School will start a little earlier across the Putnam County Schools, with a new three-year calendar cycle approved.
Curriculum Supervisor Bubba Winningham said a committee of people from around the district assembled three calendar options based on parent and staff feedback. One goal for the school system, putting teacher development days back into the calendar.
“That was again, traditionally what we’ve been doing, but we were able to build back in those days, those PD days,” Winningham said. “And we were able to end before Memorial Day. We do start a little bit early, but we have to. We have to get 180 days in, and in doing so, that kind of pushes us back.”
The new calendar will have a two-week fall break, a three day Thanksgiving break and a full week for spring break. Winningham said spring break will be the week of Good Friday, so students will return after Easter.
Winningham said there were still some complaints on this calendar.
“They want a longer summer, they would like more breaks, but again, we have to fit 180 days in,” Winningham said. “And they don’t want to go after Memorial Day, so there’s some give and take there that were challenges we kind of had to work through.”
The previous calendar had staff professional development sessions scheduled after school. The new calendar will tack five teacher in-service days on the end of student breaks.
“There were quite a few teachers who appreciated putting those PD days back in and after breaks,” Winningham said. “We strategically did that. It gives our teachers a chance to collaborate and focus on their PLCs.”
Winningham said the new calendar beat out a “hybrid” proposal containing a week off for Thanksgiving and a week and a half long fall break. This option would have started school in early August.
The third proposal included one week each for fall break and Thanksgiving. It would have let students out for the summer the Thursday before Memorial Day.
The calendar was approved unanimously by the Putnam County School Board.
