ECISD calendar year

State law requires school districts to provide 180 instructional days per school year, but the Ector County Independent School District has averaged between 174 and 176 calendar days for the past decade.

The committee working on next year’s calendar is shooting for 176 student instructional days.

"We’re trying to ensure that next year there will be less staff development days and more instructional days in recognition of the problems we’ve had in the district. We’re trying to make sure that the kids get every bit of instruction that’s possible," District Continuous Improvement Team steering committee member Chuck Isner said.

Last year, ECISD trustees discussed whether or not to continue the practice of seeking a waiver from the state to include 174 instructional days instead of the state required 180. Current board president Donna Smith said in last February’s board meeting that it was something the district should work toward. Assistant superintendent of secondary operations Steve Brown said it was something the district would have to look into.

For now though, the intent is to seek at least some waivers. ECISD applies for expedited state waivers every three years allowing the district to substitute instructional days for as many as six staff development days.

"(Applications for state waivers) have got to be decided locally, and it’ll vary from district to district to district depending on what their needs are and where they need improvement," Texas Education Agency State Waiver Program manager Mike Peebles said.

Peebles said districts across Texas routinely send in waiver applications to adjust their calendars. The TEA offers a waiver for three general staff development days. TEA also offers a waiver for two specific staff development days in any of the four core subjects of math, science, reading/language arts and social studies. School districts may also request a waiver for one specific staff development day wherein staff members may attend specialized conferences.

The state waiver agency has to approve waiver applications, but the waiver is only good for three years. ECISD’s staff development day waivers will be in need of renewal in 2010. Peebles said no district’s application had ever been turned down.

State law mandates districts cannot start school before the fourth Sunday of August, a legislative moment of bending to pressure from the Texas tourism trade, but schools across the state lost some of their calendar flexibility due to the legislation, Peebles said.

This year Nancy Clark and the rest of the DCIT calendar planning subcommittee met in the first week of November to start planning the 2010-’11 school year calendar.

"It’s really an exercise that until you sit down and do it, you have no idea how limited your choices are," Clark said.

While teachers do come in for some staff development days before the school year starts, Clark said the district needs staff development days woven into the school year to help teachers learn new programs or reinforce what they learned at the beginning of the year.

"Decisions are made with input from the teachers’ preferences and not the administrators. This is what the people who actually do the job feel is necessary to do the job," ECISD board president Smith said.

She said when they sit down to begin planning the calendar, they have to consider a myriad of things. Teachers fill out professional development day questionnaires indicating which staff development days were helpful and which days were not. They also submit surveys on holiday preferences. Most teachers prefer having the full week for Thanksgiving and a long Christmas holiday, but they also want school out no later than the end of May.

"The problem is there are so many factors and so many opinions that no matter what the committee does they’re going to make someone unhappy," said Isner, who also worked on last year’s calendar subcommittee.

The subcommittee looks at what surrounding districts are doing, tries to coordinate their holidays breaks with local colleges and high schools and takes ECISD-hosted events like the West Texas Relays into account when choosing where spring break will fall.

Bowie Junior High principal Denise Shetter said student attention span is another factor since she has found it is very difficult to keep students motivated and focused once TAKS testing is over in the spring. She said once TAKS was over, it was difficult to get the younger students to focus on anything.

"I don’t see that six days could possibly matter in the grand scheme of things. Honestly, I don’t see how less than a week could change a thing," ECISD parent Jennifer Gamble said. Gamble has a children enrolled in Travis Elementary, Crockett Junior High and Odessa High.

OHS sophomore Katlin Carrigan showed more relief than concern about the lack of six days.

"I don’t have a problem with less days because I have a lot of things going on outside of school. When exams come up, it’s like an entire month of school is packed into a week. I go to school every day. I’m not one of those kids that skips out, and I get what I need from school in the time I’m there," Carrigan said.

BY THE NUMBERS

ECISD instructional days over the past 10 years.

>> 2000-’01: 176.

>> 2001-’02: 174.

>> 2002-’03: 174.

>> 2003-’04: 176.

>> 2004-’05: 176.

>> 2005-’06: 174.

>> 2006-’07: 175.

>> 2007-’08: 176.

>> 2008-’09: 174.

>> 2009-’10: 174.

Source: ECISD