Draft Calendar

23 - 24 School Calendar Feedback Requested

Riverwalk Academy

January 12, 2023

Pride,

We wanted to share with you our draft calendar for the 2023 - 2024 school year and we're asking for your feedback.  As Dr. Compton mentioned during the December Board Meeting, we want to explore the option of what’s being called a “modified (or balanced) year round” calendar.  Do not let the name “year round” panic you.  We are not exploring a “year round” calendar.  

When you look at the draft calendar, a few things might stand out:  

  • We start one week earlier than previous years;

  • There are two additional week-long instructional breaks that are embedded throughout the school year; and

  • The school year still ends in May.

There are several reasons we explored the balanced calendar:

  • A balanced calendar provides important mental health and wellness benefits for students and staff by allowing the school to have week-long breaks at designated periods within the year, while still finishing the year in May.

  • A balanced year round calendar is meant to allow both semesters and grading periods to be equivalent, with 45 days for each grading period and 90 days for each semester. 

  • Another benefit of such a calendar is that it will align more closely with a “college calendar” so our students who are taking courses through York Technical College or other dually enrolled courses can be on similar schedules with their younger siblings (and vice versa).

  • There’s a move throughout the nation and here locally in SC to transition to the modified/balanced calendar.  York 1 and Clover have already approved a modified/balanced calendar for the 23 - 24 school year, and based on what we’ve seen on social media, Rock Hill 3 is also exploring such a calendar for the 24 - 25 school year.

  • Research into the impacts of modified/balanced calendars versus traditional calendars indicate that students, no matter their current performance levels, saw increased benefit from the non-traditional calendar. 

Here’s a visual on why it’s called a balanced calendar:

We understand that any change to a traditional calendar schedule may cause stress. We are hoping that as indicated by the early feedback that we’ve received, pushing the start back by a week won’t cause a negative impact on our families. In addition, that early feedback indicates families and staff appreciate having those extra weeks to take vacations during the school year without impacting school attendance.

We would appreciate it if you would review the proposed calendar with your family and then provide us with your feedback (one survey per family). 

For your convenience, here are the local calendars that we reviewed: