Bibb School Board: Too Soon for Year-Round School

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – The Bibb County School Board gets its first look at a proposed reconfigured academic calendar.

Members of a task force charged with developing a new calendar presented information Thursday night about a new “45 Days On, 15 Days Off” plan that would virtually put students in school all year.

This after the district’s March 2012 strategic plan called for a calendar that minimizes significant learning-loss over the long summer break.

Some board members say while the calendar is good in theory, it’s too close to next school year to start it now.

“We haven’t received ample input from our teachers, our parents, the child daycare providers,” says school board member, Lester Miller.  “I think we’re just rushing into the situation for 2013/2014.”

Shannon Norfleet, principal of Bloomfield Middle School and one of around 30 members on the task force, says now it’s time to get back to work.

“There was significant pushback on the timing as it relates to starting this next school year,” says Norfleet.  “So what we’ve been asked by the board is to look at the timing and put together some proposals for next school year to reflect a more traditional calendar.”

Thursday’s presentation was only informational–no action was taken on the calendar.

The task force, which is made up of school administrators, will continue to work with the school board until it can meet all of the board’s concerns.