March 20, 2019 Page 7C
i orter
By Diane Glidewell
news@mymc .ne)
Monroe County Board
of Education voted, 4-2,
to move Fall Break on the
2019-20 school calendar
from Oct. 11-14 to Oct
18-20 to align it with the
football schedule. Board
members Greg Head and
Stuart Pippin voted against
changing the calendar;
board members Dr.
Priscilla Doster, Judy Pet-
tigrew, J.P. Evans and Nolen
Howard voted to make the
change; board member Eva
Bilderback was not present
for the vote at the March 12
meeting.
Mary Persons football
team has a home game
against Upson-Lee on Oct.
11. It has an open date and
does not play on Frida)
Oct. 18. Superintendent Dr.
Mike Hickman proposed
the change, noting that the
board sets the school calen-
dar two years in advance,
before football games are
set. He said the football
schedule was just set in
Februar
Doster said she was for
changing Fall Break to fit
the football schedule be-
cause "It affects too many
in the community" On the
other hand Pippin said he
knows five families who
will lose money because of
plans they have made for
the announced Fall Break
from Oct. 11-14.
"I know families who
plan [by the calendars we
announce] and will lose"
said Head. "That money is
a lot to them"
Head asked how many
students are a part of the
football games. Hick-
man said that with 130
band members, about 50
cheerleaders and about
90 football players, there
are 270-300 Mary Persons
students directly involved
in the games out of the
4,000 students in the school
system.
Head asked how often the
school board changes Fall
Break because of football
games and was told the
change was made one other
time in the last three years.
It was asked whether the
schools might be able to
work with families that had
already made plans for an
Oct. 11-14 break.
"You're opening up a can
of worms,' said Doster.
"We're not doing this
to make a hardship,' said
Hickman. "It's just a dif-
ficult situation."
In other business, Hick-
man told the board the
school system is working
on a plan of Alternative
Learning Days that would
let students work from
home and complete assign-
ments that would count for
up to three instructional
days in case weather forced
school closings.
Hi&man said he has
talked with representatives
at Hall County and Jef-
ferson City schools about
the templates they have
developed to allow children
to work from home and
still be counted present. He
said Monroe County teach-
ers in each grade band are
developing appropriate as-
signments. Monroe County
Middle School and Mary
Persons will use Google
Classroom. Students will
have five school days after
returning to school to com-
plete the assignments and
get credit for attending.
Assignments would be
communicated electroni-
cally and also with a hard
copy when applicable.
Hickman said that when
the schools scheduled
make-up days a couple of
years ago, attendance was
only 70 percent whereas
98 percent is normal. He
said the plan is only for
school-wide dosures, like
those caused by weather
or power outages. He said
about 20 school systems
in Georgia are now using
Alternative Learning Days.
Hickman said the in-
formation on Alternative
Learning Days was provid-
ed to inform the board and
does not require approval
by the board.
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