Should school start after Grange Fair? State College board pushes calendar vote to get more feedback
After nearly two hours of discussion among board members and the public about the 2022-23 academic calendar, the State College school board tabled its decision until January’s meeting.
Superintendent Bob O’Donnell presented the calendar and data behind choices made, including input from the district’s calendar committee. In the calendar presented, the first day of school is Aug. 22, 2022 and the last day is June 2, 2023.
School will be closed Aug. 26, 2022. That day, a Friday, is an important day for students who show livestock at the Centre County Grange Fair. This past August — the first day of school was Aug. 24 — SCASD attendance records showed that 27 students missed school for the fair. Being a fair exhibitor does count as an “educational trip,” so students can make up any work missed during those days.
But several community members spoke during public comment to urge the board to start school after the Grange Fair, which is scheduled to run Aug. 19-27.
Grange Fair Queen and SCASD student, Mattee Stoicheff, told the board the Grange Fair has a substantial economic impact on the community while promoting the agriculture industry.
“At the age of eight, you are able to show animals at the Grange Fair. So starting school two weeks before Labor Day and two days after the official start of our fair will substantially limit the number of opportunities provided for students in elementary, middle and high school,” Stoicheff said.
LeDon Young, who has served on the Grange Fair committee for 26 years, said SCASD’s calendar is a “moving target.”
“We have dealt with State College for some time. In 2014, we moved the Grange Fair from ending the Thursday before Labor Day to two weeks ahead of time to accommodate, then, the State College School District wanting to start the Tuesday before Labor Day. You are a moving target. We cannot willy nilly change the date of the fair,” Young said.
One local business had a “Save Summer” petition for people to sign, asking the board to reconsider the start date. In three days, it garnered almost 90 signatures, Jason Coopey, an owner of Way Fruit Farm, said. He recommended the board move the start date to a week before Labor Day, like other local school districts. If not, he suggested not having school on Monday or Friday of the first week, due to livestock showings and sales at the fair.
“... If you start on that Monday, my children are going to have to miss the first day of school, which I dislike as a parent because I highly value education,” Coopey said.
Looking ahead, there could be four school days overlapping with the Grange Fair in 2023, but in 2024 and 2025, it appears there will be no overlapping days.
With the different competing interests, Board President Amber Concepcion said the calendar is “quite a puzzle to put together.”
Board member Dan Duffy made a motion to table the calendar vote so the community could have more time to see the proposed calendar and offer feedback. The presentation that O’Donnell gave during the meeting is available online and anyone can watch the meeting on CNET.
The proposed calendar also included a winter break that would run Dec. 23, 2022 through Jan. 2, 2023. There are two snow make-up days within the calendar and three additional days after the last day of school. The district is also requesting five Flexible Instructional Days which could be used if necessary after the use of the five snow days.
Spring break, as scheduled, aligns with Penn State’s break, March 6-10, 2023. Graduation is planned for June 2, 2023 with a rain date of June 3, 2023.
O’Donnell said prior to having a full spring break, the district experienced high levels of absenteeism when school was held during Penn State’s spring break. He said about 20% percent of students missed school during that week.
Before the board voted to table the decision on the proposed calendar, it asked the administration to prepare a calendar for consideration that has the first day of school on Aug. 23, 2022. The board will meet again on Jan. 10.
