The DeKalb County Board of Education formally adopted the school calendar for the 2008-2009 year Thursday night, upon the recommendation of Director of Schools and the School Calendar Committee.
Registration for all students will be Tuesday, August 5th from 7:30 a.m. until 9:30 a.m. That will be an abbreviated school day.
Thursday, August 7 will be an administrative day at all schools and all teachers must attend from 8:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. Students will not attend.
The first full day of school for all students will be Wednesday, August 6
A system wide professional development day will be Thursday, July 31st at DCHS and all teachers from all schools must attend from 8:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.
All teachers will report to their individual schools Friday and Monday, August 1st & 4th from 8:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. each day.
Students will not attend on Monday, Labor Day, September 1st.
Schools will be closed for the fall break October 10-17
Students will be off for the Thanksgiving holiday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, November 26th, 27th, & 28th and for the winter break December 22nd through January 2nd , 2009. Friday, December 19th will be the last day students attend before winter break and that will be an abbreviated school day. Students will return after the holidays on Monday, January 5th to begin the third nine week session.
Schools will be closed for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday, January 19th and for President’s Day, Monday, February 16th.
The spring break will be March 19th, 20th, & 23rd
Students will not attend on Good Friday and Monday, April 10th & 13th . Students will also be off on Thursday, May 21st. That will be an administrative day and all teachers must attend.
The last day of school will be Friday, May 22nd. That will be an abbreviated school day and report cards will be given to the students.
Parent-Teacher Conferences will be held on Tuesday, October 7th and Thursday, March 12th at DeKalb County High School from 3:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m.
Parent-Teacher Conferences will also be held from 3:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. Thursday, October 9th and Thursday, January 29th at DeKalb Middle School, Northside Elementary, Smithville Elementary, and DeKalb West School.
Report cards will be sent home on Monday, October 6th, Thursday, January 8th, and Tuesday, March 10th.
Competency testing at DCHS will be October 7th-9th and February 10th-12th.
Gateway testing at DCHS will be December 2nd-4th and May 5th-7th. Gateway test makeup will be December 5th and May 8th.
Writing Assessment for the 5th, 8th, and 11th grades will be February 3rd. Writing Assessment make-up will be February 4th.
TCAP testing of elementary students will be April 20th-24th.
(Stockpile Days) Professional Development/Instructional Days will be held from 8:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 4th and Friday, May 1st.
Meanwhile, in other business Thursday night, the school board set the date for graduation at DeKalb County High School for Friday, May 23rd at 7:00 p.m.
Director of Schools Mark Willoughby also presented his monthly personnel report to the board.
Those employed since last month include substitute teachers Rebeckah Beck, Linda Brown, Dwayne Cornelius, Mary Edmonds, Joyce Martin, Dina Moon, Angela Osment, Gayle Pack, Debbie Parchman, Tina Paschal, Stacey Rise. Cori Sexton, Susan Shaw, Rawlin Vanatta, Shirley Ingram, Tracy Ludwig, Krystal Patterson, Tammy Rhea, and Ivadell Randolph.
Dwayne Cornelius, Wallace Cantrell, and Gregory Muskopf were hired as substitute bus drivers.
Meanwhile Lillian Lori Purnell, a teacher at Smithville Elementary School and Jennifer Agee, educational assistant, were granted a leave of absence as requested.
In her report to the board, DCHS Principal Kathy Hendrix, appealing to the radio audience, asked parents to “make sure that your children are passing all of their classes. If they are having trouble in any class, we have lots of before and after school programs available for them. We have credit recovery, grade recovery, Tiger Academy to make up time if they have missed too many days. We also have access to on-line classes. We are going to have some more classes available on-line probably around the first of the year. We may be able to incorporate them right away, Algebra I, English 12, Geometry, Econ and Government, and Gateway Math.”
“I would also like to encourage parents to please keep in touch with your child’s teachers to make sure they are being successful in their classes. If you have Internet access, every teacher has an email address. This is a very quick and easy way to keep in touch with your children’s teachers. Also, if your child has an English, Math, or Science class, we do have Homework Hotline, where if they are working on something at home, they can call that number and get help if they need it. We want every child at DeKalb County High School to be successful and we’re trying to provide every opportunity available that we can come up with to help them succeed. I also want to encourage the students to take advantage of these opportunities that we have available for them.”
“We also are providing some transportation after school now. The bus is going to leave at 4:45 p.m. over in front of the Middle School. If there are high school students, there will be drop off points. We’ll get some paper work out on that. We’re going to do everything we can to try and get your children access to these after school programs. If you need that after school ride, we need your name and address, prior to the date that you need a ride home. So please take advantage of all these things we have to offer at the high school.”
Director Willoughby added that regarding the after school transportation, “parents will need to sign a permission slip and parents of high school students will have to be at the designated drop off points when the bus arrives there.”
Archived News & Obituaries