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The Coweta County Board of Education has approved
changes to the 2010-11 school system calendar, establishing
Monday, August 9th as the first day of school for the upcoming
school year.
The Board made that and other minor calendar changes in a called
meeting on Friday. The new calendar maintains the 180-day school
year for students, and allows the school system to offer 187-day
contracts for certified teachers for the upcoming school year.
The new calendar – posted online at www.cowetaschools.org –
makes several changes that will allow the school board to
prepare a budget for the new school year. Those changes include:
- Setting Monday, August 9, 2010 as the first day of
school. The new calendar sets Thursday, August 5 and Friday,
August 6 as teacher workdays. The school system’s School
Visitation Day will be held Friday, August 6, with middle
schools open to students and parents from 10:00 a.m. to
12:00 p.m., and elementary schools open from 12:00 p.m. to
2:00 p.m. that day.
- Moving the long-weekend fall break to the Columbus Day
weekend (Monday and Tuesday, October 11-12) and setting both
days as student and employee holidays.
- Extending the end of the fall semester to Tuesday,
December 21 (instead of Friday, December 17) before letting
out for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.
- Shifting a teacher workday from Monday, January 3 to
Friday, June 3. Monday, January 3 will be a holiday for
students and employees.
The first day of school for the 2nd semester remains the
same at January 5, 2011, and the last day of school remains
the same at Friday, May 27, 2011.
The changes to the 2010-11 calendar will not affect the
180-day school year for Coweta County students, but it will
allow the school system to offer teachers a 187-day contract for
the new school year, providing for 7 teacher workdays.
Superintendent Blake Bass noted that the state Board of
Education approved a change to state rules on Thursday that
allows school systems to temporarily deviate from the 190-day
work-year for certified teachers, giving school systems greater
budget flexibility during the current recession.
The Coweta school board’s change to the calendar will allow the
Superintendent to begin work on a budget that will offer a
187-day contract for certified teachers and other 190-day
employees and three fewer days for all other employees who work
more than 190 days. Teaching assistants, bus drivers and
cafeteria workers would not be affected because they work only
on the 180 days that students are in session during the year.
Such a budget - based on preliminary state budget figures
received last week - would mean that certified employees would
also see no difference in their annual pay next year, and step
raises would be passed on to eligible certified employees based
on experience.
The 2010-11 budget must be approved before the end of the
current fiscal year on June 30. |
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