Alternative Calendars - February 2000 Revision

This procedural directive was reviewed and revised in January 2013. We provide this revision for historic purposes only.

The purpose of this directive is to outline the procedure to be followed by schools on an alternative calendar to assess community, staff, and district support for continuing or discontinuing the alternative calendar. The directive outlines a separate procedure for schools proposing to adopt a new calendar, which would vary significantly from the district calendar.

This procedure applies to schools on alternative calendars and schools proposing to adopt alternative calendars.

Proposal To Adopt An Alternative Calendar

1. In September, the school will hold preliminary discussions with staff and community regarding alternative calendar possibilities.
2. In September, the school will research and explore various calendar alternatives.
3. During September and October, the school will develop feasibility studies exploring the rationales, advantages and disadvantages, and issues related to the adoption of alternative calendars.
4. During October, the school will hold discussions of feasibility studies with staff and community.
5. During October, the School Restructuring Council, with appropriate input from staff and community, will determine whether to pursue an alternative calendar.
6. By October 31, the school will notify the Cluster Assistant Superintendent in writing of its intent to continue to investigate the feasibility of adopting an alternative calendar arrangement.
7. By October 31, the School Restructuring Council will notify the community of its intent to explore the feasibility of an alternative calendar.
8. During October, the School Restructuring Council will develop a process for calendar exploration and decision making. The following topics must be addressed in the process:
1. Who will be involved and in what roles?
2. What are the timelines?
3. How will the school communicate with staff and community?
4. What are the standards/criteria to be used in decision making?
5. What issues need to be addressed?
9. In November, the Cluster Assistant Superintendent will approve the site-based process.
10. In November, the School Restructuring Council will identify and publicize the process the school will be following.
11. In November, school-sponsored meetings will be held to provide information, advantages and disadvantages to calendar alternatives.
12. In November, results of meetings will be compiled by the School Restructuring Council and shared with the community.
13. In November, a community referendum will be held on proposed alternatives. Each family with one or more children enrolled in the school will be entitled to one vote. Each certified and classified staff member will be entitled to one vote. Votes of parents and staff will be tallied separately.
14. In December, the School Restructuring Council will compile, review, and publicize referendum results.
15. In December, the School Restructuring Council will develop and submit a recommendation to the Cluster Assistant Superintendent.
16. In December or early January, the Cluster Assistant Superintendent will review the recommendation in light of the process and criteria.
17. By mid-January, the school’s recommendation will be submitted by the Cluster Assistant Superintendent to the Superintendent’s Team. Recommendations for alternative calendars will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
1. Instructional viability. The proposal must have an anticipated or demonstrated positive or neutral effect on the instructional program. Evidence of and support for instructional viability will be included in the recommendation.
2. Degree of community and staff support as demonstrated by representative surveys or ballots.
3. Cost effectiveness as evidenced by an analysis of costs and benefits.
4. Avoidance of excessive negative impact on the school’s capacity and/or facilities.
5. The extent to which the plan minimizes lifestyle inconveniences or maximizes benefits for community and staff.
18. By early February, the recommendation will be submitted by the Board of Education for approval.
19. In February, after Board approval, the school will plan for implementation of the alternative calendar in accordance with State of New Mexico and Department of Education regulations.

1. At the first Board of Education meeting in September of each school year, the Superintendent will present to the board of Education a list of schools on an alternative calendar. An Alternative calendar shall be defined as any individual school calendar, which varies from the district calendar on more than five days. Each school will declare an intention to seek staff and community support for continuing, discontinuing, or modifying its alternative calendar. If the school has previously made an authorized multi-year decision, the school will declare its intent to continue its current calendar. The Board will authorize or deny authorization to continue the process outlined below. If authorization is denied, the school will plan to adopt the district calendar one year hence. The Board may direct the school to modify its proposal as a condition of approval.
2. If authorized to proceed, the school will survey parents and staff every other September in even-numbered years to determine parent interest in continuing, discontinuing, or modifying the school calendar for the following two years. The survey will be developed by the Research, Development, and Accountability Department and will be made available to each family with a letter of explanation. Results of the survey will be compiled and analyzed by the School Restructuring Council.
3. In October of a survey year, the School Restructuring Council will use the survey results and analysis to develop a proposed calendar. The plan will be presented to the Cluster Assistant Superintendent for approval by October 31.
4. Results of the survey and the proposed calendar will be communicated to the parent community during November.
5. Parents and staff members will vote on proposed alternatives every other December un even numbered years. Each family with one or more children enrolled in the school is entitled to one vote. Each certified and classified employee of the school is entitled to one vote. The votes of parents will be tallied separately from those of staff members. Both tallies must have a majority in favor of an alternative calendar for the proposed calendar to be adopted.
6. The School Restructuring Council will compile, review, and publicize referendum results.
7. The School Restructuring Council will develop and submit the results of the vote and a calendar recommendation to the Cluster Assistant Superintendent in December.
8. The Cluster Assistant Superintendent will review the recommendation in light of the process and criteria. The Cluster Assistant Superintendent will submit a recommendation to the Superintendent for final approval in January.
9. The Superintendent will review the recommendations of Assistant Superintendents to assure that the authorized process has been followed and conditions imposed by the Board of Education have been met. After each plan has been approved by the Superintendent, the calendar plans of all schools participating in the process will be reported to the Board of Education

Cross Ref.:

• Board Policy I.02: School Year and Work Year
• Board Action Memorandum

NSBA/NEPN Classification:

Approved: October 1995
Revised: November 17, 1998
Revised: February 23, 2000

This page was last updated on: December 9, 2009.