Superior School Board mulls spring calendar tweak
Jan. 4—SUPERIOR — Elementary school students in Superior would start summer break two days earlier than their older siblings if the Superior School Board approves a calendar change during its regular meeting Monday, Jan. 8.
If approved, elementary school students would end their school year June 5, while middle and high school students would attend through June 7. The move, which was discussed during the Committee of the Whole meeting Tuesday, Jan. 2, would help meet district training requirements for Wisconsin’s Act 20. The new law, which Gov. Tony Evers signed into law in July, requires schools to provide science-based early literacy instruction, which stresses phonics.
“The literacy instruction that we provide in our classrooms must be aligned with
DPI’s definition of science-based literacy instruction
,” said Director of Curriculum and Instruction Crystal Hintzman.
Training is needed for the new curricular resources, screening tools and diagnostic assessments involved in the instruction, she said, and the district has a small amount of time in which to do that. It also has finite financial resources. Hintzman said the district’s cost for training and materials required for Act 20 is expected to be $260,000.
“So we want to be creative in how we can pay for that,” she said.
Holding the professional development training June 6 and 7, days the teachers are already being paid to work, would save the district roughly $57,400. It would also allow the district to offset costs with remaining Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund grant dollars, which run out in September.
Elementary school students could be released two days earlier than the secondary students and still meet their instructional requirements, according to Kate Tesch, director of continuous improvement and assessment. Students in kindergarten through grade six are only required to have 1,050 hours of instructional time a year, she said, while students in grades seven through 12 are required to have 1,137 hours.
“And with our calculations, our elementary kids are over by 17 hours,” Tesch said.
The district has not separated schedules in the past, she said, but changing the calendar this one time could save the district money and time while decreasing the stress level for teachers.
“I think once the school year ends, it gets more and more challenging to have everybody in the same location at the same time,” District Administrator Amy Starzecki said. “And given the legal requirements of getting this done … this would be an opportunity to make sure that we do get at least the majority of this training done while teachers are still on campus before the end of the year.”
All elementary school teachers would receive the training, although it is only mandated for kindergarten through grade three. That ensures teachers have the background they need if they move to a different grade level, Hintzman said.
The School Board voted to move the proposed change forward for a final vote at the Jan. 8 regular board meeting. School Board member Brooke Taylor encouraged anyone with concerns about the calendar change to share them via email or in person at the meeting.
