Coweta school calendars under review

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The Coweta County Board of Education is preparing to adopt new academic-year calendars for the 2017-18 through 2018-19 school years and is seeking public input through Dec. 11.

School system spokesman Dean Jackson said two versions of calendars for both years are available for review on the Coweta County School System website at www.cowetaschools.net. The versions posted there follow the traditional format used by the Coweta County School System for the last several years.

A survey is also available online for public comment on school calendars and for the school system’s holiday schedule. That survey can be found at www.cowetaschools.net, and will be available through Dec. 11.

“The proposed calendars follow the format used by the Coweta County School System for the last several years,” Jackson said. “These calendars maintain 180 days of student instruction, divided into two 90-day semesters or into two 89 and 91 day semesters. The first semester concludes before the start of Christmas holidays in December to allow for high school course completion and final exams prior to the Christmas and New Year’s break.”

In addition to the above, the calendars also include:

• A full week for Thanksgiving break

• Two weeks for the Christmas and New Year’s break

• A full week for mid-Winter break in February

• A full-week Spring break in April

• Two student holidays in October (an extended weekend) for a Fall break

• Labor Day

• Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

• Calendars have also traditionally ended before Memorial Day

To adopt a significantly different calendar format would require a change to the length of the school holiday schedule outlined above. This survey allows participants to express their thoughts about school calendars, and also asks specific questions about our school system’s traditional holiday schedule and the length of school breaks, Jackson said.

Based upon feedback the system receives from this survey, a determination will be made whether or not the school system needs to build additional calendar options with shorter holidays.