MENIFEE: New 10-month calendar approved for Menifee schools

Next year marks move to traditional schedule for the year-round district

By CATHY REDFERN - Staff Writer | Wednesday, August 13, 2008 12:28 AM PDT ∞

MENIFEE ---- After years of operating as a year-round system, the Menifee school district will have its students attending classes from August to June starting next year, according to a schedule unveiled by officials Tuesday.

The Menifee Union School District board unanimously approved the schedule, which largely mirrors those of Paloma Valley High in Menifee and Heritage High in Romoland. Those schools in the Perris Union High School District are where most students in the Menifee district go when they leave middle school.

With the new schedule, elementary and middle school students in the Menifee district will start school on Aug. 18 in 2009, and finish on June 10, 2010. They will have one week off for Thanksgiving, three weeks for winter recess and one week for spring break.

The district wanted to give families and employees as much time as possible to prepare for the change, Trustee Phoeba Irey said.

"It's really important," she said. "Some people plan vacations and other things months in advance."

Information on the schedule will be sent home with students and posted on the district Web site this week, administrators said.

The district has been aiming to switch to a more traditional schedule for about three years, after going to a multitrack system in 1992. A survey done in May indicated that a clear majority of parents and staff members who responded favored the change.

In recent years, when district enrollment grew by as much as 14 percent, the district simply did not have enough classroom space to accommodate all the students without using its facilities throughout the year. But the district has opened several new schools in recent years and growth has slowed, allowing the move.

Not that it comes without a bit of woe.

Angela Stogner, who teaches at Ridgemoor Elementary School, addressed the board Tuesday, asking that the district support keeping the payment schedule for teachers in which they are paid each month in a year. Stogner said she called several area school districts and found that most of them offer that schedule.

"I feel we have the right to be paid without any gaps," she said.

Assistant Superintendent Gil Compton said the district does have a number of options for employees to get paid monthly, and he is continuing to meet with union representatives to work out a number of details surrounding the schedule switch.

"There are lots and lots of things to be decided," he said.

For example, he added, some employees who work each month now, such as school office or cafeteria workers, will not be needed for 12 months.

Jody Sanchez, president of the Menifee Teachers Association, said monthly pay wouldn't be an issue until 2010, but that it is an important one to teachers, and one she believes will be resolved.

"It's a change, and some teachers wanted to stay on year-round or go to a year-round single track, which was not given as an option," she said. "But having the calendar in our hands will help; that will make a big difference."

The calendar has students in school 180 days, which is a state education code mandate, Superintendent Linda Callaway stated. Teachers will work 184 days, which includes staff development, preparation and parent conference days, Callaway said.

Contact staff writer Cathy Redfern at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2621, or e-mail credfern@californian.com.

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