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| Abingdon District 217 to Start School Later in August |
Students in the Abingdon School District start the new school year in the fall a little later than in the past.
The District 217 Board of Education Wednesday night unanimously agreed to push back the start of the 2009-2010 school year to August 21st, a teacher institute day, with the first full day of student attendance on August 24th instead of students beginning school on August 19th.
Abingdon Superintendent Dr. Tami Roskamp tells WGIL the new calendar for District 217 will be aligned with District 205's. "We share many programs with (District) 205...special education pre-k and also vocational programs, and we really want to encourage our students to take welding and courses that we don't offer so getting our calendars to start at the same time is key."
Roskamp says all of the Abingdon special eduation employees are actually District 205 employees that work in District 217, so the change benefits employees and students alike.
A survey of Abingdon's teachers resulted in 29 in favor of changing the calendar and 26 against it. Most of those against the plan are employed at Abingdon Middle School, where principal Stan Adcock says the main issue is making an already long fourth quarter longer. However, Adcock was not strongly opposed to the change.
Roskamp says an adjustment will be made to end the first semester by Christmas to avoid what she called a "winter lag" and to keep the students fresh. She says there is not a common calendar in the area, and the new arrangement is the best option for students.
In other business, the board elected its officers. Jim Bloomberg remains the board president, Roger Schrodt is the vice president, Bonnie Froelich is the secretary and Dianna Pratt was appointed as the district's treasurer. |
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| 05 13 09 by Newsroom |
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