Madison Board of Education to consider 2014-2015 calendar with fall break

(CONTRIBUTED)

MADISON – If the Madison Board of Education approves the proposed 2014-2015 calendar, Madison students and teachers will have a fall break in 2014.

Dennis James, director of student services for Madison City Schools, presented the proposal for next school year’s calendar at the Oct. 29 board meeting.Like all Alabama school systems, the Madison district will no longer be held under calendar constraints imposed by the state legislature to allow, in short, schools to start no sooner than two weeks before Labor Day and to end before Memorial Day.

In the proposal, Madison students’ first day would be Aug. 6, 2014. The year would end for students on May 21, 2015.

Fall break would be held Oct. 9-13. Students are off from school also on Nov. 10 and 11 and teachers have a workday on Nov. 10. Thanksgiving break would be observed Nov. 26-28.

Winter holidays would be Dec. 22, 2014 through Jan. 1, 2015. Teachers would return on Jan. 2, followed by students on Jan. 5. Spring break would be March 23-27. The new calendar observes federal holidays for Labor Day, Veterans Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday.

Teachers’ professional development days are not bunched when the year starts but “sprinkled within the calendar,” James said. Other teacher workdays would be Aug. 1, 4, 5 in 2014, along with Jan. 2, Feb. 13 and May 22 in 2015.

Superintendent Dr. Dee Fowler expects the calendar to be approved by the end of November. Calendars for the Madison City, Madison County and Huntsville City districts do not match.

In other discussion, Fowler proposed “late Wednesdays.” The school day would start 75 minutes later than normal. The idea would allow teachers and principals to attend required meetings without needing substitute teachers. Students could “sleep in” a bit later on Wednesdays.