Knox Community Schools to Hold Balanced Calendar Informational Meeting

Superintendent A.J. Gappa
Superintendent A.J. Gappa
The Knox Community School Board members held discussion about a meeting scheduled to take public input on a proposed balanced calendar for the 2015-2016 school year.

Superintendent A.J. Gappa said the corporation’s public meeting is set for March 6.

“A balanced calendar starts usually at the beginning of August, or somewhere close to that, and you usually have two weeks or a week-and-a-half off in the fall that allows some time for a break for students and staff. It also allows for some remediation. You might have an intersession where kids who are a little bit behind can get remediated right away rather than falling farther behind. You also have a two week break in the spring where one week might be just a regular spring break and the second week might be an intersession with remediation possibilities to try to allow the kids who are slightly behind a chance to catch up.”

Gappa explained that the concept of a balanced calendar is to immediately remediate students that need help and to bridge the gap of learning loss over the long summer months.

“We will be hosting a public meeting on March 6 at the high school cafeteria to give a powerpoint explaining what a balanced calendar actually is and try to field as many questions as possible,” explained Gappa. “We’re going to try and make it clear what the schools of the JESSE Co-op and the vocational co-op that we are members of are looking at for the future.”

The balanced calendar concept is not to be confused with a “year-round” calendar.

A public meeting is set for March 6 at 7 p.m. CT in the Knox High School Cafeteria where more information will be relayed to patrons and comments will be taken under advisement.