Rare praise from critic as Muscogee County School Board approves 2018-19 calendar

The Muscogee County School Board approved the 2018-19 calendar during its meeting Monday night — generating a rare moment of praise for the administration from the board’s most vocal critic.

Two months after setting the 2017-18 calendar, the board also locked in the key dates for the following school year so families can have more time to plan vacations and other time off.

Highlights of the 2018-19 calendar include:

▪ Aug. 8 for first day of classes.

▪ Sept. 3 off for Labor Day.

▪ Oct. 8 no school for students while staff has professional development.

▪ Nov. 12 off for Veterans Day, because the traditional date for this holiday, Nov. 11, is on a Sunday in 2018.

▪ Nov. 19-23 off for Thanksgiving break.

▪ Dec. 24 through Jan. 8 off for Christmas break (Dec. 22-23 is the weekend). Second semester begins Jan. 9. Staff return Jan. 7 for professional development and Jan 8 for teacher planning day.

▪ Feb. 18 off for Presidents Day.

▪ March 25-29 off for spring break.

▪ May 23 last day of classes.

District 4 representative Naomi Buckner noted the 2018-19 calendar is very similar to the 2017-18 calendar.

District 8 representative Frank Myers commended the “great idea” of setting the 2018-19 school calendar “so far in advance.”

Superintendent David Lewis wasn’t in the room to hear it. He was out of town to attend his daughter’s college softball senior banquet. Assistant superintendent Rebecca Braaten replaced him at the board table for Monday’s meeting.

Myers, however, added a parting shot after his praise: “If we could have done this special-needs, alternative education issue with this much foresight, we wouldn’t have had the mess that we had last week.”

He was referring to the board tabling the superintendent’s controversial proposal to hire a private, for-profit company, Camelot Education of Austin, Texas, to run alternative education programs in the district for $6.4 million annually.

This story was originally published April 17, 2017 at 8:15 PM with the headline "Rare praise from critic as Muscogee County School Board approves 2018-19 calendar."