With the first quarter of the new semester just passed, Gwinnett County Public Schools decided to give the community an early heads-up about next year. School administrators released the 2020-2021 calendar a few weeks earlier than usual.
“Surprisingly almost every school agreed on the same schedule,” said Steve Flynt, associate superintendent for school improvement and operations. “That almost never happens.”
Of the three drafts presented, 134 schools voted for the one adopted by the district. The second most popular garnered just four votes and the last place option had three votes.
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“It turns out that a midweek start is the most popular option,” he said.
So, unlike this school year, kids will come back on a Wednesday -- Aug. 5, 2020.
The district crafted a calendar for just one year and will return to the two-year cycle next year.
“There are a lot of changes coming and it will be best to just do the one year,” said Flynt.
He pointed out that despite the district policy of enacting digital learning days in cases of inclement weather, there are two built in “snow days.”
“We’ve had ice storms and flooding and other situations where there is no power, so it would be impossible for students to do classwork,” said Flynt.
Although there’s been controversy about starting school after Labor Day, Flynt pointed out that’s impossible to do if parents still want to end school by Memorial Day, take a fall break, two-week winter break and one-week spring break.
“This is the best scenario we could come up with and still maintain 180 days of instruction,” he told the board.
Information: gwinnett.k12.ga.us or click here
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