11/18/98

Opelika * Auburn News
* THE NEWSPAPER OF EAST ALABAMA*
11/18/98

Letter: YRS debate continues

Dr. Malladi has continued to write again and again about why we need YRS. Needless to say, I disagree with him. He does have the right to give his opinion as do I . However, a few items within his November 15, 1998 O-A News article need clarification. The fact is, the Traditional Calendar as presented on the Alternative School Year Community Survey should be correctly listed as a twelve (12) week summer break instead of eleven (11). If you look closely, the Tradition Calendar and Calendar A both list an eleven (11) week break despite the fact that the Traditional Calendar has eight (8) days more of summer break. The Auburn City School Administration continues to mislead the public on this matter. They say the Traditional Calendar is eleven weeks because we had an eleven (11) week summer last year. If the Traditional Calendar as shown on the survey is used, it yields a twelve (12) week summer, not an eleven (11) as indicated. ACS has not made a simple mistake, it is a misrepresentation.

Dr. Malladi refers to the informal teacher survey taken at the Auburn City Schools. Considering the survey, I too am not surprised that it shows a high number selected the alternative calendars. What Mr. Malladi did not tell you is that the informal teacher survey is not the same as the Survey published in the paper. The informal teacher survey did not include a Traditional calendar in its options. It only showed the four alternative calendars.

Concerning the polling of the AU Faculty, I am unaware that a survey has been taken of this group. If so, I would like to see the survey and the raw data from this survey.

Vance Rutherford
Auburn