Sunny Schubert was kind enough to mention this blog in Wednesday's H-I column, where she comments on the "The School Calendar debate" that was brought up here: the fact that we have 13 half-days in the school calendar. Sunny notes that on the one hand these half days provide for teacher in-service training and compensation time for things like the parent teacher conferences that occur outside of the regular work hours; but on the other hand they are an inconvenience for parents and may be less effective instructional time.

The DPI requires 180 days of instruction each year, but it also allows the half-days to count toward this total (yes I agree this is problematic). Two half-days get us a whole day of comp. time or in-service without extending the school year for the staff, while consolidating two half days into one would require an additional day of staff time to offset the missed day of instruction. Very roughly a day of staff time is approximately 0.4% of the annual operating budget of the district.

I'm all for increasing instructional time and reducing the disruptions in the calendar, but the question is: If we had 2-3% more to spend, is it best spent consolidating these days? It is not my intent to minimize the concerns of parents about the calendar, nor do I disagree. It's just that the current system is the result of complex and competing considerations.