blue Earth Area falls in this category annually, so that qualifies us for being granted permission to begin school before Labor Day.
So, why did the committee decide to pursue an option of beginning school a week early? There are a few reasons behind this decision. At BEA, we are constantly holding discussions on how we can improve - in student achievement, in creating a welcoming environment, in community relations, and more. As such, beginning a week earlier than usual would allow:
A full week of covering content prior to the spring testing season. The MCAs, administered each Spring, are only allowed to be administered within a time frame set by MDE. This time frame does not change based on a school calendar, so beginning school a week earlier would allow teachers to cover a week’s worth of content that they may have not been able to cover otherwise.
We often receive feedback from families that once August has arrived, students are ready to return to school. As such, beginning a week earlier would meet this feedback shared by parents.
We also receive feedback from families that by May each year, students are a little burned out and ready for summer. Since an early start to the school year also means an earlier finish to the school, this would again meet that feedback shared by parents.
The committee has reached out to schools who already have implemented an early start, and that feedback was that those schools would not want to change it back - they very much enjoyed the week early start.
With any possible change also comes some drawbacks. Some of the points the committee discussed that could be a drawback to beginning early include:
Families may already have vacations planned for the week prior to Labor Day, so this would interfere with those plans.
Our area is heavily focused on Agriculture, and many of our students participate in 4H and/or FFA, which may include earning a trip to the MN State Fair. While these students would be excused from school to participate in these activities, some may not want to miss school and have to make a choice in participating in the State Fair or attending the first week of school.
Some businesses may rely on high school students as employees, so a week early start to the school year may disrupt their business operations.
The calendar committee acknowledged that there are always pros and cons to considering different options. But, they also agreed that presenting two options of school calendars - one option being a typical start and finish to the school year, and the other option being a pre-Labor Day start and week early finish - would show our internal efforts to consider different avenues of change to help meet our goal of continual improvement. At this point, our goal is to hear from parents and families on which calendar they prefer. Feel free to contact me or any board member if you have a particular concern or preference so they can make an informed decision at the February board meeting.