The DeKalb County Board of Education formally adopted the school calendar for the 2009-2010 year Thursday night, upon the recommendation of Director of Schools and the School Calendar Committee.
Registration for all students will be Thursday, July 30th. That will be an abbreviated school day.
Friday, July 31st will be an administrative day at all schools and all teachers must attend from 8:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.
The first full day of school for all students will be Monday, August 3
A system wide professional development day will be Monday, July 27th 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 Tuesday and Wednesday, July 28th & 29th from 8:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. each day.
This year the school system operates on a 9-1, 9-2, 9-1 calendar, meaning students are in school for nine weeks, then are off one week for fall break, back in school for nine weeks, off two weeks for winter break, in school for another nine weeks, and then off one week for spring break.
Dr. Carol Hendrix, Supervisor of Instruction for grades 7-12, explained during the school board meeting that next year, the school system will operate on a 9-2, 9-2, 9-1 calendar “The main difference in this calendar and last year’s is that it’s a 9-2, 9-2, 9-1 calendar. We go to school nine weeks, we’re off two weeks, we go nine more weeks and then we’re off for two weeks, then we go nine weeks and we’re off for one week. The reason we did that is because with the curriculum standards going up we realized that we need some time after nine weeks to work with our children who are at risk and behind. So one of those (two) weeks of the first 9-2, (when school is out) we’ll be working with children in different areas and not only just the students behind. We’ll also have some enrichment activities during one of those weeks as well that we’re off. So school won’t be completely out.”
Dr. Hendrix says there’s another change in the new calendar regarding TCAP’s. ” The federal government requires that we get our average yearly progress reports two weeks sooner next year than this year, so we had to back up TCAP testing. So TCAP testing will be March 24th-26th and March 29th-31st. The state will allow us next year, as well as this year, to use six days which is going to be a tremendous advantage in testing”
Students will not attend on Monday, Labor Day, September 7th.
Schools will be closed for the fall break October 12-23
Students will be off for the Thanksgiving holiday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, November 25, 26, & 27 and for the winter break December 21 through January 1, 2010. Friday, December 18 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 4th to begin the third nine week session.
Schools will be closed for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday, January 18th and for President’s Day, Monday, February 15th.
Schools will be closed for spring break April 2-9
Students will not attend on Friday, May 21. That will be an administrative day and all teachers must attend.. The last day of school will be Tuesday, May 25. That will be an abbreviated school day and report cards will be sent home.
Parent-Teacher Conferences will be held on Tuesday, October 6 and Thursday, March 11 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 8 and Thursday, January 28th at DeKalb Middle School, Northside Elementary, Smithville Elementary, and DeKalb West School.
Report cards will be sent home on Monday, October 5th, Thursday, January 7th, and Tuesday, March 9th.
Competency testing at DCHS will be October 6-8 and February 9-11.
Gateway testing at DCHS will be December 1-3 and May 4-6. Gateway test makeup will be December 4th and May 7th.
Writing Assessment for the 5th, 8th, and 11th grades will be February 2nd. Writing Assessment make-up will be February 3rd.
TCAP testing of elementary students will be March 24-26 and March 29-31
(Stockpile Days) Professional Development/Instructional Days will be held from 8:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. on Friday, October 2nd and Friday, March 5th
Meanwhile, in other business Thursday night, the school board set the date for graduation at DeKalb County High School for Friday, May 22nd, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.
Director of Schools Mark Willoughby also presented his monthly written report on personnel to the board. Those employed since last month include Mario Murphy, substitute Sign Language Interpreter; Brent Arnold, Special Education Assistant at Smithville Elementary School; Ricky Holcomb, mechanic at the bus garage; Heather Blankenship, Educational Assistant at DeKalb Middle School; Cathy Driver, substitute bus driver; Brandon Cox, Assistant Baseball Coach at DCHS.
Substitutes include Jamie Nokes, Amber Bain, Jennifer Butts, Annajane Cherry, Nikki Clark, Ann Frazier, Kristie Gardner, Amy Lockhart, Lisa Patterson, Daniel Perry, Amy Williams, and Carol Northcutt.
Meanwhile, Alisha Cheatham has been transferred from a full time to a part time Speech Language Pathologist and Sharon Washer has been transferred from a substitute to a full time cafeteria worker at DCHS.
Tad Webb has resigned as an Assistant Baseball Coach and Viva Vickers has resigned as a substitute bus assistant.
Transportation Manager Peggy Pursell updated the school board on the latest school bus inspection by the state as well as the latest price of fuel. “Our buses were inspected last week. It was a state inspection. We had a very, very good report. The only repair we had, and I can’t remember ever seeing this before, is we had one bulb to put in one of our backup lights. We owe this to Mr. Orlando Guzman and Mr. Rick Holcomb. They work so hard and they are so dedicated to their job. I didn’t do anything. They did it every bit and I’m so proud of them because of their hard work”.
“I thought you would want to know about the price of fuel. I called and got an estimate today. It’s $1.99 a gallon right now. We don’t need any (fuel) but it’s going down and I’m watching it. We bought fuel after the fall break for $2.44 per gallon. What we charge for our field trips now is 45 cents and that’s what we charged four years ago. So when I order fuel again, which will probably be in a week and a half, I’m hoping it’ll be way on down there, but I’m watching it and if it starts to go back up I’ll order.”
DCHS Principal Kathy Hendrix addressed the board with a monthly report on activities at her school. “I would like to congratulate all the teachers and students of the county. They have done an excellent job this past year meeting their AYP.”
“I would also like to congratulate the band on their success this past school year. I’ll just highlight some of the things they’ve achieved. At the Hendersonville Golden Invitational, they placed first overall in Class E and they had the best overall Drum Major and best overall Horn Line. At the Columbia Golden Invitational, they received a second place for Field Commander in the White Class. Then they went to the Blue Devil Invitational and received first place overall in Class E, best overall Drum Major, best overall Percussion, best overall Color Guard, Superior Drum Major, Superior Percussion, Superior Color Guard, and Excellent Band. Then they went to Vanderbilt where they got Superior Percussion, and in the Division II State Finals, they were awarded for Superior Field Commander, Excellent Band, Excellent Percussion, and Excellent Color Guard. They have done an excellent job and I am very proud of them. I think Mr. Wright and Ms. Birmingham have done a really good job with them this past year.”
“Our Lady Tiger Soccer team was the District Runner-up. All District First Team was Nicole Burger, Jodie Curtis, and Jessica Richards. Second Team was Megan Merriman, Daryl Hobby and Cynthia Woodward and I think they’ve done a really good job this past season. So congratulations go to them.”
“Our progress reports went out today from the high school. I hope the parents look at those and if you see that there are some concerns, please get in touch with the high school. If they (students) need some help, we’ve got all kinds of before and after school things available for them. It’s getting close to the end of this semester. Gateways are coming up the first week in December, then we have the End of Course the next week after that and then we’ve got Finals. So this first semester is just about over with. So if any student is behind they need to get with the after school or before school program and get caught up on whatever they are behind in.”
Sixth District Board member Bruce Parsley also commended the DCHS football team on it’s success. “I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate the DeKalb County High School Football team. As many of you know, this is the fifth time in school history that the football team has been to the state playoffs, but this is the first time in school history that we’ve made it past the first round. So I’d just like to give a big hand to the football team. This is one of the hardest working group of athletes I’ve ever seen and I’d like to invite all of you out there to go to Whitehouse Friday night at seven o’clock.
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