School's out — and in again

Santa Fe Public Schools closes for its summer break at the end of May. But parents, remember that school starts early next semester — on Wednesday, Aug. 10, for grades one through 12. Kindergartners will start Friday, Aug. 12.

Last April, the Board of Education voted to start school one week earlier this past August, and two weeks earlier this coming August.

The main goal of the revised calendar is to offer more instructional days (182 in all, which includes two days of teacher planning/preparation), increase student achievement, balance semester quarters (now there's a clean break between semesters over the winter holiday, for instance) and gather better student-attendance data.

The district asked parents to weigh in on the topic last March, and according to Associate Superintendent Denise Johnson, more parents actually favored starting school two weeks earlier. But the board wanted parents to have the chance to slowly segue into the new schedule: hence the one-week advance start date last year.

The early start date also leads to an early quit date of May 18, 2012. The winter break is scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011 through Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2012.

This schedule is not quite set in stone, SFPS Superintendent Bobbie Gutierrez noted, but it's likely to take effect unless some legislative act changes the school schedule around.

Incidentally, one legislative bill designed to increase the number of school days was still sitting in the House Appropriation and Finance Committee as of last Friday — the next-to-last day of this year's legislative session. HB 407 would up the number of instructional days to 200 starting in 2012/2013.

Principal quest

Next semester will bring at least a few leadership changes at public schools. Karen Webb, who served as principal of Kearny Elementary School since August 2009, resigned before spring break. Assistant Principal Matthew Martinez will run the shop through the end of the semester.

Meanwhile, Anita Cisneros, principal of Nava Elementary School since 2005, announced she is retiring at the end of this semester. She started with the district as a teacher in 1991.

And now that Acequia Madre and Atalaya elementary schools are not going to be consolidated, the district plans to hire a new principal for Atalaya. Acequia Madre Principal Bill Beacham was handling both schools this past year.

Teaching teachers to teach

Santa Fe University of Art and Design just began a Master of Arts in Education program for educators. This hybrid of online and on-campus instruction is, in the words of Corine Frankland, director of education for the institute, something that "focuses on differentiated instruction that utilizes teaching through creative and expressive arts. People can get confused — they think it's a preparation program for art teachers. It's really for teachers to integrate brain-based learning into their classroom, working with multiple intelligence particularly as it relates to the arts."

Calling it an educational-reform course for teachers, Frankland said she believes this is the only such program in the country. Five participants just signed up for the first round of instruction; the university naturally wants to increase that number. Participants must have a bachelor's degree in education (or an equivalent) to enroll.

Visit santafeuniversity.edu and click "Programs/Professional and Continuing Studies" for more information.

Contact Robert Nott at 986-3021 or rnott@sfnewmexican.com.