Legislators eye school calendar

BY DIANE KNICH,  The Island Packet

December 17, 2004

 Beaufort County School District administrators recommend that school begin in mid-August next year, at least a week later than this year's start date.

But that's not late enough for some state legislators.

Sen. Scott Richardson, R-Hilton Head Island, has filed legislation to be considered by the General Assembly this year that would prohibit public schools statewide from starting before Aug. 25. And Sen. Dick Elliott, D-North Myrtle Beach, has filed a bill that would establish a uniform start date no earlier than the Tuesday after Labor Day.

Richardson said he filed the legislation because "lots of people think school starts too early." In coastal areas like Beaufort County, he said, early start dates can harm the tourism industry as students who hold part-time jobs over the summer have to leave their jobs early to go back to school.

His proposal also would require the school year to end no more than seven days after the last day third- through eighth-graders take the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test. Richardson said students' and staff members' focus dwindles after the test, which is given in May.

"We're trying to bring clarity and consistency to the calendar," he said.

Charlie Clark, spokeswoman for the Hilton Head-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce, said the organization would like to see a later start date and one that's uniform statewide. In addition to being better for the tourism industry and students and teachers who have summer jobs, she said parents also prefer the later start date.

The issue has risen before, and previous efforts to move back the start date have met with difficulty.

Last year state lawmakers approved a bill nullifying a December 2002 decision by the state Board of Education requiring all schools to start around Labor Day. The new rule was to take effect for the 2004-05 school year.

School start dates became an issue after the state began administering the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test to third- through eighth-graders in the first week in May in 1999, prompting districts to edge start dates back to early August. Before then, most schools started after Aug. 15. The change allowed completion of a full semester of course work before Christmas.

The trend alarmed coastal business leaders, who said late summer occupancy rates declined. They also said the earlier start dates were reducing their pool of temporary employees.

In Beaufort County, a committee of school district administrators, principals, assistant principals, teachers, parents and representatives from parent groups and School Improvement Councils is meeting now, said John Williams, spokesman for the district. The committee will have next year's calendars ready by the end of January.

"The committee is trying to find a compromise between a very early start date favored by some educators and a late start date favored by parents and some other educators," he said.

The committee comprises representatives from throughout Beaufort County, he said. Members include Kathy Corley, Jamie Pinckney and Mary Briggs, the respective principals of Bluffton, Okatie and Hilton Head elementary schools.

The committee will develop a calendar and submit it to the district administration for approval, Williams said. Final decisions on the calendar are up to Superintendent Herman Gaither and Edna Crews, the deputy superintendent of curriculum and instruction who will take over as superintendent in July.

The district administration has recommended that for students on the traditional calendar, school begin mid-August next year, Williams said. The start date had been in mid-August for several years until this year, when school began Aug. 9.

High school administrators favor the earlier start so students can finish the first semester before the winter break, Williams said. Next year, he said, high schoolers probably will finish the semester after returning from their winter break in January.

All students also probably will finish the year before Memorial Day next year, he said, and continue to have a holiday on Veterans Day and a week off at Thanksgiving.