More than 50 people migrated to the new Southside Community Center on August 17 for the first of four community meetings to share input about the potential year-round/balanced school calendar for Asheville City Schools. The group listened to Assistant Superintendent Kelvin Cyrus’ presentation about why the option is under consideration and then divided into groups of five to become mock school boards, study the pros and cons and present their ‘recommendation’.
The next of the four meetings is scheduled for Thursday, September 27th from 5:30 until 7:00 p.m. at the North Asheville Center at 37 East Larchmont Drive. (Map) Additional meetings are slated for Tuesday, October 2 at Asheville Middle School and Thursday, October 11 at the West Asheville Center. Another meeting will soon be scheduled at Asheville High School. Each will start at 5:30 PM.
Some research suggests that a ‘balanced calendar’ stretched across a full year would serve to reduce the summer loss that many students experience in a traditional calendar. Here is a brief video addressing that issue.
Other research-based evidence explores the value of extending the school day or school year for economically disadvantaged children. We encourage you to come and be a part of the conversation about the possibility of a significant change to the way we operate our school calendar. There are at least three variations of what we would like to call a ‘balanced’ calendar. As you will see if you follow the link below, these calendars do not increase the number of student days, they simply spread school days out across the twelve month calendar. Three examples of these balanced calendars.
We held several of these calendar meetings last month and those who attended described them as informative, balanced and interactive...much like an old fashioned town-hall meeting. Parents, teachers, staff and community agencies were well represented and provided excellent input to the district.
Please join us at one of these three meetings. The input gathered to date from more than 250 people has been extremely valuable. Help us work together as we strive to implement our new strategic imperative ----Raising the achievement of all students --- one child at a time.