Students in the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School District will report for classes in the 2018-2019 school year on Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2018, following a vote by the board at a special meeting held Wednesday night. The board voted 6-1 to reverse a school calendar decision made at a regular meeting last week. Sylvia Shepler was the lone no vote.
The board voted 4-3 last week to start school two days earlier in August and add two days to the Thanksgiving week break to provide a full week of vacation. After a social media deluge of comments from the public, and a Change.org online petition, board President Matt Burke called the special meeting to reconsider the decision after consulting with Superintendent Allen Bourff and other members of the board.
To review the 2018-2019 school calendar approved by the board, see this link.
To review the 2019-2020 calendar, see this link.
The calendars for the coming two school years approved by the board Wednesday night are the calendar recommendations from Dr. Bourff, made in consultation with the Hamilton Southeastern Education Association (HSEA). The calendars approved are similar to the calendar for the current school year.
There were 14 public comments made at the special board session about the calendar issue. One person said his company uses high school interns, and even two fewer days in the summer would limit what those interns could learn in that experience.
Another parent said the extra days off for students would not necessarily mean more family time because parents are not always able to take time away from their jobs to spend time with their school-age children.
There were some comments about the number of snow make-up days set aside at the end of May, and whether they are needed with the recent mild winters in the Fishers area.
Janet Chandler, President of the HSEA, told the board 95 percent of teachers want to start the school year in August on a Wednesday, not a Monday. Ninety-four percent of teachers favor a full two weeks off for winter break. She also expressed the need for each semester to be as equal in the number of days as possible. Teachers also feel e-learning should be utilized when there are snow days.
Superintendent Bourff complimented board members, saying in his 27 years in school administration, he has never seen a local school board reconsider a major decision as this board was willing to do.
EDITOR’S NOTE: A special thanks to my wife Jane Lannan for her help in putting this story together.