12/20/98
Opelika * Auburn News* THE NEWSPAPER OF EAST ALABAMA*12/20/98
Article: Auburn BOE to vote again on calendar: Dates in the original proposal listed incorrectly
By: Jeff AyresOpelika-Aubum News
The Auburn Board of Education will have to vote again on proposed changes to its current academic calendar because several dates in the changes were incorrect.
Next month, the board will vote on the revised 1999-2000 calendar at its regular meeting, scheduled for Jan. 12, 1999. The second vote is being taken because four dates, including those for fall break and Thanksgiving holidays, were incorrectly listed in the original proposal.
The actual dates are Monday, Oct. 18, for fall break, and Thursday and Friday, Nov. 25 26, for Thanksgiving holidays. The incorrect dates for fall break and Thanksgiving holidays were Oct. 11 and Nov. 23-24, respectively.
Children will be dismissed for Thanksgiving at noon, Nov. 24, not Nov. 22 as had been listed. The second 9 weeks of the school year begins Oct. 19, not Oct. 12.
Those revised dates will not affect the beginning or end dates of the 1999-2000 alternate school year calendar. That calendar was approved last Tuesday by the Auburn Board of Education after it decided for the second time this decade not to implement year round schooling in the city.
The board previously chose in 1993 to stick to its regular school calendar.
Auburn Schools Superintendent Mick Martin recommended the board not put year-round schooling in the city, saying the issue had created too great a division in the community to be effective. The board then unanimously approved Dr. Martin's recommendation.
The school board had appointed a 51-person committee earlier this year which met regularly to discuss the year-round schooling issue. A citizens' group opposing the change was formed, and had its own series of meetings.
Despite putting the year round school debate to rest with his recommendation, Dr. Martin did propose some changes to the school system's academic calendar, effective with the 1999-2000 school year.
He believed final exams should be scheduled before Christmas break and said a one-day break for faculty, staff and students is needed after the first semester of school.
The board voted as a whole to approve Dr. Martin's proposed changes.
The 1999-2000 Auburn City Schools calendar begins for students Aug. 16 and ends May 25. It includes 175 student days and 183 staff days, as does the present academic calendar. Holidays include Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.
ACS' Spring Break, March 15-24, is simultaneous with Auburn University's Spring Break. The calendar's fourth 9 weeks ends on the fourth week of May, so International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement students can have extra time to pre pare for national exams.