San Diego School District to consider shifting year-round schools to traditional academic calendar

SAN DIEGO (CNS) – The San Diego Unified School District Board of Education will consider Tuesday whether to implement a four-year plan to shift its 60 or so year-round schools to traditional academic calendars.

According to district documents, the plan would involve changing 15 schools a year. Most of the affected campuses are at the elementary level, though a couple are middle schools, according to the SDUSD.

District staff has been studying the transition since last year. District trustees directed staff to give priority to campuses that serve military families, and those that feed into middle and high schools with traditional calendars.

The first 15 schools to be shifted, during the 2015-16 school year, would be Dewey, Ericson, Farb, Hancock, Hardy, Jerabek, Johnson, Mason, Miller, Porter, Sequoia, Tierrasanta, Valencia Park and Walker elementaries, and Knox Middle School.

The trustees will also consider starting the 2015-16 school year on Aug. 31. District staffers want to align their calendar with those at other districts and with community colleges, and provide more instructional days before Advanced Placement tests.

The district normally starts its year after Labor Day.

The school board meeting is set to begin at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Eugene Brucker Education Center, 4100 Normal St.