Committee takes a look at school calendar

A few changes may be made to the Brainerd School District 2010-11 school calendar that will help accommodate teacher in-service days and help align student testing days.

The district's Curriculum Committee Tuesday decided to recommend the changes to the Brainerd School Board, which will discuss the changes at its April meeting.

The changes include more in-service teacher days before school starts in the fall. Kindergarten through second-grade teachers would start Aug. 30; third- and fourth-grade teachers would begin Aug. 31 and fifth- through 12th-grade teachers would begin Sept. 1.

Deb Lechner, director of teaching and learning, said the starting dates for teachers were staggered to give the kindergarten through second-grade teachers more time to prepare for the students and to make any modifications needed regarding any summer testing issues.

The first day of school, Sept. 7, did not change.

A teacher in-service day was moved from Nov. 5 to Nov. 29. This change will give students a longer Thanksgiving holiday.

Lechner said there will be one day less of instruction for elementary students because of the additional time that will be taken for testing before the school year begins. As a result, there will be an in-service teacher day on Dec. 22, a day before Christmas break. Lechner said only students in K-4 will not have school Dec. 22.

"It is one day less, but we feel it will align to be more efficient with an earlier starting date," said Lechner. "The number of contract days for the teachers did not change. They will remain at 173 days of work.

"There is no perfect calendar, but this one is addressing some of the concerns."

JENNIFER STOCKINGER may be reached at jennifer.stockinger@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5851.