District 51 Parents Weigh Options for Possible New School Calendar

Parents, school administrators and teachers alike have a lot to say about the new proposals.

"The four day, 8 1/2 hour schedule; that one's kind of weird," said parent Joellen Foutz.

District 51 has four options or themes; one, to keep the school calendar the way it currently is, no changes. Second option, to go to the four day calendar which would make school days longer to 8 1/2 hours a day with school starting July 22nd; thirdly, four day school weeks with 8 1/4 hour days; school starting August 5th; and lastly, do a five day extended week option which would shorten the school day and summer break but students would get longer breaks throughout the year.

"This meeting is about understanding long-term what does the community want; where do we want to go for a long-term decision," said Christy McGee with School District 51.

"The traditional calendar is probably my favorite just because change is hard sometimes and not having experienced the other options, that one feels the most comfortable to me," said Foutz.

School officials say the main goal for the new options is to ultimately help with student enrichment both in and out of the classroom.

"It's about student contact time, students in classrooms and in seats with us; so that's the ultimate goal is to increase that," said McGee.

The recommendations will now be taken to the Board where they will be reviewed on January 22nd.