Aiken County School board to vote on 2023-24 calendar Tuesday
Mar. 6—The Aiken County Board of Education will vote on the proposed calendar for the 2023-24 school year during its meeting Tuesday.
School board members voted to move to a modified calendar for the 2023-24 school year during their Jan. 25 meeting. However, before the calendar itself is approved, board members had a few questions they wanted answered.
At a called meeting on March 1, Superintendent King Laurence addressed several topics brought to him by board members. One of the topics was how the intervention was going to be handled.
"It really is looking at the students who are in the greatest need," Laurence said. "Taking a look at who are bottom 20% of students are and by a variety of measures. I think our primary measures are measures of academic progress, also we have things like fast bridge program, we would look at end of the year assessments, in high school courses we would look at student progress in those."
School board member Brian Silas asked if the intercession had to be a week long. Laurence said no, some school districts do three days, four days or five days. Board member Dwight Smith also expressed concern about whether two weeks of intercession throughout the school year would be beneficial to the students instead of a longer time for intercession over the summer.
"I just don't feel like we're going to be doing our kids the service that we're saying we are," Smith said.
Laurence said the two weeks of intercession through the year would be in addition to summer school.
Crane also asked how long summer break would be. Laurence said the first summer break, the one leading into the 2023 school year would be six weeks, but then it would go to seven weeks the next year. This has to do with the dates for the spring 2023 graduations.
Other concerns included how the breaks would affect athletic schedules and band competition schedules.
Laurence said there shouldn't be an impact on athletic schedules and will require some adjustments with the band practice schedules.
It has also been noted at previous meetings that if the modified calendar doesn't work, the school district can always return to a normal school calendar.
Laurence told board members that the calendar will be brought to them for a vote during the regular meeting Tuesday. The recommendation of the administration will be to approve the proposed calendar for the 2023-24 school year.
The draft of the proposed modified calendar for 2023-24 has students starting class on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. A fall break is scheduled for Oct. 2-13, with Oct. 2-6 as the intercession week. Thanksgiving break will be Nov. 22-24. Christmas break for students will be Dec. 20, 2023 to Jan. 3, 2024. Spring break will be April 1-12, with the intercession week set for April 1-5, 2024. The last day of school will be Thursday, May 30, 2024.
Other breaks on the proposed calendar include Labor Day on Sept. 4, 2023; weather make-up day on Friday, Oct. 20; Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 15; a holiday and President's Day Friday, Feb. 16 and Monday, Feb. 19, 2024; a weather make-up day on Thursday, March 28; and a Good Friday holiday on Friday, March 29, 2024.
"The proposed calendar provides time for intervention and enrichment and allows the first semester to finish before the start of the winter break," according to the agenda notes for the Tuesday meeting. "A modified school calendar will require adjustments to schedules, and accommodations will be necessary initially for some staff and families. We believe, however, that benefits will be realized in our priorities of school safety, teacher recruitment and retention, and student achievement."
The Aiken County Board of Education will meet at 6 p.m. at the district office located at 1000 Brookhaven Drive. The meeting will be livestreamed online at acpsd.net.
