Johnston School Board Narrows 2012-13 Calendar to Aug. 20 Start Date

Johnston parents and students can tentatively mark their calendars with Aug. 20 for the first day of school.

The  on Monday night directed staff members to concentrate on firming up the 2012-13 school year calendar with a start date of Aug. 20, bringing a virtual end to .

Do you agree that student grades aren't affected by holding finals after winter break? Tell us your thoughts in comments.

However, challenges still remain.

The proposed Aug. 20 calendar has a school year release date after Memorial Day and a question remains on what to do about semester finals.

Associate Superintendent Jim Casey said there were still options to move around professional development days in order to end school before Memorial Day.

"Is an Aug. 13 start date essential? No, we can make it work," Casey said. "When we look at Aug. 20, what do we do about finals?"

This year the district moved the school year start date to Aug. 15 so students could complete semester finals before winter break.

The district surveyed 1,876 students in eighth to 12th grades, along with 132 middle and high school teachers, on their preference for finals.

"The survey was very interesting," Casey said. "We wanted insight on finals ... there's perceptual data and hard data."

Of the students surveyed, 1,550 preferred finals before winter break, while 103 teachers preferred finals before break.

No Change Shown in Data Looking at Student Grades

However, the hard data - a change in the effect on grades - was fairly even with previous years.

"We're not seeing a change in grades," Casey said.

Johnston High School Principal Brent Riessen said it was the most static data he'd ever seen.

"The hard data says it doesn't make a difference, then it becomes an issue of preference," Riessen said. "The biggest thing for them (students) is that tests are done before Christmas. … We prefer an early start but we recognize there are other variables. Can we make Aug. 20 work? Yes."

The goal is to still hold finals before winter break, but to continue some type of instruction in the two weeks following break before the new semester.

Teacher Development Days and Other Issues

The survey and subsquent calendar discussion brought up several other questions, including how many professional development days are needed and could they be moved to the beginning or end of the school year.

Board member John Dutcher questioned the need for what he counted to be 10 professional development days, when districts such as Ankeny only have five days.

Casey said the district only has seven professional development days, two of which count as student/teacher contact days.

Superintendent Clay Guthmiller said professional development days are essential to teachers.

"If you think you can grow proffessionally and do the things you need to do and be the organization we want to be, you can't do it with an hour here or there," Guthmiller said. "I don't think we can compromise professional development time for our staff if we expect them to do the things we want them to do."

Casey will bring a revised 2012-13 school calendar to the Feb. 13 school board meeting for a public hearing and board consideration.