By Ally Lanasa, Staff Writer

(March 4, 2021) Public school students will start their summer break a little earlier next year, following the Worcester County Board of Education’s approval on Feb. 16 of a 2021-22 academic calendar proposal with a summer break that will begin on June 14.

CALENDAR COURTESY WORCESTER COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
The Worcester County Board of Education voted on Feb. 16 in favor of a 2021-22 academic calendar proposal that begins the year on Sept. 7 and has an early summer release on June 14.

The calendar shows a fall start date on Sept. 7, 2021, after Labor Day weekend. Students will have more than a week off for winter break, which will begin with a half-day on Dec. 22. Additionally, spring break will begin with a half-day on April 13.

Carrie Sterrs, the coordinator of public relations and special programs for the county school system, said the typical calendar work committee was not able to convene because of covid-19, but members’ opinions about two calendar proposals was sought through a survey.

Two calendar proposals were drafted in November. The first proposal had an early summer release, while the second proposal featured more frequent and longer breaks, resulting in the extended summer break starting on June 21.

The proposals differ in length for vacation or breaks, marking periods and professional days, but both contain three inclement weather days built into the end of the year. Beyond those three inclement weather days, the 14 public schools will switch to distance learning rather than close.

The proposals were presented to the executive leadership of the county schools in November. The proposals were presented to the board of education in December 2020. Then, a survey was conducted for feedback from the school community from Jan. 11 to Jan. 29.

“It was conducted entirely online and publicized using our website, social media tools and our school messenger notifications,” Sterrs said.

She added that the survey received 1,209 responses, which is nearly double the participation from the previous year’s survey. Respondents identified themselves as parents, employees, students, bus contractors or community members.

More than 50 percent of respondents were parents and 37 percent were employees.

Stephen Decatur High School had the highest level of participation with 15.80 percent of votes originating from the school’s region, followed by Stephen Decatur Middle School with about 10 percent of respondents.

Sterrs noted that the north end schools have greater populations than others in the county, which resulted in higher participation results.

The majority of parents favored the first option, which was an early release calendar. Similarly, 58 percent of the employee respondents preferred the first option.

Respondents identifying themselves as students, bus contractors or community members also overwhelmingly favored the first calendar proposal.

Superintendent of Schools Lou Taylor recommended the adoption of the early release calendar proposal and the school board agreed unanimously.