GCSC brings breaks in line with other county schools for 2023-24

Greencastle Community Schools will find its calendar more closely in line with other county schools once the current academic year is complete.

For the 2023-24 school year, the GCSC fall break and spring break should be in line with the other county school corporations, though its start date may remain a bit of an outlier.

After some discussion Monday night, the Greencastle School Board approved the calendar proposed by Supt. Jeff Gibboney and already agreed upon by building administrators and the Greencastle Classroom Teachers Association.

Most notably, GCSC will have fall break on the week of Oct. 16-20, 2023 and spring break on the week of March 18-22, 2024.

During the current year, the GCSC fall break was a week earlier than other local schools, while spring break will be a week later than the others come March.

“Fall break is back in alignment with the county schools and also Covered Bridge Festival,” Gibboney said. “Christmas break is very similar to what we have currently. Spring break is the week of (March) 18th-22nd, which aligns with the other three county school districts.”

Board member Ed Wilson expressed his relief at the alignment of breaks.

“That is the thing I’ve most gotten my back side chewed on during the last year,” Wilson said.

Some contention did remain, though, over the start date for Greencastle, which is set for Friday, Aug. 4.

Secretary Brian Cox said from what he could gather, two of the other three corporations are starting on Wednesday, Aug. 9.

“From my perspective, I don’t know why we’re starting five days before the other schools,” Cox said.

Noting that the calendar is “not an exact science,” Gibboney did his best to explain the process by which the corporation, taking into account the desires of teachers and administrators as well as other schools, arrived at the proposal.

“We have more days, more built-in teacher days, and we have extra time at winter break,” Gibboney said in comparing the calendar to other schools.

He added that the teachers like the Friday start day, as it allows students — particularly young students — a day to get acclimated and then a break before starting full force on Monday.

“I had shared a proposal where we started on the seventh, but the feedback was not as positive to that,” Gibboney said.

For his part, board President Mike White is not a fan of the Friday start.

“Say, if that’s the only week a family could take a vacation and get back right before school starts, well they can’t,” White said. “It kills the final week of summer for families.”

Gibboney did note, however, that in the current calendar, Greencastle started on the Wednesday of that same week, with teachers returning on Monday, Aug. 1.

Differences in the calendar are of note not just because of breaks, but for Area 30 Career Center students, as the career-focused center draws juniors and seniors from the four county high schools as well as Eminence. Divergent school calendars can cause scheduling problems for Area 30 and its students.

Also of note in the upcoming calendar is the return of built-in snow days on Feb. 19 (Presidents Day), March 15 (day before spring break) and April 19.

Snow days have been absent from the calendar in recent years, but the decision by the Indiana General Assembly to limit “traditional e-learning days” to three per school year prompted the change.

Gibboney noted that should GCSC reach three learning days this year, days will be added to the end of the school year. The re-introduction of snow days should limit this need in the future.