R-5 school board reconsiders calendar after public hearing

The Nevada R-5 Board of Education faced a room full of parents expressing their objections to the idea of starting the 2009-2010 school year Aug. 19, in the middle of the run for the Missouri State Fair.

Marla Kay Snead started off by saying the district was forcing students to choose between school and showing their animals and the ones who chose to show the animals were forced to miss out on one-time-only moments.

"There are things said the first day of school that are never said again and it would be a shame to force them to make the decision to show their animal or go to school," Snead said. "These projects the kids do are very important to them and they put a lot of time and effort into them."

Margaret Bond asked why the board felt it necessary to push the date up so far while having a long Christmas vacation.

"What's the reason to push the date up," Bond said. "I don't think a two week Christmas vacation is necessary, especially for people who have to hire sitters."

Steve Cubbage, sitting in for board president Larry Forkner, who was absent, said that the district had started even earlier in past years.

"Historically, we have started even earlier, as early as the 16th," Cubbage said. "It's traditional in Missouri to have a two week Christmas vacation. The one week spring break goes back, I believe, to '88 or '84."

Ron Peckman, who is active with the Vernon County Youth Fair, said that some of the project the students are involved in represent a great investment of time and effort.

"Some of these are year-long or several-year-long projects," Peckman said. "The kids are committed to these and put a whole lot of work into them."

Peckman said that Vernon County has always been very intense about the State Fair.

"This is a very ag-oriented county," Peckman said. "There is a lot of competition here and if you score well in Vernon County you are pretty well guaranteed to do well at the State Fair."

Scott Kennedy suggested taking some time off of Christmas vacation might be a remedy.

"If we dropped three days off of the Christmas vacation we could avoid the fair," Kennedy said. "That might be a possibility."

Cubbage said that before he came to a decision he'd like to know how many students would be affected by the early start.

"I'd like to know the number of kids affected, just how many are we talking about here?" Cubbage said.

Snead said she could get those numbers for the board and would do so.

Superintendent Dr. David Stephens pointed out that the board didn't have to vote to set the opening date, just whether the board wanted to start school more than 10 days before Labor Day.

"Actually you don't have to vote on which day to choose," Stephens said. "You are talking about two different things; whether to start 10 days or more before Labor day and which day that will be."

Nora Quitno asked the group if they had any objections to the board voting to start more than 10 days before Labor Day or if that would be OK.

"I just want to be clear, you're not saying that you object to the 10 days before Labor Day, just that the 19th is too early, it would be OK for the 27th, is that right?" Quitno said.

Several members of the group concurred, saying that as long as the students could attend the State Fair without missing school they didn't mind school starting more than 10 days before Labor Day.

The board voted to start school more than 10 days before Labor Day but did not set a specific date. That will be determined after further consultation with parents takes place.