CPS Wants Parental Input on New Calendar

Chicago Public Schools representatives want your feedback.

The district is working to create a universal calendar and is asking parents for input before compiling it. School officials launched an online survey this week to solicit that feedback as they move from its two-track system to a single calendar for the 2013-2014 academic year.

A Monday post on the district's Facebook included links to Spanish and Polish-language versions of the survey, as well as comments from CPS stating that its teachers will be completing a separate questionnaire. The survey is also available in Chinese.

Parents must enter their children's student ID numbers in order to access the surveys. The unified schedule is part of the deal that ended this summer's Chicago Teachers Union strike, according to aSun-Times Media report.

Input is meant to help the district determine when to start the school year and when to schedule breaks in the calendar.

“Moving towards a single, unified calendar is in the best interest of our school communities and better aligns with our goal to provide every student with a rigorous curriculum, but we need our parents and students to have a voice in the process,” CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett said in the Sun-Times report.

Under the current two-track system, some schools start in early August while others start in September.

The survey will be online until January 11, and a proposed calendar is expected to go to the CPS board for approval later in the month, the story says.

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