ROCK HILL, S.C. (CN2 NEWS) – A new calendar approved for the York 1 School District and it’s got some interesting adjustments.
For the 2023-24 school year students will begin on August 7th and end on May 30th.
Summer for students will last nine weeks. And, those other weeks that used to be part of summer are now scattered throughout the school year. In addition to government holiday days off the district will also have a week off in October, February and April.
Other districts like Fort Mill are also considering something similar. Tuesday night a presentation was made about possible calendar changes, but they wouldn’t be until the start of the 2024 -25 school year.
Districts are now able to make calendar adjustments for the first time thanks to a legislative change in Columbia.
2023-24 Academic Calendar YSD1
School Release:
York School District One Adopts a Modified Balanced Academic Calendar for 2023-2024
The York School District One Board of Trustees voted to adopt a modified balanced calendar for the 2023-2024 school year at their regularly scheduled meeting on January 10, 2023. While this is a shift from the traditional calendar, district officials are intrigued by the numerous benefits associated with implementing this type of calendar.
“While this will be a mindset shift and adjustment for our community, this calendar provides us with an option that we have not had before. We will have the chance to intervene with kids falling behind early, hopefully lessening the need for students to spend their summer catching up in summer school. We are also excited about the potential to offer enrichment experiences for students during intercession weeks. This aligns well with our Strategic Change Agenda, which is focused on student readiness and helping students find the intersection between their academic strengths and individual talents and passions,” said Kelly Coxe, Superintendent of York School District One.
Prior to the adoption of the modified balanced calendar, District officials communicated with several South Carolina school districts who have already implemented this kind of calendar for the 2022-2023 school year or are considering doing so next school year. Those districts cited benefits that come with the adoption of a modified balanced calendar but are not available under the traditional calendar. The impact of COVID-19 on student learning and the looming teacher shortage presents a unique opportunity for districts to utilize new and innovative approaches to support learning recovery efforts and attract and retain teachers. While a modified balanced calendar does not add any additional days for students or teachers, it does create opportunities for students to recover learning in a timelier fashion and teachers to recharge throughout the school year rather than working long stretches before arriving at the traditional breaks in December and April.
In addition to early intervention and enrichment opportunities, creating a calendar with an equal number of instructional days each semester also has merit. Secondary students who participate in semester long courses can be guaranteed the same number of instructional days regardless of the semester in which they take the course, creating a better balance for students and teachers. That has not been true under the traditional calendar. For example, the fall semester this school year is 87 days, while the spring semester is 93 days. This means that students who take a semester long course in the spring receive 6 more days of instruction than their fall semester counterparts. The modified balanced calendar remedies that inequity, with 90 instructional days included in both the fall and spring semester.
While the summer break will be two weeks shorter than that of a traditional calendar, those two weeks are not lost. Instead, teachers and students will have an opportunity to recover those weeks as breaks during October and February, which are highlighted as intercession on the approved calendar. “It is important to note that while a modified balanced calendar differs from the traditional one, it does not increase the number of days students are required to attend school or teachers are required to work. It is not a year-round calendar. A year-round calendar would add mandatory attendance days to the school year, but this calendar adds no additional days to the school year. Our students attend school for 180 days no matter which calendar we are on, and that will not change. The only thing that changes is when school is in session and when it is not. It is a redistribution of the 180 days students must attend
school. We just spread them out differently on a modified balanced calendar,” said Dr. Latoya Dixon, Assistant Superintendent for Academic Innovation and Professional Learning.
Before District administrators recommended adopting a modified balanced calendar to the Board, parents, teachers, and community members gave their input via a community-wide survey. The survey included an informational video explaining the differences between a modified balanced calendar and a traditional one and provided respondents with an opportunity to consider drafts of both a traditional calendar and a modified balanced calendar for the 2023-2024 school year. 75% of survey respondents indicated a preference of a modified balanced calendar rather than a traditional one, citing the intercession breaks and opportunities for early intervention and enrichment as benefits.
With the approval of the modified balanced calendar for the 2023-2024 school year, District officials are excited to monitor the impact on students and teachers, hoping to see a decreased need for summer remediation and an increase in teacher retention. “Our teachers are central to the core business of our school district. Retention has always been important to us, but that importance has been elevated by the current teacher shortage. If we can be creative in scheduling when teaching and learning happens and serve our students and teachers in ways that best support their needs, then we must do exactly that. We know our people make the difference,” said Superintendent Kelly Coxe.
