Beaufort County’s school board has approved a 2021-22 calendar. What you need to know
Parents, you can start planning your post-pandemic vacations now. Beaufort County’s school board unanimously approved a calendar Tuesday for the 2021-22 school year.
The school year will begin Aug. 16, 2021 and end May 27, 2022. The semesters are unevenly split. The fall semester will last 85 days and end Dec. 17, as students begin winter break; the spring semester will begin Jan. 5 and last 95 days.
Thanksgiving break will run from Nov. 24-26, with an early dismissal for students on Nov. 23. Winter break will run from Dec. 20 to Jan. 5, and spring break will run from April 11 to April 15, the week before Easter.
The first three days of winter break — Dec. 20-22 — and April 11, the first day of spring break, are designated as weather make-up days. This year, the district has permission to conduct all make-up days virtually, which is a departure from prior practice.
Labor Day (Sept. 6), Veterans Day (Nov. 11), Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Jan. 17), Presidents Day (Feb. 21) and Memorial Day (May 30) are marked as holidays for students and staff.
School report cards will go out Oct. 29 for the first quarter, Jan. 17 for the second quarter, March 31 for the third quarter and June 9 for the fourth quarter.
Aug. 9-13, Jan. 4, March 18 and May 31 to June 2 are marked as professional development days for staff.
Graduation ceremonies will be held from May 23-27:
Bluffton High School on May 23;
Battery Creek High School on May 24;
Hilton Head Island High School on May 25;
Whale Branch Early College High School on May 26;
Beaufort High School and May River High School on May 27.
The board voted 10-0 for the uneven calendar over a “traditional” 90-day calendar, which would have placed the end of the fall semester on Jan. 12. Board member David Striebinger was absent.
Mary Stratos, the district’s chief instructional services officer, said Tuesday that the district’s high school principals preferred the uneven split because it gave students options for college enrollment or military deployment in the spring and didn’t divide end-of-course testing across winter break.
Due to the increased testing load in second semester — in the spring, high school students have to take SATs, Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, English language learner and career readiness exams, to name a few — a traditional 90-day calendar can short teachers on instructional time, Stratos said.
“In first semester, there’s an average of 1,332 minutes used for testing,” Stratos said. “In second semester, there’s potentially 2,025.”
In previous calendar discussions, teachers have complained that the 85-day semester damages their ability to teach the full curriculum for their courses.
But according to previous district research, students have slightly higher test scores and GPAs when the shortened fall semester is used.
“The results verify that the decision to do 85-95 is a solid one,” board member and former district teacher Mel Campbell said Tuesday. “Particularly, it doesn’t damage the grades, and it does facilitate some of our programs.”
This story was originally published March 3, 2021 at 2:06 PM.