The Acalanes Union High School District has been considering a change to the traditional academic calendar for several years. Under the collective bargaining agreement with the Acalanes Education Association (AEA), the calendar is a negotiated item. The District and AEA must "mutually agree" on the academic calendar as part of negotiations.

A committee of AEA members, site and district administrators, and Board members met from January to April to consider various calendar options that support student learning, student achievement, and instructional practices. Strategic Plan Goal #3 calls for the District to "explore options to the current academic calendar." The work of the committee fully supported this goal.

Strategic Plan Goal #8 directs the District to "create systems to manage stress for students, staff, and parents." Denise Clark Pope (Stanford School of Education) has researched student stress and potential solutions. She has made several presentations as part of the District's Parent Education Program and strategic planning process. Both Acalanes and Miramonte high schools are working with her Stressed Out Students program to reduce student stress. Her work shows that ending the first semester at the winter break has a significant impact on reducing student stress in addition to providing a better use of instructional days.

As part of negotiations this year, AEA and the District have mutually agreed on a calendar for the 2008- 2009 academic year, however, the Governing Board must still adopt the academic calendar. The proposed 2008-2009 academic calendar will be presented to the Governing Board on June 6 at its regular meeting (7:30 p.m. at the Del Valle Library located at 1963 Tice Valley Blvd., Walnut Creek - Please note that its is a change in location.) As with all Discussion/Action items on the agenda, the public may comment on the agenda item by filling out a speaker's card prior to the start of the agenda item. An individual is limited to three (3) minutes of public comment. The Board will not act on the calendar on June 6, but will do so at one of the future meetings (June 25, August 15, August 29).

After numerous discussions and a vote of the AEA membership, staff is proposing the adoption of a 2008- 2009 academic year that ends the first semester at winter break (Calendar A, which is available here. Calendar B, which is a traditional calendar, is available here.)

Calendar A supports reducing student stress, promoting student learning, and using instructional time effectively.

• Calendar A is designed to reduce student stress by ending the semester at winter break. The students and staff would start the second semester fresh after the winter break.
• Calendar A creates uninterrupted blocks of instructional days compared to the way January is broken up currently.
* By attaching a teacher work day and staff development to the end of winter break in the first week in January, students have a longer winter break.
* By attaching two staff development days to the Presidents Day holidays, students have a six day break in February, and there are uninterrupted instructional periods in January-February and February-March before spring break.
• Calendar A provides more instructional days before the Advanced Placement Examinations - approximately 50% of our juniors and seniors are enrolled in at least one AP class.

Calendar A includes the following changes to the traditional calendar:

• Students start school on Tuesday, August 19, the third week in August, compared to August 22 this year.
• Students will attend school on November 24-25, the Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving week.
• Students will take semester examination on December 16-19.
• The first semester ends on December 19, which creates unbalanced semesters. There are 84 days in the first semester and 96 in the second semester. The difference is offset by STAR and AP testing in the second semester. Unbalanced semesters are common in districts that end the first semester at winter break.
• Staff returns from Winter Break for a work day on January 5 and a staff development day on January 6. Students begin the second semester on January 7.
• Staff development days are scheduled for February 12-13 prior to the Presidents Day holiday on February 16-17, which creates a six-day break for students and a four-day break for staff.
• April 27 is a non-student day in order to meet the 180 day student year and 186 day teacher work, and hold graduations on a Friday. This day falls after STAR testing and before AP testing.

The District and AEA mutually agreed to implement Calendar A for the 2008-2009 and the 2009-2010 academic years in order to fully evaluate the effect of the changes to the calendar. The 2009-2010 will be developed following the same concepts that are incorporated in Calendar A.

Staff is recommending that the Governing Board adopt Calendar A for the 2008-2009 academic and the concept of Calendar A for the 2009- 2010 academic year. The Governing Board will take public comment on the 2008-2009 on June 6 and will adopt the calendar at a future meeting (June 25, August 15, August 29).

Calendar A

Calendar B