North Thurston Public Schools committee recommends no change to traditional school year
North Thurston Public Schools’ year-long look into a non-traditional school year called a “balanced calendar” came to an end Tuesday night when a committee recommended making no changes to the school year.
The recommendation was made to the NTPS board, which gathered at Lacey Elementary for its regular meeting. Although the board agreed with the recommendation, they did not vote on it.
“There was no formal vote tonight and none is expected in the foreseeable future,” district spokesman Aaron Wyatt said.
The committee representatives that made Tuesday’s recommendation were part of a group of about 50 people who had studied the school calendar since last year. Driving the exploration into a balanced calendar was the need to address summer learning loss and to provide more breaks to students and staff throughout the year.
Assistant Superintendents Vicky Lamoreaux and Monty Sabin recapped the committee’s work for the board.
The committee looked at two different models that would have divided the 180-day school year into 45-day learning blocks, separated by either a two-week or three-week vacation, followed by a summer break in the range of 5-8 weeks, down from the traditional 11-week summer vacation.
Although there was some support for a balanced calendar, “managing the logistics of work, childcare and household were huge concerns,” Lamoreaux said.
Sabin, who is set to become superintendent of the Moses Lake School District in Eastern Washington, reviewed community survey data, which showed little support for changing the calendar.
More than 5,200 people responded to the survey, including students, 72 percent of whom prefer the traditional school year.
“Most respondents preferred keeping our current calendar,” he said. “Parents were more open to it than students.”
Although they recommended no change to the school year, Sabin said exploring the possible change has engaged the community and raised interest in addressing summer learning loss.
They also left open the door of a balanced calendar in the future, should other districts adopt it. The Olympia School District also is exploring the idea.
School board members agreed with the recommendation, although they differed on the degree to which the door should be left open to the idea in the future.
Tiffany Sevruk wanted to make clear the door was slammed shut.
“I do feel like parents should feel safe that we’re not looking at this in the future,” she said.
Graeme Sackrison said he wants the district to keep its options open.
“I am not refuting a balanced calendar,” he said. “This is probably not the right time to do it.”
Dave Newkirk believes the recommendation is correct at this time, but he was adamant about addressing summer learning loss.
“Summer learning loss is a big deal, so we need to find resources for those students who need it in the summertime,” he said.
This story was originally published May 4, 2022 at 5:45 AM.
