SOUTH DAYTON – To put students first, schools have to fall in line.

Shared services and cross-district distance learning classes are wonderful opportunities for students, but as Pine Valley Superintendent Scott Payne pointed out at a recent board meaning, those connections can’t happen without cooperation between educators. Specifically, that collaboration has to happen when schools set their academic calendars.

And, working together with BOCES, that’s just what Pine Valley administrators have done for the 2016-2017 school year.

“The joint management team, which comprises all four BOCES regions, worked on this calendar together, meaning that all of the BOCES have the same holidays, the same professional development days, and there was an alignment across the four BOCES regions. We have adopted and followed that, which makes things really strong for our kids who are in BOCES programs.”

Payne then gave the board a specific example of why clashing calendars hurt students:

“If we determined (to have) a break that was not congruent with that BOCES calendar, then our kids during that break would not have anywhere to go and would lose a week’s worth of instruction,” he said. “And then they would lose a second week of instruction when (BOCES) had their break. It makes a lot more sense for all of the regions to be working together and to have common calendars.”

Board member Dave Kohler asked if other schools in the region are also standardizing their calendars to align with the BOCES schedule.

“I think most other districts are following the BOCES calendar, (though) there are three districts that are not following it,” Payne answered.

Board member Patricia Krenzer said it’s important for schools to be aware of one another’s calendars, so everyone knows who is available for what.

“It matters when we talk about distance learning and when we’re trying to combine classes,” she said. “Because then there’s three schools right there that you can’t do that with. It’s an issue.”

Payne explained that synchronized calendars don’t just affect students; they can greatly benefit administrators, staff, and faculty, too. In-service days can be more productive because presentations and professional development workshops can be shared with other districts’ faculty, and teachers and administration can learn from one another’s experiences.

“Common periodic assessments, I believe, (are) the lifeblood of how we can improve our practice, our scores, our instruction overall. If we had that and we had some partners in other districts who were involved with common periodic assessments, that would be the perfect opportunity to engage in some conversations about instruction,” Payne said.

Currently, Pine Valley’s professional development days do align with those of BOCES. Krenzer pointed out that there is a downside to that, in addition to the benefits Payne listed – with multiple schools’ faculty members wanting to attend the same workshops and hear the same speakers, the early bird will get the worm and, well, the other birds will be left hungry.

“Odd man out is going to happen,” she said.

Payne told board members not to worry; he’s thought ahead and already requested Pine Valley’s BOCES presenters for the Oct. 21 professional development day.

“Well, there you go!” said Krenzer.

Board member Nancy Stock brought the conversation back around to what sharing services can do for students.

“One of the good things about getting so many districts in the same county (on the same calendar) is if you want to do distance (Advanced Placement) learning classes, (you can),” she said.

Payne agreed, and added that calendars are one thing; daily schedules are another.

“The bigger issue is getting common bell schedules,” he said. “There are some conversations that may be happening soon about common bell schedules. I don’t know how far those comments will go, but it would be a terrific opportunity.”

President of the board, Rex Butcher, pointed out that aligning bell schedules is more difficult than aligning calendars, because contracts would be affected. Some schools’ bell schedules differ by a half an hour or more, so changing them would mean teachers’ work days would begin or end at times they didn’t necessarily agree to in their contracts.

“Well, one step at a time,” Kohler chimed in.

The next regular board meeting is scheduled for March 17 at 7 p.m. in the elementary school board room. Members of the community are welcome to attend. Parents are reminded that students will be released early that day, as parent-teacher conferences will take place in the elementary school, and high school faculty will have an in-service day.