MARYSVILLE — Students in the Marysville School District will finish the school year July 16 under a tentative agreement struck between district and teachers union negotiators.
The proposed calendar calls for a three-day Christmas vacation, a two-day spring break and two days of school on Saturday.
The agreement, reached late Wednesday night, still must be approved by the 650-member Marysville Education Association and the Marysville School Board.
Dustin Dekle, the senior class president at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, said he’s glad classes will end before late July, which was one of the options being considered.
"It’s a long time, but we are going to have to go," he said, "Some people will just be mad. July is a long time."
It could have been later, school and union leaders said.
"It’s a calendar that serves the needs of the students, the teachers and the community as far as providing the 180 days and still getting us out of school for some summer vacation for the kids," said Elaine Hanson, president of the teachers union.
By state law, schools must provide students 180 days of schooling per year.
Judy Parker, a school district spokeswoman, said the district knows it will need to be flexible and work around family schedules this year, given the extraordinary circumstances of the state record 49-day-long strike.
It is also hoping for a mild winter with no snowfall that could close schools and add makeup days in July.
"We’re keeping our fingers crossed," she said.
As it stands, Dekle and other students are organizing homecoming, an important student fund-raiser, for Dec. 13. It was originally scheduled for Oct. 18 in the middle of football season but was postponed because of the strike.
By comparison, neighboring school districts Arlington and Everett will finish their school year on June 15, and Lakewood and Granite Falls will get out on June 18. Lake Stevens, which endured its own two-week teachers strike, ends June 23.
The district has explored the idea of trying to add time to the school day to shorten the number of days. That would require a waiver from the state Board of Education, which is by no means a guarantee and could take months to find out, said Mark Johnson, a school board member.
The calendar proposal most closely follows the preferences of a parent survey recently completed by the district. The district sent out about 7,000 surveys and received 1,031 responses.
The survey provided four options, with the last day of school ranging from July 14 to July 28.
Families overwhelmingly favored the earliest release date, with 67 percent approving that option.
The surveys themselves became another example of the acrimony in the district. District employees with children in the district were not sent the survey because district lawyers advised against it.
Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or stevick@heraldnet.com.
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