CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Kanawha County School Board held a public hearing on its 2016-2017 school calendar at its meeting Thursday night, which sparked a discussion on prep days for teachers before the year gets underway.
Several teachers, particularly those in elementary schools, don’t think they have enough time allotted in the calendar to get their classrooms ready.
“Elementary teachers especially have a tremendous amount of material to get ready (to disperse), said President of the Kanawha County Education Association Dinah Adkins, who spoke in the hearing. “They have to organize their classrooms. Bulletin boards need to be completed; writing names on boxes of crayons. Organizing pencils, notebooks; all those little day-to-day things have to be done before the students get in there.”
Superintendent Dr. Ron Duerring acknowledged that there’s not enough time, but said the matter is out of the hands of the school board.
“There’s not enough days in the calendar for teachers to get their rooms prepped. It’s all guided by state law and requirement. And there’s just not enough days,” said Duerring. “We really don’t have much of a choice in how we handle those days.”
He explained that there was one full prep day, as well as two CE (continuing education) days, as dictated by state law. The board voted that the calendar would be kept about the same for three years so parents could know the schedule in advance.
That didn’t stop board member Pete Thaw from voicing what he referred to as a “yearly protest” to starting school in August.
“The real problem with the calendar is starting in early August; its crazy,” Thaw said. “People don’t have time for anything anymore. They’re backing it up every year. I’d be in favor of Memorial Day out, and Labor Day in.”
Adkins understood that the schedule wasn’t likely to change, but wanted to see a conscious effort to make better use of the short time there is before students arrive.
“What we’re asking is that the county give each classroom teacher as much time as possible at the beginning of the year for those preparations,” she said. “You cannot have your classroom ready without working extra days. This is issue is about giving teachers time to do their job within (the) calendar period.”
The calendar is slated to have the teachers return Aug. 3 and the students begin classes on Aug. 8.
With public hearing complete, the Kanawha County School Board will vote on the calendar at it’s next meeting on Dec. 7 at 4 p.m.