Written by: Seth Gordon, Newberg Graphic 

Newberg has selected beginning, ending and breaks for the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 school years based on feedback from recent survey

After taking a full week off for Thanksgiving the past two years, the Newberg School District reached out to parents, students and staff with a survey to determine their priorities as administrators craft the calendars for the next two school years.

What the district learned is that starting classes after Labor Day and ending them as early as possible in June is more important to the school community than taking the full Thanksgiving week off.

So for the next two years, students and staff will have three days, Wednesday through Friday, off for Thanksgiving.

That was one of the major points in Superintendent Kym LeBlanc-Esparza's presentation to the school board at its Dec. 13 meeting, as she revealed the basic parameters — starting date, ending date and dates for breaks — for the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 calendars.

Classes next fall will begin Sept. 5, the day after Labor Day, and end June 14. Counting weekends, winter break is set for Dec. 16-Jan. 2 and spring break will run March 24-April 1.

For 2018-2019, students will attend school beginning Sept. 4 and get out June 14. Winter break is set for Dec. 22-Jan. 6 and spring break will be taken March 23-31.

The board did not vote on the basic calendar LeBlanc-Esparza presented, but she reported that a 21-person committee is working around those dates to fill in the rest of the schedule and is expected to present full calendars for approval at the board's Jan. 24 meeting. The superintendent has been overseeing the calendar process for three years now and likes to joke that no one volunteers to serve on the committee more than once.

"It is the most ridiculously difficult thing to do," LeBlanc-Esparza said. "And it seems like it would not be hard. You've got a series of squares there and you figure out how to make it all work. Not so fast. When you start looking at the number of days of contact, the number of teacher work days, conference days, prep days, the grading days, the special development days, how many days you have to be in school before a certain time period for it to count for the state (average daily membership), it suddenly becomes quite a mathematical equation that takes some balance."

LeBlanc-Esparza reported that 1,467 people, about 1,100 of which were parents and 26 students, responded to the survey, which asked questions about their priorities rather than their preference for specific calendar options that had already been determined, as was done in previous years.

Among survey respondents, 65 percent indicated it was more important to start classes after Labor Day. The same proportion, 65 percent, also reported that ending classes as early as possible was a priority.

"That was a pretty heavy response," LeBlanc-Esparza said. "What that really means is you can't take the whole week of Thanksgiving off if that's the case."

When specifically asked about time off for Thanksgiving, just under half preferred taking three days off versus 35 percent favoring the full week.

In soliciting feedback about the timing of winter break, LeBlanc-Esparza said there was a preference for taking more time before Christmas as opposed to after Jan. 1, although most surveyed did not rate the distinction as important.

The district also surveyed stakeholders about aligning conference days across grades K-12, but just 32 percent reported that was important to them.

"In the past I know we've had conversations trying to make that happen and it's not been easy because the grading time periods don't necessarily line up," LeBlanc-Esparza said. "So when it would (be) really valuable to hold elementary conferences wasn't the most ideal time to hold secondary conferences. It was good to hear from folks that it wasn't that big of a deal. We can do them differently."

The district also got low responses about aligning their breaks with surrounding districts (23 percent) and local colleges and universities (25 percent), which LeBlanc-Esparza found surprising.

The district also received 208 comments from the survey. Among those with multiple comments, the topics broke down into four general areas.

LeBlanc-Esparza reported her surprise that several respondents asked if the district had considered year-round scheduling. She and assistant superintendent Dave Parker told the board they hadn't, mostly because the potential savings in utilities and transportation were not significant compared to the drawbacks.

Many parents also commented that conferences are more beneficial if scheduled at report card time.

Lastly, several comments were submitted expressing displeasure about late start on Wednesdays and the number of partial weeks that occurred this October.

"The way the calendar lines up as far as conferences and the state-wide (professional development) day, this year there were like three different weeks where there wasn't either a Friday or a Monday, and we heard about that," LeBlanc-Esparza said. "Folks didn't like that. They really wanted full work weeks."

LeBlanc-Esparza told the board the calendar committee is also grappling with establishing master schedules for middle and high school that will better accommodate students who are taking a class or two at a higher level, like middle schoolers at the high school and high school students at Portland Community College or George Fox University.

The committee must also consider the state's new requirement that 90 percent of students, both overall and at each grade level, must have a full schedule. Parker reported that Newberg was at approximately 87 percent this year, which met this year's initial minimum of 85, but would not in 2017-2018 when it is raised 5 points.

LeBlanc-Esparza said that the current push to expand career and technical education (CTE) options at the high school could help with that issue.

"They may be able to gain some efficiency in their schedule by changing the schedule, thus adding the opportunities without us having to add resources," LeBlanc-Esparza said. "There is definitely that conversation among the committee as well."

The next school board meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Jan. 10.