Dist. 204 board wants say in school calendar

School board members in Indian Prairie Unit District 204 will have a say in which days students attend classes as they take a new role in setting the district calendar.

An on-again, off-again schedule for the first two weeks of November next year caused one board member to ask for board input during the schedule-setting process for the 2015-16 school year as a condition of his approval for the district’s 2014-15 calendar.

The calendar calls for no school on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 4, when the district also has parent-teacher conferences scheduled from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. It also cancels school two days the following week — Monday, Nov. 10, for more parent-teacher conferences and Tuesday, Nov. 11, for Veterans Day.

“I struggle with seeing how the focus is on student achievement those first two weeks” of November, board member Justin Karubas said. “I’m hoping we can do better next time around.”

A committee of administrators and teachers union representatives begins each August or September setting the calendar for the following school year, said Linda Rakestraw, assistant superintendent for secondary education. The committee also surveys teachers and reaches out to parents through the Indian Prairie Parent Council, an umbrella organization for parent-teacher associations in the district. The parent group polled 2,555 parents for their opinions.

Karubas said school board members were brought into next year’s calendar process only at the very end — to approve it — instead of early enough to ask questions and give suggestions. Most other board members agreed they would like a chance to comment on future district calendars before they are effectively set in stone.

Superintendent Kathy Birkett said each year’s calendar has to work around days protected by teachers contracts — like Veterans Day — and days the district has previously promised not to hold school — such as election days. So even with board input, options for time periods like the first two weeks of next November may be limited, she said.

The calendar for next year has school beginning Tuesday, Aug. 26, across the district that serves parts of Naperville, Aurora, Bolingbrook and Plainfield. Thanksgiving break is Nov. 26 through Nov. 30; winter break is Dec. 22 through Jan. 4, 2015; and spring break begins with a day off March 27, 2015, for school improvement planning and runs through April 5, 2015.

Board President Lori Price was the only one who voted against Karubas’ motion to approve the upcoming district calendar but ask for guaranteed input into the following year’s schedule-making process.

“I’m uncomfortable tying something that specific to this approval of the 2014-15 calendar,” she said.