As a result of the extremely hot temperatures at the start to this academic year, DPS decides to adjust the school year calendar accordingly.
The new calendar for the 2012-2013 school year is announced. Artwork by Becca Hansen.
The sweltering heat felt at the start of the 2011-2012 school year lead to a succession of complaints and calls for change from throughout the DPS community, causing a shift in the academic calendar. After much debate, the new start date of the 2012-2013 school year will be Friday, August 24.
With the summer thermostat hitting some DPS schools harder than others, several reported suffering 90-degree heat in non-air-conditioned classrooms. At least three incidents of heat-related illness were reported in the first week of school. “We’ve spent the last several months having discussions with the community regarding our school calendar, in response to concerns about the very hot days and the difficult learning conditions in our non-air-conditioned schools during the start of school last August,” said Superintendent Tom Boasberg.
While searching for solutions, DPS estimated a price tag nearing $400 million to equip all district schools with air conditioning. Left with few other options, DPS created a task force of parents and teachers to examine the different possible scenarios of solutions to the newly dubbed ‘heat days’. “Through the survey and the several meetings held by our Start Date Task Force we have received extensive feedback from all segments of the community: parents, students, teacher, and DPS employees. More than 7,000 people total, including about 2,500 DPS employees. We received additional input through public meetings, email, and phone calls,” said Boasberg.
After months of deliberation by the Board of Education for DPS, a calendar option was approved in a 6-1 vote that now has school beginning on August 27, 2012 and ending on June 4, 2013.
The decision is still controversial, with many finding the dates inconvenient. “We realize that there is no perfect calendar to the school year, and there are strong arguments both for starting earlier and starting later. What some people see as a benefit in mitigating the impact of high-heat days in August, other see as a drawback. An August 27th start date allows us to have seven fewer days of school in the mid-August heat and still have our semester end before winter break, and end school only a couple days into June,” said Boasberg.
Following the decision for the new academic calendar the DPS community was notified, resulting in a wide variety of reactions throughout the district. TJ, relatively not impacted by the heat of last August, faces the shift next year nonetheless. “It is a reaction to the environment. We try to optimize the school year to get the most out of it we can. Logically, the shift makes sense. I understand DPS cannot afford to cool all the schools. The hot weather is not a huge issue for TJ but is in many other schools within the district,” said Assistant Principal Scott Lessard.
Though the hot weather has not been a large issue for TJ, teachers whose classrooms face the south of the building find the heat to be a menace. “I asked to switch rooms at the beginning of the school year because my old room got so hot. It sits right on the roof where the heat from the sun got trapped and made my room about eight to nine degrees hotter. I come in early and open my windows and turn on fans every morning until around Halloween,” said TJ English Teacher Jacquelyn Hudson-Raila.
Though the calendar was only thrown off by a week, it poses challenges for TJ in other areas, excluding the weather. “The challenge and potential problems I see from the shift is I now have less educational prep time before state and standardized tests in the spring such as CSAP and the ACT,” said Lessard.
