The school calendar- a hot button topic? It seems so. Even high school students have been talking about it.

Many concerns were raised at the April 3 Scarborough Board of Education meeting with regard to this year’s increase in the number and length of the early release days, the disruptive nature of the early release days, the current length of the school day (six hours- the shortest day in the state), and the start of the school year.

Parents Need to Know is a group of parents that has been working behind the scenes to gather input from parents as the school board deliberates on the 2008-2009 Scarborough school calendar.

I don’t want our efforts to be misconstrued. We support staff development. We do not support eliminating staff development or teacher workshop days. It is in our children’s best interests to have motivated, excited, well-informed teachers. Our goal is to find a balance that maximizes the instructional time available during the school year and to minimize the disruptiveness of early release days.

The school calendar is important because it provides the framework for the year.

As parents, we are our children’s best, and often only, advocates. As I began asking questions, I realized that many of us just do not know enough about how our school system operates. After attending a few school board meetings, I have greater appreciation for the long hours and hard work the administrators, teachers and board members dedicate to our school system.

The parents that are involved with Parents Need to Know have received a lot of feedback. We have taken those suggestions and concerns and spent considerable time looking at creative ways to work with the school calendar.

The administration presented a 2008-2009 calendar to the Board of Education on April 3. It included a reduction in the number of early release days and a start date in August, but it was voted down.

The proposed 2008-2009 calendar that Parents Need to Know has developed is different in several ways. The Parents Need to Know calendar allows for an after-Labor Day start without lengthening the school year; the number of disruptive early release days has been further reduced from seven to two; and the teacher days have been spaced throughout the calendar year to maximize staff development and to minimize disruptiveness to classroom learning. I feel the Parents Need to Know calendar is a very good compromise.

Please contact the school board members to voice your opinions now. They will be voting on next year’s calendar at the May 1 Board of Education meeting. Please consider attending the meeting and speaking to the board. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the town hall. It is also very helpful if you send e-mails or call the board members. Here is the link with phone numbers and eemail addresses for the school board members: www.scarborough.k12.me.us/board/contact.htm

If you’d like more information about Parents Need to Know, please feel free to contact me.

Heather Sirocki of Scarborough can be contacted at hsirocki@maine.rr.com.