On Oct. 9, 2023, the Eaton school board approved the 2024/25 school year calendar by a 4-1 margin of voting. The calendar will also be used for the 25/26 school year after Superintendent, Jay Tapia configures the calendar and prepares it for the upcoming school years The calendar was approved after two ver- sions of the school calendar were proposed to the board members. The first calendar was referred to as the “traditional calendar” and the second referred to as “after labor day calendar.” Both were proposed and voted on by the school board.
The traditional calendar includes the traditional structure that has school beginning in August. This was the normal schedule be- fore the construction began on all the buildings in the district. For the 2024-2025 calendar middle school and high school students will begin on Aug. 14, 2024, elementary school, 1st through 5th students, will begin on Aug. 15, and kindergarten students will begin on Aug. 16. All students will conclude the school year on Aug. 20, 2024.
As opposed to the “after labor day calendar,” students would begin school on either Sep. 3, Sep. 4, and Sep. 5, 2024. Students would finish school on May. 29, 2024.
The positives and negatives of both calendars were expressed by Tapia; however the most important thing
is meeting the minimum instructional hours and minimum school days in session set by the state of Colorado. The minimum instructional hours set by the state are as follows, Secondary schools, 1,080 hours, elementary schools, 990 hours, kindergarten, 900 hours, and Preschool, 360 hours. The minimum school days in session set by the state are 160 days. Both proposed calendars met all state requirements, but differed in beginning of year start dates, daily start and end times, and total contact days with students. The “after labor day” calendar had total contact days of 177 for teachers and 164 for students, contrary to the “traditional calendar” with total contact days of 182 for teachers and 170 for students.
Tapia bends towards more contact time with the students. This contributed to the favorable “traditional” calendar for the due to more contact time and an overall favorable time spent. With the “traditional calendar,” school start time and end time for students would remain the same as it is now. The “after labor day,” calendar would demand altering of the school ending times by ten minutes.
The Eaton school board voted on the calendars after both calendars were built
by a calendar committee consisting of principals, staff, and community members. From there the voting stage began, surveys were sent to parents, teachers and staff. These surveys do not decide whether or not the calendar will be approved, but the surveys do contribute to the overall opinion of parents and staff alike.
Out of 139 responses to a survey sent out to teachers and staff, 55.4% voted for the “traditional calendar,” and 44.6% voted for the “after labor day calendar.” Out of 663 responses to a survey sent out to parents, staff and teachers, 55.2% voted for the “after labor day calendar,” while 44.8% voted for the “traditional calendar.” Out of responses for a survey sent out to only parents, 57.4% voted for the “after labor day calendar,” while 42.5% voted for the “traditional calendar.”
While the surveys contributed to the overall opinion of the community and parents, the vote fell on the board of education, whereas the “tradition-
al school calendar” was approved by a margin of 4-1. Despite students being used to an altered calendar due to Covid-19, construction within the district,
and the renovation of the middle school and elementary school, the “traditional calendar” boasts many positives. As Tapia stated, “I bend towards more contact time with the students.” 170 contact days for secondary students and 169 for elementary students, and 168 for kindergarten students. Students would lose contact days if the “after labor day” calendar was approved.
Another interesting factor to consider is that the Eaton School District continues to operate on
a five-day week schedule, although many districts around the area have already adopted the four-day week schedule. There are negatives to the four-day schedule as Tapia stated, “The four-day week schedule is possible but it means I either have to shorten contact days or add 40 minutes to the day, both options that I don’t want to do.” Unfortunately, the four-day week schedule may just be inevitable.
For the Eaton School District, the “traditional calendar” will remain the same with different altering for the 2024-2025 year and the 2025-2026 year, follow- ing the 2025-2026 year the board and calendar commit- tee will re-evaluate the calendars and the same process will follow, as of now the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 school year calendars have been approved after a concise process of working with the community, staff, and most importantly the board of education.
