In a unanimous vote, members of the Hamilton Southeastern school board gave the go-ahead on two upcoming school year calendars, as proposed by administrators.
The 2020-21 and 2021-22 school calendars proposed by administrators were released to the public early Wednesday morning, the same day of the vote. Board members held a brief discussion Wednesday evening and voted to approve the calendars released earlier in the day.
Draft calendars were submitted for board consideration at the previous regular board meeting. There were some tweaks made to the drafts from two weeks ago, including flex days and Monday early student release days.
Prior to the vote, Hamilton Southeastern Education Association President Janet Chandler told the board that the school calendar issue is one of the most controversial the board faces, and all will not be happy, no matter how the calendar is done.
In earlier comments, board members expressed concern that in the two school years under consideration, the school start dates are early – Aug. 5, 2020 and Aug. 4, 2021. This is largely due to where Christmas Day falls on the calendar. Using the same basic system of finishing the first semester before Christmas break, Board President Michelle Fullhart said that the start date would fall to Aug. 9 in the 2022-23 school year.
You can access the 2020-21 school calendar at this link. The 2021-22 school year calendar can be found at this link.