By Charly SHELTON

The Glendale Unified School District Board of Education held its biweekly meeting Tuesday. In the wake of the Sagebrush forums over the last several weeks, the issue is moving along in another committee’s proceedings, freeing up the board to handle another long-running debate – the school calendar. Last year, a Save our Summers petition garnered over 2,500 signatures to implore the school district to start the school year later and allow for a longer summer, as it had been years before. In 2009, the board authorized an earlier start date to allow more time for Advance Placement class students to have more days of instruction in the first semester.

“In 2009, a promise was made to the parents by the board of education. They were told that when they took the days from the end of the school year to the beginning of the school year to help the AP students that they would keep their promise and not affect summer vacation. That promise has not been kept,” said Marilyn Bayless, mother of seven and grandmother of 30, most of whom attend GUSD schools.

The petition led to GUSD hosting an online survey and community forums to gather input on the issue from members of the public. The data gathered was given to a specially formed committee of GUSD representatives, community members and parents who proposed a new calendar for the 2017-18 school year. This was then taken to negotiations with the Glendale Teachers Association. The two organizations worked on compromises and an agreement was reached. The proposed calendar was brought before the school board for approval and adoption. However, the reaction of many members of the public who spoke at the meeting and of the school board members was of disappointment.

“Personally, it goes against everything we talked about,” said board member Greg Krikorian. “We as a board addressed this issue last year, last summer, and in that time we told the parents and the community we need time, we’re caught in a box, we need more time for planning … Hearing the comments from the parents today and hearing their frustration – well I don’t blame them. I’d be just as frustrated, which I am frustrated not only as a board member but being a parent. I just wonder sometimes, is the staff really listening?”

The 2017-18 school year calendar starts on Wednesday, Aug. 16,
2017 – eight days later than the previous year. There will be a full week off at Thanksgiving, two weeks off at the holidays, and the school year ends on Wednesday, June 6, 2018. First semester ends
on Dec. 21, 2017 so that students finish their first course before leaving for the winter holiday break.

One issue that was brought up repeatedly in the initial debate and forums was that of balanced semesters. The first semester winds up with 83 days of instruction while the second semester has 97 days – as close as was achievable to the even 90-90 split.

“We attended so many school board meetings last year and when people realized that I had started this petition, they said, ‘The school board will not change, they will have their agenda.’ I said ‘That is not true because these are excellent people who care about our community and they have been elected to listen to us,’” said Sarah Rush, who initiated the petition and served on the calendar committee. “And I have to say that I am becoming a little bit – not jaded, because I will never be jaded – but discouraged. Because I am very disappointed.”

Some who spoke, including petitioners, school board members and parents, expressed the futility of the negotiation process after only gaining eight additional days of summer vacation. Board member Christine Walters, who was also a bit disappointed with the outcome of the calendar, expressed her sentiments on the compromise.

“Not everybody’s getting what they want out of this. I just want to make it clear that I don’t think that the process was a waste or nobody’s listening because everybody’s not getting exactly what they want. There are a lot of constraints that impact the date that school starts,” Walters said.

In the end, the action was voted on and passed 3-2. The new calendar has been posted on the GUSD website and the 2018-19 calendar negotiations will begin on Dec. 8.

  Charly Shelton