Broward students may start next school year earlier in August

South Florida Sun Sentinel | By Scott Travis | December 18, 2023

Broward students may get a shortened summer break next year, under a new proposal to start the school year a week earlier than in the past.

The first day of the 2024-25 school year would be Aug. 12 and the last day would be June 3, 2025, under a proposal the Broward School Board is scheduled to vote on Jan. 23. The current year started Aug. 21.

State law requires school districts to start the new year no earlier than Aug. 10. Since that’s a Saturday next year, Aug. 12 would be the earliest Broward could start. The date would align Broward with Palm Beach County schools, which have started around this time for years. Superintendent Peter Licata, a former Palm Beach County school administrator, recommended at Tuesday’s meeting that the School Board consider the new calendar.

The new school year also could have another big change — four early-release days would become full school days. These are days when students get off two hours earlier than normal to give teachers time to finish grades.

“The board is trying to maximize instructional time to lead us to an A district,” district spokesman John Sullivan said.

For years, the first semester in Broward has stretched into the first few weeks of January. Students used to take semester exams in January, but amid complaints that they may forget the material, exams were moved to before winter break, even though the semester isn’t over yet.

“It’s a nightmare and it turns out to be wasted time,” Board member Debbi Hixon said, referring to the final days of the semester. “It’s just a weird space. Students don’t know when they’re supposed to get grades. They’ve already taken exams. It’s just not a clean way to start the semester.”

However, the proposal is drawing some criticism, from those who believe school should start closer to Labor Day and from those who believe this proposal is coming too late in the calendar planning process.

Many parents who grew up in other parts of the country see August as the middle of the summer instead of a time for school to start. And there are some who send their children to northern sleep-away camps where the August ending dates conflict with South Florida schools’ openings.

“Vacations are planned. People go back to visit people in their countries, and there are a good amount of students who don’t show up until after Labor Day,” said Anna Fusco, president of the Broward Teachers Union, who sits on the district’s calendar committee.

Another concern cited by some calendar committee members is that the School Board wants to undo the work of a district calendar committee. The committee had been working on the proposed calendar since April.

“It’s pretty late in the year for us to be completely revamping the calendar,” said Cynthia Dominique, a Margate parent who serves on the committee. “We have numerous bargaining units that have to provide input, so that’s a pretty big ask in December.”

The district gave the calendar committee several options to consider, but there was not one with an Aug. 12 start date, Dominique said. A survey sent out to the community in October also didn’t include this option.

About 41,000 parents, students and school staff responded to the survey, which included two choices: one that would start the new year on Wednesday, Aug. 14, and another that would start Monday, Aug. 19. The Aug. 19 came out on top with 57% of the vote.

School Board member Jeff Holness said the proposed calendar change should wait until the 2025-26 school year to allow for more input from the calendar committee and the community.

“This process has taken quite some time. We have gotten extensive stakeholder input,” Holness said. “I believe any change that we made now would not be respectful to the public and to our stakeholders who overwhelmingly have shown the option they prefer.”

Licata said he didn’t want to disregard the work of the calendar committee. “But as an educator, a person who spent many years in the classroom and many years running schools, that time after a break is just so difficult to get any educational worth out of.”

Landyn Spellberg, a countywide student government leader, likes the proposed change, calling it “student-centered.”

“Middle and High school students, along with teachers and school leaders, have voiced concern about the first semester ending after winter break,” said Spellberg, a sophomore at Western High in Davie. “The proposed calendar will allow for students to come back from break and begin second semester. The proposed timing of the end of the semester has clear educational and operational benefits.”

The School Board considered approving the new calendar at Tuesday’s meeting but decided to give the calendar committee time to review it. The committee had a meeting Wednesday and another meeting planned in January. The final School Board vote is scheduled for Jan. 23.

The School Board did support another change Tuesday — converting four early-release days to full days, but it’s subject to collective bargaining with the Broward Teachers Union.

Currently, students get out of school two hours early at the end of each nine-week grading period to give teachers time to work on grades. The next day, students have a full day off where teachers finish grades and go through professional development.

Several board members said they don’t think the early-release days are best for students, as the district continues to struggle academically from the “COVID slide,” referring to learning losses for students who didn’t attend school in-person during the pandemic.

“I think that we absolutely need to add some additional academic time,” Board member Torey Alston said.

Board member Allen Zeman added, “The more we can align our behaviors to our goals, the more likely we are going to get to those results we’re looking for.”

The issue is expected to be discussed at a teacher union bargaining session Monday. Fusco appears reluctant to support it.

“They don’t realize what this puts on teachers,” Fusco said. “Throughout the workday, they barely have any time to plan and grade. They have to meet professional development expectations and now you want to take away the two hours you’ve given us to help us with grading?”