N.J.-S.P. Board Approves 2016-2017 Calendar

February 20, 2016AuthorMichael Gallenberger, WKVI 

The North Judson-San Pierre School Board approved the corporation’s 2016-2017 School Calendar Tuesday. Interim Superintendent Bob Boyd said there are no major changes from this year’s calendar. He told the board it’s still a balanced calendar, with the total number of school days staying the same.

Also during Tuesday’s meeting, N.J.-S.P. Business Manager Guy Richie told the board that the corporation had gotten a Teacher Performance Grant. He said that money would be divided among the qualified teachers, with each one getting just under $300.

Additionally, N.J.-S.P. FFA students will soon have the opportunity to learn more about the history and development of farming equipment. The school board approved an FFA field trip to the John Deere Pavilion in Moline, Illinois. FFA sponsor Emily DuVall says it will be an opportunity for students to get back to the roots of the agriculture industry, after they’ve been exploring alternative agriculture

North Judson-San Pierre Votes Yes on Balanced Calendar

Published: November 19, 2014
By: Mitch Columbe, WKVI

The North Judson-San Pierre School Corporation is the second in Starke County to adopt the balanced calendar concept. The school board unanimously approved the plan last night. Superintendent Lynn Johnson says until state test dates are released a set calendar cannot be made. She says they are usually released in January or early February. Once they have a firm schedule, Johnson says North Judson-San Pierre will be able to make minor changes so the calendar can work for the corporation.

A balanced calendar still features 180 instructional days. School starts the first of August and ends the first of June. Students get longer fall and spring breaks which can be used for remediation or enrichment activities.

The Oregon-Davis School Board also adopted the balanced calendar concept during their Monday meeting. The Knox Community School Board is also considering the proposal but has yet to act. The Culver Community School Board is waiting to see what other corporations do before acting.

North Judson-San Pierre Board Questions Balanced Calendar Alignment

Published: October 22, 2014
By: Mary Perren, WKVI

North Judson-San Pierre School Board members raised a question about the balanced calendar during their meeting last night. The proposed calendar moves the start of school to the first of August, adds longer breaks in the fall and spring that can be used for remediation if necessary and ends the school year the first of June. The first semester would still end in December before the two week Christmas break as it presently does.

Board members wondered what the earlier start to the school year would do to high school students who work for Pioneer detassling corn during their summer vacations.

Questions have also been raised about youngsters in 4-H who compete at the Indiana State Fair in August. Superintendent Lynn Johnson says she will talk to the other superintendents in the area about possibly starting school two weeks later and getting out in mid-June. She noted that would push the end of the first semester into January. However, students would still have some time to review lessons before taking final exams.

Extending the year into June would also accommodate the state-mandated I-Read exams, which are given to third graders in March and with re-tests in June. If school is still in session, the corporation could avoid the expense of summer school.

Johnson told the board she’s talked at length with Knox and Oregon-Davis Superintendents A.J. Gappa and Greg Briles. The corporations are part of the same vocational and special education cooperatives and share other resources like occupational therapists, so the superintendents want to make sure their calendars line up as closely as possible.

The North Judson-San Pierre School Board could vote on the balanced calendar at their Nov. 18 meeting. Johnson wants to hear from the public one more time before making a final decision. However a date for another presentation has not been announced.

NJ-SP Schools Hold First Public Meeting Regarding Balanced Calendar

By: Ben Haut, WKVI
Published: March 5th, 2014

The first in series of public meetings to discuss the proposed implementation of a balanced calendar for area schools took place last night at the North Judson-San Pierre Elementary School, and while the topic is a hot one, the public did not turn out en mass. Roughly 20 attendees were present for the presentation, with some offering questions and comments following the presentation by Superintendent Lynn Johnson.
One note Johnson was quick to make is that a balanced calendar is by no means a year-round calendar; rather, this setup would still consist of 180 school days, but would feature eight weeks off in the summer and two-week intercessions after every eight weeks. The school year would still start in August and end in early June.

Johnson said during her presentation that most research shows a slight correlation between the balanced calendar and improved test scores, and all studies show a dramatic increase in attendance attributed to families having more opportunities to plan vacations during breaks. Additional studies also show a dramatic decrease in discipline referrals, and other research revealed that the drop-off in student retention over long summer breaks averaged a loss of 2.6 months of grade-level equivalency in Math, two months for Reading, when using a traditional calendar; however, that dropped to one and 0.8 months respectively within balanced calendars.

Another benefit of the balanced calendar, Johnson said, is student athletes would have spring and fall breaks; currently, these students still have athletic responsibilities that prevent them from taking those days off. The balanced calendar, however, would feature two weeks – one in fall and one in spring – during which all school activities would cease. Also, those two-week breaks could be used for remediation, allowing students to get caught up during the intercession.

There are, of course, some concerns. Johnson said there could be conflicts with special education and vocational classes if all schools are not on the same calendar, and summer conflicts like AAU, state fair, military, camps and teacher conferences could occur. Students could be provided with transportation to attend remediation, and Johnson said funding that is currently used for summer school could be used to fund that transportation.

One question raised was why the corporation would be interested in making such a drastic change to their school year when the corporation’s ISTEP scores have been improving. Johnson said the corporation is interested in it because she believes it would allow teachers to really focus more on struggling children and provide more opportunities for students to succeed.

No one in the audience spoke up strongly against the idea. If this new calendar is approved, it could be implemented for the 2015-2016 school year.

Another public meeting will take place on Thursday, March 6 at 7 p.m. at the high school auditorium.

Several Area Schools Considering Balanced School Calendar

By: Ben Haut, WKVI
Published: January 24th, 2014

A number of area schools are considering the possibility of implementing a different school calendar than has been the norm for more than a century. North Judson-San Pierre School Superintendent Lynn Johnson told WKVI that she presented the school board with a presentation for the 2015–2016 school calendar using the “balanced calendar” system which stretches breaks out over a school year.

“A balanced calendar means that your breaks are balanced throughout the school year, and so basically instead of having a long summer break, you have intersessions every nine weeks. One of those breaks would be for intersession for remediation, so instead of waiting until the summer break, we’re able to remediate kids and, hopefully, in the future, also offer enrichment opportunities during that time period,” Johnson explained.

Johnson said NJ-SP is considering implementing the calendar along with the Knox, Oregon-Davis, Culver, Triton, and Plymouth school corporations, among others. She said community meetings will be held in March at all the area school corporations to present them with information about the balanced calendar system.

The balanced calendar system includes two-week intersession breaks between each nine-week session, but would require students to start school earlier in August. The calendar would also include a summer break, but it would be no longer than eight weeks long, according to Johnson.

“The major benefit is that we don’t have that large learning gap over the summer break. We’re no longer an agrarian society; kids don’t need to be available to work on the family farm. It’s a model that was established 150 years ago and it’s just no longer relevant. So the balanced calendar is not a year-round calendar; it’s still 180 days, it’s just broken up differently,” Johnson said.

The first meetings will be held on March 4 and March 6 at the North Judson-San Pierre School Corporation, beginning at 7 p.m.