AISD school year likely to begin earlier

By John Dilmore
john@casscountynow.com

Families within the Atlanta Independent School District (AISD) are likely to see the school year begin a bit earlier this fall and in future years.
More flexibility on when students return to classes is among the components of AISD’s District of Innovation Plan, which gives the local school system greater flexibility in some areas in exchange for meeting certain criteria. The process of developing the plan has been in the works for months, and the AISD Board of Trustees is expected to vote to implement the plan during its March 28 meeting.
Under the district’s plan, the start of classes can be moved up about a week -- to “no earlier than the third Monday of August,” according to the plan document. Without a plan like this in place, school districts are prevented from starting the school year before the fourth Monday in August, unless they operate on a year-round system.
AISD Superintendent Sidney Harrist said, “Several years ago, Texas passed it to where you couldn’t start until that fourth Monday of August … “We wanted to start earlier.”
He added, “Usually by August, everybody’s kind of ready to get back.”
The plan states that the earlier start will provide greater flexibility in the school calendar, which will benefit the district when it comes to staff development scheduling, providing additional days of instruction prior to state assessments and balancing the number of instructional days between semesters.
Other elements of the plan include:
-Increasing to two years the probationary contract period for teachers and counselors new to AISD that have been in public education for at least five of the previous eight years. Deputy Superintendent Joey Geletka said, “That just gives us a little more time to evaluate an individual’s performance, maybe find the right teaching assignment for them.” Without the plan in place, the probationary period is limited to one year.
-Allowing the district, in cases related to discipline or attendance, to seek exemption from the one-year commitment related to student transfers. Geletka said, “The way the statute reads now is, once you take a transfer student, that student is yours until the end of the school year. We wrote the plan so that we can remove a student from transfer status -- based on things like behavior or attendance -- prior to the end of that school year.”
-Allowing the district to make decisions on teacher certifications locally. “We wanted a little more leeway on doing some local certifications based on certain criteria,” Geletka said. “One area would be out-of-state people coming in. Another area would be certified professionals. If you’ve got 20-plus years’ experience … we’d look at that as, experience qualifies you to teach.”
Harrist added, “It’s becoming harder and harder for us to get teachers.”
The board of trustees signed a proclamation in January allowing the district to move forward with development of the District of Innovation Plan. The next step was a public hearing, during which ideas were discussed. Following that, a committee was formed, the plan was drafted and then posted on the AISD website for public view and comment. The full plan can be found at www.atlisd.net (click on the “District of Innovation” button).
Once the plan is approved by the board of trustees, the district can begin operating under it immediately. The plan covers a period from March 2017 to February 2021 – after that, for it to continue, the planning process would have to be undertaken again.