Sun, Jul 05 2009
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Published September 20, 2008 01:41 pm - The call has been made to save summer for Kentucky’s children. Johnny Bell, a legislator and attorney with Gillenwater, Hampton and Bell in Glasgow, is proposing a change in the state’s school calendar. Lawmaker moves to lengthen school break By AMBER DILLEY Glasgow Daily Times The call has been made to save summer for Kentucky’s children.
Johnny Bell, a legislator and attorney with Gillenwater, Hampton and Bell in Glasgow, is proposing a change in the state’s school calendar. The permissive bill — allowing school districts to decide if they want to follow it — changes the 187-day school year to a hour-measured year for districts that want to start school after Labor Day. “This bill right now is a working draft,” Bell said. “It won’t come up for vote until January, when we go back in session. If everything goes to plan, this will not be implemented until July of next year. We could, as early as next fall, be starting school in September instead of August.” The bill allows schools to start 20 days later while keeping all breaks the same. The instructional time would be made up by adding 45 minutes to each school day. Bo Matthews, director of pupil personnel for the Barren County School District who helped Bell draft the proposal, said the starting date doesn’t have to be 20 days later in the year. “A school board might decide on 15 days and would work within that framework,” Matthews said. “It depends on what the district wants.” Bell said the children would still keep their breaks. “They would still retain their spring break. They would still retain their fall break. They would retain their Christmas and Thanksgiving break and they would get out at the same time for summer,” he said. Bell said the Barren County School system could save $90,000 by not running the buses those 20 days. “I’d guess it would be a little less for Caverna and Glasgow, but I would estimate between Barren County, Caverna and Glasgow, they could save $200,000 on the buses alone,” Bell said. Matthews said that in August of this year, the Barren County district could have saved about $19,000 in electricity costs by starting 20 days later. Sue Furlong, finance officer for the Glasgow Independent School District, said there might be savings, but the schools still have to be open and running even when classes are not in session. “Our expenses would be ongoing. You still have custodians working in the buildings and they still have to be cooled. The central office is open year-round, so there wouldn’t be savings there.” Even if savings can be realized, there are still issues regarding testing and whether a child would be able to stay focused for an additional 45 minutes each day. 
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