Below is the calendar for 2006-2007, as approved by the Board of Trustees. Last year's calendar for 2005-2006, is included for reference.
This year's calendar :
2007-2008 CalendarHere's a look at calendar development in the past...
The Dripping Springs ISD DWEIC committee met in the fall of 2002 to review options for the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 school year calendars. The committee members (including parents and community and business members) have solicited input from other stakeholders on the development of the calendars. The major concern voiced was if the semester would end prior to Winter Break or after Winter Break. The high school is primarily impacted by the decision.
State law requires the following to be included on a school calendar.
DSISD utilizes a waiver from TEA so that they can use three instructional days for teacher staff development. Therefore, in order to meet state and local requirements, the school calendar must include 177 days for student attendance and 187 days for teacher attendance.
Instructional Considerations
Collegiate Calendar for the High School
A collegiate calendar concludes the first semester (including exams and projects) prior to the Winter Break. This calendar allows students to complete a semester (some courses are only one semester long at the high school level) and be free from study for semester exams and projects during the Winter Break. A survey of high school teachers reported overwhelming support for this practice. In addition, many parents of high school students expressed support of a calendar that would allow their students to be able to relax during the winter break. If the calendar ends after the Winter Break, there would be a loss of instructional time due to the need to increase the amount of review time needed after the two-week break. Finally, seniors applying for college are better able to meet deadlines for submitting senior class rank if the semester ends before Winter Break.
Shortened First Week
A full five-day week the first week of school poses a challenge to the endurance of young students. The Primary Campus in particular expressed a desire for a shortened first week; this allows children to transition into a school routine during the critical first days of school. However, most committee members, regardless of the grade level they represent, stated that a shortened first week would be optimum.
Number of Days per Semester
The number of days per semester should be similar in length. Some secondary courses are one semester in duration. Having a large discrepancy in length of semesters would create a disproportionate amount of instructional time available. The calendar committee recommends no more than ten days difference in semesters. Due to the five days of state assessments in the spring, the second semester needs to be somewhat longer than the first semester.
Professional Development Days for Teachers
The calendar must provide ten days of teacher service for professional staff. The proposed calendar provides for six days of teacher service prior to the beginning of the school year, one at the end of the second semester, and three days during the instructional year (waiver days.) Dripping Springs ISD teachers have expressed an overwhelming desire to have most staff development prior to the beginning of the school year. The District will utilize two early release days for the purpose of vertical alignment. One day allows for alignment within the campus while the other early release day allows for vertical alignment from campus to campus and within departments across campuses.
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
Start Date
The determination of the start date for the school calendar year is affected by the DWEIC Committee's desire to maintain a collegiate calendar, keep a similar number of days per semester, to begin a new year with a shortened week, to provide for a holiday during the month of October and to provide staff development that meets the needs of personnel.
Holidays
In recent years, the district has observed the following holidays with time off from work:
Labor Day
Columbus Day
Thanksgiving
Christmas
New Year's Day
The Friday prior to Easter
Bad Weather Days
The required 177 student and 187 staff days must be provided even if it is necessary to close school for an emergency. The district builds in two days in the second semester to make up for days that might need to be missed due to emergency closing (i.e.. bad weather.) The Commissioner of Education will consider excused days for emergency closing only after the two days have been exhausted. If needed, staff development days could be used as makeup days, thus providing an opportunity for additional instructional days with minimal disruption to family plans. (Staff would make up the professional development at an alternate time.)
Ending Date
While there is a strong sense that we should observe Memorial Day, there is also the recognition that it is extremely difficult to maintain the instructional focus needed for semester exams around a three-day holiday just prior to the end of the school year. Another bonus to ending the school year prior to Memorial Day is that is enables students and teachers to attend college summer courses.
Hot weather considerations
Both parents and teachers (especially elementary) expressed a desire to start school as late as possible in August, since it is a very hot month and many of our students face long bus rides. The same issue was voiced when the committee considered extending school into June.
RECOMMENDATION
After considerable discussion and much collaboration, the DWEIC recommends the following school calendars for the 2003-2004 and the 2004-2005 school years, believing that these two calendars will support a high quality instructional program for students while supporting the needs of our staff and community.
