District 203 pushes back start of school year -- but just for 1 year

Naperville Unit District 203 students will have to find a way to squeeze studying for finals into their holiday shopping schedule this year.

School board members Tuesday unanimously approved a one-year change to the calendar that has students starting and ending the 2010-11 school year a week later than usual.

The calendar calls for classes to begin Aug. 25 and end June 7, 2011. It also keeps students in school through Dec. 23 so they can take semester exams before breaking for the holidays.

The changes revolve around work at Naperville Central High School, which is undergoing an $87.7 million renovation project. Roughly 165,000 square feet of the building will be torn up during the summer, according to Tim Bickert, a project manager with IHC Construction Company. He estimated having an extra week to work could reduce overtime costs by $200,000 to $500,000.

Administrators felt that was enough of a benefit and a no-brainer when combined with the ability to wrap up the semester before the holidays.

"The Aug. 25 start date provides the additional week that we talked about; that extra cushion for the construction timeline," Associate Superintendent for Operations Melanie Raczkiewicz said. "The calendar committee recognizes that ending the semester on Dec. 23 has raised a concern for families who travel before the holidays, but the change allows us to administer finals at the high school before the winter break."

The approved 2010-11 calendar includes 80 days in the first semester and 94 days in the second semester, causing board President Mike Jaensch to question how teachers will fit 94 days of material into an 80-day semester.

"We moved all three of our early release days to the second semester and then there's two days of PSAE testing," Raczkiewicz said. "That's as much as we can do to even it out. We can't tilt that any more than it's already tilted."

Moving days around can be a complicated task. State guidelines, mandatory testing dates, county institutes, holidays and teacher contract agreements all come into play. Administrators also must try to keep the number of days in each semester relatively equal.

While creating the new calendar, the committee discussed a variety of options, including holding classes on Columbus Day and/or the day after Thanksgiving but those suggestions failed to find their way into the final draft.