I was intrigued at the article in the Tribune on Tuesday, Jan. 13, regarding “Austin mulls changes to school calendar.”  I read how there is a committee of about 50 community members — parents, teachers, students, school board members and others who have researched different options for a school’s yearly calendar, as well as other options, that could help students.  

Calendar committee leader AND teacher Jill Rollie said, “It is really neat to see the interest that the community has and like I said, the dedication of their time.”  She goes on to say “I think it was really exciting that we had a diverse group of people commit and dedicate so much time to really research and dive into student achievement in our district.”

This committee of volunteers has met twice a month since last April except for the summer months, through December looking at 12 different articles at what other districts are doing.

Now we have Albert Lea. In the last few months community members have continually been present at board meetings to show their concern with a balanced/modified school calendar. The school board has heard our concerns. A school board member said at the Dec. 29 meeting, “We told the community that we would not go forward with this calendar if they weren’t behind it.” How is it then that the balanced/modified school calendar was on the agenda TWICE in December? The first time being on Dec. 2 when it was voted down with a 3-3 vote. Then again it was on the Dec. 29 agenda with an attempted motion for a vote.

The mindset of Austin’s administration and school board regarding their school calendar is admirable as opposed to how it has been handled here in Albert Lea. It is amazing how just 20 miles away there is a calendar committee of 50 people who have the opportunity to look into other options and have their voices heard and their opinions count. What a different message that is compared to the one that our community received when we were told we were just “100 people.” I hope that the administration and the Albert Lea school board would come to the conclusion that they need to include the community AND teachers when making a decision as important as the school calendar.

 

Diane Aysta

Albert Lea