Obion County Board of Education
January 9, 2012

Background Information :

click here to view School Calendar for the 2012 - 2013 School Year

The school calendar committee met to discuss a proposed school calendar for the 2012 – 2013 school year. This committee met diligently, bringing various ideas to the meeting from their respective schools for discussion.

As in the past, the notations on the school calendar for “71st Day of School 1st Semester,” “150th Day of School,” and “78th Day of School 2nd Semester” are for informational purposes only. There is no State law or State Board of Education Regulation that requires students to be in school any length of time before testing; however, “unofficial” research does indicate that students perform better on the state mandated TCAP tests if the students have been exposed to 150 days of instruction. In addition, state law now provides that TCAP tests do not have to be administered until after 150 days of instruction further emphasizing that the 150 days of instruction prior to TCAP testing has some merit. Keeping with this research theory, every attempt was made to ensure high school students were exposed to 75 days of instruction prior to AYP/EOC exams. Since the Board adoption of block scheduling, being in school for 150 days before TCAP testing has not been an issue; however, I have not taken the aforementioned notations off of the comments section of the school calendar.

The committee voted unanimously to recommend the proposed 2012 – 2013 school calendar for Board approval. Every school administrator and teacher had an opportunity to vote on the proposed school calendar and overwhelmingly approved it on the first vote (235 out of a possible 291 votes or 80.76%). With the extreme hot weather we have experienced over the past couple of years, I believe the proposed school calendar is a wise choice. The proposed school calendar has 175 school days (v. 180 days in the past), students are in class until December 21st prior to the Christmas break, and students are in school less than 2 weeks after the mandated testing windows.

Staff Recommendation:

On behalf the of calendar committee, I will recommend approval of the school calendar for the 2012 – 2013 school year at the Board’s February meeting. The calendar is being distributed in January to allow the Board time to review prior to voting.