The Washoe County School District is discussing a possible change to the 2019-2020 school calendar Tuesday.
The Calendar Committee sent out a district wide survey May 16, 2018 to get the community's input.
The district notified 74,185 parents, students and other community members about the survey. A total of 17,887 people took part. According to the district, 85% of those who took part in the survey identified themselves. Sixty-two percent of those surveyed were parents; 24% were staff, 9% were students and 5% were community members.
The first portion of the survey asked participants what they liked about the current school calendar. Twenty-seven percent of people preferred having one week off in the fall, while nearly 24% of people preferred ending classes before the winter break. Fifty-four percent of participants said starting the school year in the second week of August is what they disliked most about the current school calendar.
The second portion of the survey asked participants their preference out of four proposed calendars labeled "A" through "D" for the 2019-2020 school year. Nearly 67% of participants liked Calendar C, which has the school year starting in the second week of August, includes a fall break, a two week winter break and a one week spring break. Calendar A is the current school calendar and was among the lowest rated proposals.
The survey concluded with a question that revealed 54.6% of participants prefer the fall semester end before winter break begins. A total of 52.5% of participants prefer to start the school year later in August, causing the fall semester to end in January after winter break.
Board members are scheduled to discuss the results Tuesday, June 26, 2018 starting at 2 p.m.
