Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. has issued a reminder to families that the first day of the 2022-23 school year will be Thursday, Aug. 4.
The notice has been shared on social media after school officials said they were seeing questions about this year’s official start date.
“There was an old three-year calendar that reflected a different start date but was modified when BCSC School Board members approved changes to the schedule for staff professional days,” they said. “All old calendars have been removed from the files of the website.”
The school board approved changes to the district’s three-year calendar last October. In addition to adding more professional development days for staff, the update included slightly earlier starts to the school year and winter break, as well as a later start and end to the spring semester.
Under the new calendar, there is a teacher day on Wednesday, Aug. 3, and classes begin on Thursday, Aug. 4.
As part of the new calendar’s development, BCSC Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Gina Pleak and Columbus Educators Association President Amy London co-chaired a committee that included teachers and administrators. The group reviewed the changes and made suggestions.
The association recommended the changes to the start and end of semesters. There were challenges to having the first day of school be a Friday in 2021, so the calendar has the school corporation starting the next two school years on Thursdays instead.
For students on a block schedule, this means that they can experience a full rotation of their schedule, and teachers can meet all of their students.
“It also allows our younger students to get in the habit of just more than one day and a little bit more of a comfort level,” Pleak said in an earlier interview.
