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New Re-2 school calendar closest to 2014-15

Staff Report

RIFLE – The Garfield Re-2 school board this week adopted calendars for the 2015-16 and 2016-17 school years.

Key dates and notes for 2015-16 include:

• The calendar reflects a four-day school week with 149 student contact days.



• Collaboration and work days are on Fridays.

• School begins Aug. 17.



• The Friday of Labor Day week is off, resulting in a three-day school week, but consistency for students, staff and families.

• Thanksgiving break is three days.

• Winter break begins Dec. 21.

• Second semester begins Jan. 4, 2016.

• Spring break is March 21-25, 2016.

• School ends May 26, 2016.

Collaborative Solutions’ Calendar Committee began developing calendar options in January 2015. Those options were weighed and evaluated by the larger Collaborative Solutions committee in February. Collaborative Solutions is the negotiating arm of the Garfield School District Re-2 and is composed of administrators, teachers and staff, including secretaries, custodians, nutrition services workers and bus drivers. Collaborative Solutions looks at all interests involved in developing a calendar with an emphasis on supporting student achievement.

The original options were modified and pared down to two. Those two options were then released for public comment and evaluation, drawing more than 570 comments.

Collaborative Solutions reviewed the comments, discussed recurring themes and modified the draft calendars. Some common themes in the comments were that both calendar options started too early, that Garfield County Fair dates should be honored, maintain the same calendar as the ’14-’15 school year, multiple breaks could impact athletics and parents needing child care, multiple breaks would support students and staff, and that some families liked the opportunities for nontraditional times for vacations.

Calendar options were modified to reflect the interests and ideas shared as part of the review process, and public comment was again solicited. Collaborative Solutions met again in March to review the 450 comments provided as part of the second comment period and finalize a recommendation to the school board. Collaborative Solutions recommended the calendar option that was most like the 2014-15 calendar based upon the comments.

Garfield School District Re-2 is grateful for all of the parents, staff and community members who took the time to share their thoughts on the calendar options. The 2015-16 calendar is now posted online at http://www.garfieldre2.org.


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