FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA) — At the Fayetteville School Board meeting Thursday, January 23, talks will begin about returning to a traditional school calendar for two schools — Asbell Elementary and Owl Creek School.
“This is in the “discussion” phase of being considered and it’s the first reading of the request,” said Fayetteville Public Schools Public Information Officer Alan Wilbourn.
Both schools surveyed staff and families about returning to the Traditional Calendar. Below is the response from Owl Creek.
The below information is from Asbell Elementary:
Asbell Elementary Principal Tracy Bratton said in a memo that a Continuous Learning Calendar (CLC) posed issues for students, parents and the school. For example, many parents preferred a summer break. Also, chronic absenteeism, following the CLC, adds to school-wide attendance issues particularly after the last day of the traditional calendar, said Bratton. “For example, the average daily attendance (ADA) during the last week of the traditional calendar was 92%. The week after the last day of the traditional calendar our ADA dropped to 85%,” she said. The drop in attendance was for several reasons including summer camps, custody agreements and traveling. Bratton said returning to a traditional calendar would avoid the issues described.
The meeting will be at the Fayetteville High School cafeteria at 944 W. MLK Blvd. It starts at 5 p.m.
OTHER SCHOOL DISTRICTS:
- Traditional Calendar
- 22 schools, K-12
- 18,000 students
- Founded 1841
- Traditional Calendar (13)/Continous Learning Calendar (3)
- 16 schools
- 10,500 students
- Founded 1871, first public school district in Arkansas
- Traditional Calendar
- 23 schools
- 15,721 students
- Founded 1883
- Traditional Calendar
- 31 schools (18 elementary, 4 middle, 4 junior high, 1 pre-K)
- 22,160 students, 1,350 pre-K students
- Founded 1891
