School calendar bill now on table
By Steve Herring
Published in News on February 15, 2015 1:50 AM
sherring@newsargus.com
Wayne County School Board Chairman Christ West said he and his board are "happy" to learn that a bipartisan bill has been introduced in the state House that would return control of setting the opening and closing dates of the school year to school boards in Wayne, Duplin, Sampson, Craven, Greene and Lenoir counties.
Currently, state law does not allow a school system to begin classes any earlier than the Monday closest to Aug. 26. The end date can be no later than the Friday closest to June 11.
The bill introduced this week says, "Local boards of education shall determine the dates of opening and closing the public schools."
The act would effective when it becomes law and would apply beginning with the 2015-16 school year.
West said he believes the change would result in better test scores.
"There is a lot of support from our board," he said. "It is not so much about giving us power, it is about students and giving them an opportunity to be successful.
"I have said from day one since I first got on the board that was one of the first things that I wanted to see changed."
It is "test, test, test and assess, assess, asses," West said. So, it does not make sense to send students home for up to three weeks and then test them, he said.
"It stands to reason that they will retain more of what they learn if that (testing) is done before they go home. It just always made more sense that the students are better served to take tests before going home."
If enough counties have similar bills filed, it might open the eyes of state lawmakers, West said.
The bill passed its first reading on Thursday and was referred to the Committee on Commerce and Job Development. If it receives a favorable review, it will go to the Committee on Education-K-12.
The bill was introduced Tuesday by Republicans John Bell IV of Goldsboro and Jimmy Dixon of Mount Olive and Democrats Larry Bell of Clinton and George Graham of Kinston.
It is one of several similar local bills that have been filed statewide for different counties.
West raised the calendar issue during the board's January meeting.
Board members said the existing law was created to benefit North Carolina's tourism industry, but that it came at the expense of educating the state's children.
As it now stands, the calendar law allows "very little flexibility," said David Lewis, assistant superintendent for accountability/information and technology services/athletic director, at the school board's most recent meeting.
Board member Pat Burden said that because of the law, the first semester cannot be completed prior to the Christmas break.
That means children are out of school for several weeks and then have to take exams when classes resume.
She called that unfair to students.