Schools
Barrington District 220 Approves New School Calendar
Barrington District 220 has adopted a new calendar for next school year that calls for an Aug. 20, 2014, start date and student attendance on Columbus Day, Oct. 13, 2014.
After seven months of study and a recommendation by the Input 220 Advisory Council, followed by another month of deliberation and public hearings conducted by the board of education, Barrington 220 will officially move to a new calendar format beginning with the 2014-15 school year, according to the district's website.
At its Dec. 17 meeting, the board thanked the Input 220 Advisory Council and approved the new calendar format by a vote of 4 to 2.
Board members Wendy Farley and Richard Burkhart voted against the proposed changes. Brian Battle, Penny Kazmier, Joe Ruffolo and Sandra
Ficke-Bradford voted in favor. Chris Gaier was absent and therefore did not vote.
The school board also adopted a formal policy that will fix the first day of school to never be earlier than Aug. 20, unless first subject to public scrutiny.
The new calendar is intended to accomplish the district's strategic goal of optimizing time for student instruction. One of the outcomes of the new calendar will be an alignment of both semesters with the winter vacation so high school final exams will occur before students leave on the two-week break before returning to begin the second semester.
Columbus Day on Oct. 13, 2014, has also been changed into a student attendance day.
The 2014-15 calendar can be viewed at Barrington220.org.
Read more on Patch:
D220 Board Talks Calendar Changes, Tax Levy
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