Rock Hill School Employees Being Asked For Calendar Comments #rockhill #rockhillschools #rhschoolboard

This is a copy of the proposed Rock Hill School District calendar for the  2013-14 school year. School District employees are being requested to review the calendar, along with the explanations below, and offer suggestions for improvement by Jan. 31, 2013 so that it can be presented to the school board on Feb. 11. This calendar was devised by the district's Calendar Committee comprised of 3 high school students, 6 teachers, 4 parents and 3 administrators.

 

■There are 91 days in first semester and 89 in second semester.

 

■The Student Engagement Conference has been moved to earlier in October so that it does not conflict with a teacher's workday.

 

■Two "teacher days" are scheduled before the end of a grading period instead of following the grading period. The biggest complaint that some teachers on the Calendar Committee had was that workdays following grading periods are of little value to teachers because of the due date/time for the grades.

 

■There are more days in the calendar between the end of the grading period and the date when report cards go home. Teachers and administrators on the Calendar Committee feel that an additional day or two would not be of any concern to parents and would allow the D.O. more time to check, print and get report cards back to the schools for distribution. Parents on the Calendar Committee had no problem with this.  

 

■The York County Calendar Committee and the Rock Hill Calendar Committee wanted to put spring break in the first week of April. However, HSAP testing has been slated for April 1-3 and HSAP make-up dates are scheduled for the week of April 7. The third week in April includes Good Friday as Easter is April 20.

 

There was some discussion in all York County school districts about requesting a "waiver" from the S.C. Dept. of Education to allow the districts to begin school earlier in August so High Schools would finish their classes before Christmas  break. However, the criteria for getting a waiver is amazingly hard to meet, so Rock Hill and Fort Mill districts have already decided not to pursue a waiver at this time.

 

Elaine T. Baker, Director of Information Services, Rock Hill Schools