SPS asks parents: Would you rather have extra days off at Thanksgiving or after Christmas?
Parents have until Monday to tell Springfield Public Schools if they prefer a full week off at Thanksgiving or an extra long winter break.
Their input is expected to be presented Dec. 13 to the school board, which will be asked to approve a calendar for the 2023-24 year,
As of Tuesday evening, more than 4,000 parents had responded to the online survey.
Parents have long been part of the annual calendar committee — along with teachers, principals, administrators and community representatives — but this if the first time direct input has been sought from all parents.
"We've never done that before. Up until this point ... we had a team create the calendar and then it was presented to the board and there wasn't this wider ask for additional feedback," said Bret Range, executive director of student and school services.
"The school calendar is something that impacts everybody's life."
Superintendent Grenita Lathan was behind the push to get wider input and the district's leadership team agreed.
At the meeting Tuesday, she said a final decision on the calendar might be postponed to January because the board had full meetings planned in December.
"This is a part of Dr. Lathan's vision for us to explore new ways to engage with all of our stakeholders," said Stephen Hall, chief communications officer.
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Hall said online surveys and events ranging from SPS University to "Gather with Grenita" are ways to "seek feedback and demonstrate we're listening and that feedback is used to shape decisions."
In Springfield, the district works closely with Missouri State University, Ozarks Technical Community College, Evangel University and Drury University to have the same spring break and other similarities in schedules. Officials from those institutions were on the district's calendar committee.
The committee generated two calendar options for the 2023-24 year. Both were presented to parents this week for input.
Both options have the following dates in common:
Tuesday, Aug. 22 − First day of school
Tuesday, Nov. 7 − No class on Election Day
Thursday, May 23 − Final day of school
Option 1: Longer break for Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving break will be Monday, Nov. 20 through Friday, Nov. 24
Winter break will be Monday, Dec. 25 through Wednesday, Jan. 3
Option 2: Longer winter break
Thanksgiving break will be Wednesday, Nov. 22 through Friday, Nov. 24
Winter break will be Monday, Dec. 25 through Friday, Jan. 5
Typically, classes are off the day before and after the Thanksgiving holiday, a Wednesday and Friday. This year, there were no classes on Monday or Tuesday, giving families and employees a longer break. The district was asked what feedback it received on that change.
"It's been positive. That is just anecdotally," Range said. "We will for sure see once we close this (survey) on Monday and look at what they provided us."
Range said this is the first day the district has canceled classes the entire week of Thanksgiving and asked for input on the calendar at this level.
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"I'm assuming, if they really like it, then we will have a majority, lots of people, provide us feedback ... that we really like the week off at Thanksgiving and that would be our preferred calendar moving forward," Range said.
The calendar at four elementary schools — Boyd, Field, Rountree and Robberson — may have slight variations due to special programming. However, most key dates will coincide with the district calendar.
Claudette Riley covers education at the News-Leader. Email tips and story ideas to criley@news-leader.com.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: SPS asks parents for input on length of Thanksgiving, Christmas breaks
