County school breaks could get shortened

No Child Left Behind, test scores complicate start

January 21, 2005
By Steve Doyle
Huntsville Times

The Madison County school system's two-week fall and spring breaks are in jeopardy.

County board members said during a Thursday work session they'd love to keep the current setup in the 2005-06 academic year, with classes starting in late July and extended breathers in October and April to curb student burnout.

But that may not be possible.

The federal No Child Left Behind Act says students can transfer from campuses that fail to make what's called "Adequate Yearly Progress" for two consecutive years. Schools can be flagged for poor performance on standardized tests given every April, or for not having enough students show up on test days.

In the county system, Sparkman Middle, Madison County Elementary and Madison Cross Roads and New Market schools earned red marks from the feds last summer. If they don't improve this year, Superintendent Ray Swaim has to notify parents, in writing, that their child can transfer.

Here's the problem: The state Board of Education probably won't get this spring's test results until early August. State Superintendent Joe Morton is urging local school leaders not to call kids back from summer before Aug. 8.

Swaim is proposing a calendar for next year that has students starting Aug. 8, with one-week fall and spring breaks and a longer recess for Christmas. The last day of classes would be May 18.

School board member Rich McAdams had a different idea: Why not press the company that grades Alabama's tests to go faster?

"Thousands of kids take the ACT on any given Saturday, and 10 days later you've got the scores in your mailbox," said McAdams, who represents the Hazel Green area. "I'm just not buying that it takes four months" to grade the tests.

At the very least, he said, the company ought to move Madison County's tests "to the front of the stack," since it starts classes earlier than most.

Swaim said he's all for keeping the two-week breaks. But not if it gets the county crossways with the feds. School systems that thumb their noses at No Child Left Behind risk having their federal funding yanked.

For Madison County, that's about $6 million.

The debate over whether to start school in late July or early August could be moot if state Rep. Craig Ford, D-Gadsden, gets his way.

Ford is pushing a bill that would require all 128 Alabama public school systems to wait until Aug. 21 to call students back from summer break. He says a long summer break is vital for amusement parks, beachfront hotels and other businesses that cater to tourists.

In October, the school board passed a resolution asking Huntsville-area legislators to vote against Ford's bill.