Publication Date: Friday, June 25, 2004
Board approves 'ski week' -- with reservations
Board approves 'ski week' -- with reservations
(June 25, 2004) Officials decided to avoid adding issue to complex labor negotiations
by Alexandria Rocha
Though it may not be in students' and families' best interests, the school board shortened summer vacation and added a "ski week" in February to avoid complicating already thorny labor negotiations with its employee groups.
The new calendar was adopted for two years only and will first be implemented for the 2005-2006 school year.
The board rejected the exact same calendar proposal at a meeting more than two weeks ago, concerned that it would cut into summer vacation time and require families to work around a February break's childcare dilemma.
At Tuesday night's meeting -- the last before breaking for summer -- the board was presented with the same calendar for the 2005-2007 school years.
"We came to the realization that we made the best decision that we thought we could," said Chuck McDonnell, president of the local classified employees' chapter who also served on the staff calendar committee.
It was essentially an ultimatum -- either add the calendar to the list of hot negotiation topics -- such as salaries, benefits and work conditions -- with both the teachers' and classified employees' unions, or adopt it as is.
"It was between a rock and a hard place," said board member Mandy Lowell. "It was going to go to negotiations. ... To have a battle over something like the calendar just adds a different issue."
The board voted 4-1, with board member Gail Price dissenting. However, both Lowell and board member Camille Townsend expressed extreme dissatisfaction with the board's action.
After the vote, in fact, Townsend requested that a special side note be added to the meeting's minutes explaining the struggle she had in voting for the calendar.
The "ski week" calendar was drafted on the request of staff for a leave between spring break and summer vacation. Advocates said a strategically placed week off in February would help reduce student stress, a claim that has been challenged since day one.
"The reduction in stress is unsupported and speculative," said Lowell. "I know families who like to go skiing in that time. Why shouldn't they be able to take their kids out of school and be responsible for making up the work? Why should the school district be in the position of providing no school during that period?"
Board member John Barton, however, said, "In talking to my kids, the break was a good idea. That was a long period and they could use that break in there."
If the board didn't adopt the calendar Tuesday night, Superintendent Mary Frances Callan said a calendar would not be adopted until late in the year, when both sets of negotiations are completed. She said parents in turn would not be given the usual year's notice on the calendar.
Marilyn Cook, district assistant superintendent who headed the calendar committee, said nearly 500 e-mails and phone calls on the topic reached the district. The responses, however, didn't point in one clear direction. They were scattered, which created a problem for the calendar committee, Cook said.
"It's not that we didn't honor all of the input. A calendar is a huge compromise," she added.
Some parents were simply upset with the district's process of drafting the calendar.
"I was never aware of parent input being actively solicited," said Diane Frank, a parent of a middle school student.
Alexandria Rocha can be e-mailed at arocha@paweekly.com
E-mail a friend a link to this story. | 
