Superintendent Press Release August 12, 2022
Dear Cedar Bluffs Families,
Welcome back to school! We had a great turnout for Thursday’s open house, and it was so wonderful to see all the families and students as we start the new year.
I was asked why we start so early and believe me; I love my summer too but there are just so many rules and regulations about hours, days, and mostly instructional hours that a school must meet to be an “Accredited” school in Nebraska. I did note that although we start on Wednesday the 10th with students and Fremont moved their start of school to Monday the 15th, we get out on May 19th and they don’t get out until May 24th. Several years ago, I did a survey and asked if people would rather start early and get out early or start late and get out late and an overwhelming number said, start early. The State requires that all high school have 1080 hours of student contact, elementary schools must go 1032 hours and preschools are required to have at least 400 hours of school per year. However, the biggest driver of the number of days we need to be in session revolves around what is called “Carnegie instructional hours”. Every high school in the State is required to offer 60 Carnegie units of English Language Arts, 40 units of Math, 40 units of science, 20 units of PE, 80 units of vocational classes, etc. Carnegie units are calculated by minutes of a class multiplied by numbers of days, divided by 900 equals Carnegie units. So, a 50-minute class period, multiplied by 180 days equals 9000 minutes divided by 900 equals 10 Carnegie units. That is why you see most small schools in the State with one High School teacher in each discipline have 50-minute classes and 180 student contact days of school. For instances with one English teacher, you could offer Freshman English, Sophomore English, Junior English and Senior English for 40 Carnegie Units and then usually Speech is required for another 10 and then one other English class like a Senior Literature or something to make the 60 units required to meet Rule 10 requirements. So, in a small school where teachers get one planning period, they teach 7 classes out of 8 periods or basically 70 Carnegie units worth of classes. A school that has multiple teachers in one discipline have more flexibility on days, hours, etc. That is why you see more block schedules in schools with multiple teachers in the same field. For instances a 90-minute classes multiplied by 90 days (if that class meets every other day) equals 8100 minutes divided by 900 equals 9 Carnegie units but then using the other teacher they can offer more electives to make up the difference. Another driver of schedules is the amount of professional development required by teachers. I know State legislators are trying to do the right thing, when something awful happens to a student, they feel a law requiring teachers to be trained should help that something awful from happening again. Teachers are required by law to have training every year in dating violence, bullying, digital citizenship, seclusion and restraints, suicide prevention, bloodborne pathogens, child abuse reporting and I could go on. I have lost count of the hours of training required by our teachers and staff. Coaches, Bus Drivers, and other specific positions also have other requirements like CPR, first aid and concussion awareness. All of it is excellent training and important but it just takes more and more days throughout the year on top of all the other trainings around curriculum, instruction and assessment which is their main job. Anyhow, I hope this better explains a little more about school calendars and what drives them. Every school in Nebraska is a little different but overall, close in days and hours. Just in our area, Bishop-Neuman, Yutan, Logan View, and Cedar Bluffs started this week with Wahoo, Fremont, North Bend and Mead starting next week.
I hope all of you have a GREAT school year. Remember School pictures are August 18! #Wildcat Pride!