SALISBURY — The Rowan-Salisbury school board considered school calendars for the next two years during a regularly scheduled meeting on Monday at the Wallace Educational Forum in Salisbury.

RSS Accountability Director Damien Akelman said on Monday that they were doing two years at a time to “provide our families with additional flexibility and planning opportunities.”

Akelman explained to the board that during the process of hammering out the schedules, district officials held four meetings involving various stakeholders.

Akelman described the attendees as a “good cross-section of parents as well as teachers selected by principals.”

“We went through all the laws, expectations and guidance as well as precedents we have had within our district,” Akelman said.

According to Akelman, groups worked together to build calendars, which were then selected through a ranked-choice voting method to narrow the field to two.

Requirements for the calendar include covering at least nine calendar months, with a minimum of 185 days or 1,025 hours, 215 working days for teachers and at least nine teacher workdays.

Akelman’s department presented a recommendation to the board to consider having more days in semester two than in semester one to account for the likelihood of inclement weather, which would impact attendance.

“We like to have workdays after semester one for our high school folks and 45 days or so per quarter,” Akelman said. “Things we have done in the past … is alignment with the community college, eLearning days on ACT/PreACT or Election Days and of course early release on Tuesday before Thanksgiving for holiday parades (and) Friday before winter break.”

Akelman indicated that they wanted to retain the professional learning days on a once-a-month basis as they did during the last year.

During the meeting, Akleman presented the final two drafts of school calendars and recommended draft B. A key difference was the day that the school year started. Draft A featured a Monday start time, which Akelman advised against, saying, “There is not a longer week in school than the first week if it is five days.”

Draft B will have school beginning on Thursday each year, with five teacher workdays before that start date. That calendar also has two and a half weeks for winter break.

Akelman’s department sought feedback through social media and the district’s website after compiling the drafts. He said that draft B received “overwhelming” support compared to draft A.

Akelman added that a big priority for a lot of teachers was the two-and-a-half week break around the end-of-year holidays.

As for professional learning days, Akelman said that Wednesdays are optimum for those opportunities because they establish a consistent day during the week when teachers are less likely to be out, as compared to Mondays or Fridays.

Superintendent Dr. Kelly Withers added that she would like to see the calendar finalized by the end of the year.

“As soon as Jan. 1 rolls around, families start planning what that year will look like,” Withers said.

The school board approved draft B, which will be on the consent agenda during the upcoming December meeting. To view the proposed calendar, visit the RSS website.