School starting in early August

Parents with children in the parish’s public schools can scratch August off as a possible vacation month this summer. The 2015-16 school calendar approved last week calls for classes to begin on Thursday, Aug. 6.
That’s five days earlier than the Aug. 11 start of the 2014-15 session.
And teachers will be returning to work two days earlier, on Tuesday, Aug. 4, for professional development sessions.
School system employees were given the opportunity, as they have in past years, to vote on three calendar options and the one approved by board members received 45 percent (326 ballots) of the vote while employees split 25.5 percent each on two other proposals (200 and 201).
Students have not reported for classes as early as Aug. 6 since 2008. The latest start in recent years was in 2009, when students returned to school on Aug. 14.
Several board members balked at the proposal, saying they had received calls from teachers and parents complaining about the early starting date.
“I can’t see giving the whole week off for Mardi Gras,” said District 7 representative Richard Potier. “Parents have to go back to work on Wednesday. What do they do with their kids?” he asked.
Schools were only closed for three days – Monday, Mardi Gras and Wednesday – this past February.
Dr. Gail Dalcourt, director of curriculum and instruction, explained that setting up the calendar, especially for the late winter and spring months, was complicated by the need to accommodate ILEAP, LEAP, PARCC-ELA and math testing that fall in March and April.
All other holidays remain the same and include Labor Day (Sept. 7), Thanksgiving week, two weeks at Christmas, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Good Friday and Easter week.
Parish wide graduation, set for May 15 this year, moves back to May 20 in 2016.
Potier, Floyd Knott and Mark Hebert all voted against the 2015-16 calendar, which was approved by a 7-3 margin.