Public hearings on a possible change to the school calendar in Cabell County begin this week.
Cabell County School Superintendent William Smith says school officials are considering a move to a balanced school calendar, one that would space the current 180 instructional days for students out differently through the year.
“You would have 45 day instructional periods or nine weeks, they call them, nine week instructional periods and then you would have a break of about three weeks between each. The summer would be five to six weeks,” Smith explains.
“During that (break) time, in the intersessions we call them, you could have additional days where students could voluntarily come to school for enrichment, remediation, those types of things.”
Smith says such a calendar is already being used in other parts of West Virginia and across the country with success. “It’s not a new concept,” he said.
“We think it will enhance student achievement, not just because it changes the way the calendar looks, but what we do with those changes and why we make the changes is what makes the difference.”
The balanced calendar is only a proposal right now. Smith says Cabell County school officials want to hear what educators, parents, community leaders and others have to say about the possibility.
The first public hearing on the idea will be held on Tuesday night at Huntington Middle School.
District leaders will meet with employees from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. with time for input from community members scheduled from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
The rest of the hearings, which will have the same format, are scheduled as follows:
February 11th, Barboursville Middle School
February 12th, Enslow Middle School
February 25th, Milton Middle School
February 26th, Beverly Hills Middle School
You can find out more about what is being proposed at http://boe.cabe.k12.wv.us.
If it’s ultimately approved, the balanced calendar could be implemented for the 2014-2015 school year in Cabell County.