District 211 moving finals to December
Without debate or any further public input, Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 board members Thursday voted 6-0 to move first-semester finals before winter break beginning in the 2016-17 school year.
Nevertheless, there was some last-minute discussion and clarification about the impacts of that decision for students of the district's five high schools.
Because the start and end dates of the entire school year have to be adjusted to accommodate the change, there will be new graduation dates for the high schools, though all will retain their current venues, Superintendent Dan Cates said.
Beginning in 2016, the high schools will begin the year earlier in August and then finish before Memorial Day.
Rather than their traditional Sunday at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, the graduation ceremonies for Schaumburg, Fremd and Conant high schools will be held there on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday due to conflicts with another district for the appropriate Sunday.
The graduation ceremony for Hoffman Estates High School will remain at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, while Palatine High School's will stay on its own campus, Cates said.
He also assured board members that most spring athletic seasons will still conclude before the end of the school year with the exception of a few high-level tournaments. But participants in such tournaments still will be able to be honored at their schools afterward, Cates said.
District officials have been aware that the greatest impact would be felt in the shortening of the summer that the transition is made. But a late change was made to the proposed 2016-17 calendar by moving the first two days of school from the end of the second week of August to the start of the third. In their place, students will attend school on Columbus Day and Dec. 23.
Though also strongly supported by parents and staff members in a recent survey, the change was always considered with students in mind, Cates said.
“We do believe it will be a great benefit to our students for the right educational reasons,” he said.
Board member George Brandt was absent from the vote.