Marion County School Board 2023-24 calendar still under consideration

File photo: School district board members Nancy Thrower and Nancy Conrad converse during a workshop. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette]

On Tuesday, the Marion County School Board rejected the proposed calendar for the 2023-24 school year, which presented a bevy of changes to the current calendar, notably the return of one-hour early release days.

Posted on the Marion County Public Schools Facebook page shortly after a work session last Thursday, the proposed calendar, referred to as Draft E, is the culmination of weeks of work by district officials who relied on hundreds of comments from parents and guardians as well as district employees.

After 90 minutes of discussion, the board sent the mater back to the calendar committee and called for new options to be presented next week before the board decides on a calendar on Feb. 6. Any new proposals are expected to be made available to the public before the Feb. 2 work session.

The calendar is the work of a committee including Board Vice Chair Nancy Thrower, Area Superintendent Dr. Annie Hembrook and Stephen Ayres, Director of School Choice and Student Records for MCPS.

Draft E set dates for the start and finish of the school year, dates for holiday and spring breaks and teacher workdays. But the two elements that struck nerves among many audience members on Tuesday were having winter break start on Dec. 20 instead of Dec. 17, and the proposed 32 one-hour early-release days for professional development, all on Wednesdays. The first would have been on Aug. 16, the last on April 24, 2024.

“Speaking from experience, one hour is not sufficient time for any meaningful professional development to occur,” said Cody Mays, a social studies teacher at Horizon Academy of Marion Oaks. “The current proposal could cost staff and parents up to four days of travel or vacation due to having classes on Monday and Tuesday.”

Vickie Treulieb, an English/literature teacher at North Marion Middle School, expressed similar concerns.

“Change be a scary thing, but I’m all for change in education,’’ she said. “We definitely need to do something to address our teacher shortage and the ability for our teachers to have proper training. This new (proposed) school calendar does not provide what we need, and it is shortsighted at best.

“When teaching, I think about the overall objective that I want my student to accomplish before preparing my lesson,’’ Treulieb said. “If your overall objective is for teachers to be able to be trained and have professional development, then you need to look at what they need to be able to have to achieve this.”

After public commentary, the board members spoke at what changes could be made. Marion County public schools are required by state law to have at least 86 instructional days in the first semester. This puts the 2023-24 year into a difficult situation with a Florida Statute stating that Marion County cannot start school until Aug. 10.

The discussion led to multiple members stating that some time has to be taken away from either Thanksgiving break or winter break to allow the second quarter to end before winter break and not after.

“The challenge we have is that if we are going to do a full week at Thanksgiving, we are unable to do Christmas break like before. We have a perfect storm, Nov. 23 being Thanksgiving is causing significant issues,” Board Chair Allison Campbell said.

Board member Sarah James, the only member to vote in approval of Draft E, offered an idea.

“I can’t see another solution that gives all of Thanksgiving break, 10 days for staff and 11 days for students at winter break and gives teachers professional development time. I don’t see a solution outside of what we have done unless we extend our instructional days to include more minutes so that we can come to school less total days,” James said.

Ayres cautioned that the idea of extending days would require renegotiating the portion of the teachers’ contract that includes hours and time.

As the meeting was winding down, each board member gave their thoughts on the process and understand how important the calendar is to everyone.

“I know everyone is passionate about this calendar and I’m thankful for the work of our teams. I’m sorry it’s been such as struggle and I feel so sincere when I say every member of this board wants the best possible calendar that meets the needs of most of our community,” Board member Lori Conrad said.

For Vice Chair Nancy Thrower, the work put in over the past few weeks will be worth it and the recent conversations are a step in the right direction.

“If we truly want to improve, and everyone does. It’s these raw conversations that are going to get us there,” Thrower said.