Georgetown County School District considering modified year-round school calendar

GEORGETOWN COUNTY, S.C. (WMBF) - Stephanie Holder has a daughter in fifth grade at a Georgetown County elementary school.

She said the school district’s proposed modified year-round calendar would give her family more time together.

“As a mother, I believe that those times off, those breaks would actually give us more of a chance to take family vacations that we don’t really get a chance to do maybe in the summer,“ Holder said.

The school district’s survey shows out of about 1,700 parents, nearly three out of five them prefer this new schedule.

Holder said this change of schedule would also benefit how her 10-year-old daughter performs at school and with test taking.

“Those short breaks that we have at intervals with that schedule will allow us to keep more consistent test scores,” she said. “My daughter, her test scores decreased a little from the previous year.”

The Georgetown County School District may soon move to a year-round calendar.

The school board said Tuesday the change could happen as soon as the 2023-24 school year.

The news comes after results from a survey on the subject. The Director of Human Resources for the district, Chelice Waites, released the results during Tuesday’s meeting.

Parents, district employees, students, and other community members received surveys. On average, 57% of those surveyed preferred a year-round calendar.

Under the proposed 2023-24 year-round calendar, teachers begin the first quarter on July 27. Students begin on Aug. 3.

The board will be releasing the finalized calendar for public input before they go to vote on it.

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