Calendar Development Process

Each year, a Calendar Development Team, comprised of school administrators, parents and staff, meets to review the Student Calendar as well as proposed staff work days. The team gains feedback and input from administrators, parents and teachers before making a recommendation to the Superintendent's Cabinet regarding the proposed school calendar.

School calendar development process, committee, and meeting notes:

2012-13 School Calendar: The Calendar Development Team conducted an open-ended survey of the PSD community in February 2011 to identify calendar-related issues for further consideration. More than 1600 people participated in this survey and provided over 4,000 comments about calendar development. Feedback from this survey was the basis for the May 2011 community survey, which asked participants to evaluate four options for the start and end of the school year.

In the May survey, more than 3,800 respondents expressed a strong preference for the first and third of four options. Option 3 (reducing one week in August by extending the length of school days) cannot be implemented in the specified calendar adoption timeframe, since it requires further study and has implications related to the PSD Employee Agreement. The start and end dates in Calendar Option 1 best address the instructional goals of the school district, while fulfilling expectations for legal holidays and negotiated work, conference and collaboration days. The proposed 2012-13 school calendar will be considered by the PSD Board of Education in October.

May 2011 calendar survey results: Following the open-ended survey of PSD parents, staff and community members which was conducted in January 2011, a central topic was identified for further input. The Calendar Development Team developed four options related to the start and end of the PSD school year, which were included in a survey that was sent to individuals on the PSD email list and posted on the district website. Respondents ranked the four options during the survey window, which ran from May 9-23, 2011. More than 3800 people participated in the survey, with the results posted below. Information from the survey will be considered in the development of future PSD calendars, including the 2012-13 school year calendar. May calendar survey result are online here.