A draft of next year’s school calendar is up for consideration at tonight’s meeting of the Evanston/Skokie District 65 School Board.
Because of the four emergency weather closings experienced this year, the board is likely to examine closely the emergency days proposed for next year.
The Pulaski Day holiday, on March 2, 2015, is one of them. It was not designated as an emergency day for this year, and when the board elected to take it as one, that decision raised the hackles of some of the district’s teachers who had counted on being off on that day.
The five other emergency days would be Friday, June 5, and Monday through Thursday, June 8-11.
Significant dates on the proposed calendar call for the first day of school for students to be on Monday, Aug. 25. The winter recess would be Dec. 22 through Jan. 2, 2015, and the spring recess would be April 6-10, 2015. Students would also be off on Oct. 24 and Feb. 13 for parent-teacher conferences.
The last day of school for students would be Thursday, June 4, unless more than one emergency day would be needed.
The complete draft of the calendar is available on the district’s website.
Drop Pulaski holiday
This is a step in the right direction, but Pulaski Day could be a regular day of attendance. If the district's school calendar wasn't at the state's bare minimum number of days, they could lose a day to bad weather and not have to add days in the first place.
And how about going to school on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, even for a half day? Or a half day on Good Friday? There's room to add. If it needs to wait for teacher contract talks, OK, but let's not forget this time!