Pleasanton School Board Rescinds Calendar Change for 2015-16, 2016-17 School Years

By AUTUMN JOHNSON

During the Jan. 13 board meeting, Pleasanton Unified School District board members voted unanimously to rescind the “Modified Lite” student instructional calendar that had been approved in June of 2014. In 2014, the school district asked parents and staff to give input on the proposed calendar changes and eventually voted to change from the traditional calendar to the “Modified Lite” calendar.

When asked about the reason behind the decision to revert back to the original calendar, School Board President Valerie Arkin told Patch, “The November election brought us a new Board member who requested that we look at the calendar item again. Some members of the community had concerns about the process, and as a board we felt that rescinding the vote and taking more time to improve the process would benefit everyone. There was a vote to rescind the prior action and re-visit this subject. The vote was 5-0. There are many different opinions on what a new calendar could and/or should look like and the Board looks forward to exploring this matter with a more inclusive and thorough process that includes all key stakeholder groups.”

Related:

• School District Asking for Parent Input for Possible Change to Instructional Calendar

Board member Joan Laursen wrote about her opinion on the calendar change decision in her recent blog:

“From my viewpoint as one Board member, I felt that making a change to the 2015-16 calendar at this late date is incredibly problematic for the many folks who have already scheduled their lives around the approved school year. I tried very hard to make the best of the current situation by suggesting a compromise – keep next year as approved but rescind the future years and start the process over. My motion was not even seconded; therefore it could not be discussed.”

Following the decision, the school district posted the following information for parents on their website:

Dear Parents,

Following action taken by the Governing Board at the January 13th Board Meeting to rescind the previously approved modified lite calendar, staff will be working with our employee groups to finalize the start and end dates for the traditional calendar for the 2015-2016 school year. We are working diligently to complete this task and will update the information as soon as we are able to take the new start and end date for the 2015-2016 school year to the Board for approval.

The full school board meeting can be viewed here.

Photo via Shutterstock

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