RVC Schools to Start in August?

A proposed rescheduling of the June Regents by the New York State Education Department to earlier in the month may force the Rockville Centre School District to reevaluate its 2012-13 district calender and decide whether it will have to open schools on Aug. 27 or scale back its February break.

According to the school district's Board of Education blog, moving the June Regents to earlier in the month would effectively end the school year on June 14. Historically, the last day of school in the district is around June 22.

There are 184 school days in the school calendar, and moving the Regents up in June would leave the district five school days short, district officials said on the blog. The district would need to make those days up somewhere, the blog stated, which could result in the district starting the 2012-13 school year in the last week of August or shortening its February break.

"There is no need to move the school year in August," said Dr. William Johnson, superintendent of schools at a recent Board of Education meeting. "That needs to be understood."

Johnson said that the State Education Department may want to move the Regents exam to earlier in June so that it can have more time to gather information on teachers and principals for its new evaluation process — Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR). Test scores from the Regents will be used as an evaluation tool, he said, and the state wants that data sooner so it can make its evaluations on teachers and principals by the end of the year.

"It's all about getting test data on teachers to allow them enough time to fire them by the end of the year," he said. "It's not about the kids."

To open schools in August, district officials said it would require a change in state law. If the district were to move the beginning of the 2012-13 school year to August, fall student athletes would have to report for practice on Aug. 13.

The next Board of Education meeting is scheduled for Jan. 31 at 7:30 p.m.