Asbell switching to continuous calendar
Posted on Friday, March 28, 2008
Fayetteville Board of Education members voted 5-0 on Thursday to approve a request from Asbell Elementary School to become the district's second school to use the special continuous learning calendar in place at Happy Hollow Elementary.
Under the schedule, school starts earlier in August and ends later in June, but the school year features more midyear breaks. The change for Asbell will take effect in the next school year.
The board also approved the proposed 2008-09 continuous learning calendars and the regular district calendar at the meeting.
The first day of school for Asbell and Happy Hollow will be Aug. 6, and the last day of school will be June 11. For the regular school calendar, the first day of classes will be Aug. 18, and the last day of school will be June 2.
Once again, the district will offer students a full week off for Thanksgiving. This contributed to a 4-1 vote on the regular calendar, with board member Tim Hudson casting the dissenting vote. Members Howard Hamilton and Susan Heil were absent.
Hudson has not favored the full week off for Thanksgiving.
"I just think getting kids out a few days earlier in May or June might be a better way to go," he said.
The board also heard from Assistant Superintendent Ginny Wiseman, who asked the board to think about whether the district wanted to be more stringent in denying requests for students to transfer to other districts. Wiseman said the district had lost about $ 57, 000 this year from granting requests for students to transfer to other districts.
The district had allowed in 67 transfers, and 89 students left. That results in a net loss of 22 students. In addition, overall district enrollment was down by 80 to 100 students.
Wiseman said Rogers and Springdale public schools have made it a practice to not allow most transfers this year due to low enrollment increases. She asked the board to think about whether Fayetteville should take the same approach for the upcoming school year.
The board probably needs to make a decision at the May meeting, she said.
Also Thursday, the board approved a proposal from Lisa Morstad, chief financial officer, on how to use a projected $ 6. 48 million carryover. About $ 2. 17 million will be spent on a 3-percent bonus for employees; the rest will go to capital improvement projects.
In other business, the board • Discussed the prospect of new attendance zones for the 2009-10 school year. It was decided that board member Becky Purcell would work with administrators to develop a timeline for redrawing attendance zones, possibly starting this summer or fall.
• Approved new social studies textbooks as recommended. Assistant Superintendent Judy New said staff was planning to use online maps instead of buying new maps for classrooms.
• Purchased four new buses from Merls Bus Sales of Van Buren for $ 72, 642 each.
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