District approves calendar changes

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT-MESA -- School will still start after Labor Day, the school board

decided Tuesday night after many families and teachers raised concerns

about a proposal to radically change the school calendar.

Earlier this year, the district proposed an alternative school calendar

which would shorten summer vacations and extend winter and spring breaks.

After an overwhelming resistance to the idea of starting school in

August, the calendar approved by the Newport-Mesa Unified School

District’s Board of Education held only a few changes from the

traditional calendar.

“The biggest change is we’re taking off the Wednesday before Thanksgiving

and we’ve joined the two Presidents Day holidays and made it a week off

in February,” said Lorri McCune, the district’s assistant superintendent

for human resources.

With the new schedule, the district will eliminate several extended

weekends, keeping students in classes more consistently.

A committee of parents and district officials reviewed every document

received regarding the calendar and determined that there is a lot of

interest in changing the school schedule, McCune said. But, the committee

also concluded that the district as a whole is just not ready for such a

drastic change.

Of more than 2,000 families and teachers surveyed by the district, 49%

were in favor of the alternate calendar, McCune said.

Many of those positive responses, however, listed concerns about the

start date of the school year, the two weeks off in spring and three

weeks off in the winter, she said.

Linda Mook, president of the Newport-Mesa Federation of Teachers, said

the district will continue to discuss different ways to shape the school

year -- although the minor changes in the new calendar are positive ones.

“What we have is a traditional calendar with some creative use of time,”

Mook said. “The grouping of February holidays is going to be a good break

at a good time for us all.”

Mook, who helped district officials research the use of an alternative

calendar, also said individual schools can pursue a schedule different

from the district’s.

FYI

Changes to the school for the 2000-2001 school year include:

* An additional day off at the start of Thanksgiving break

* The consolidation of Presidents Day holidays and for a one-week

vacation Feb. 19-23

Parts of the calendar that will remain unchanged include:

* Winter break

* Spring break

* School starts Sept. 5

* Last day for students in grades 7 through 12, June 21

* Last day for students in kindergarten through sixth grade, June 22