Students and teachers in the Franklin area, Nantahala and Highlands will have the same school calendar in 2024-25 as unanimously approved Monday, Jan. 22, by the Macon County Board of Education.
Macon County Schools Chief Technology Officer Tim Burrell presented the 2024-25 calendar, as put together by the calendar committee. The calendar has 167 student days - 77 in the first semester, 90 in the second (38, 39, 42 and 49 days per nine weeks, respectively) - 194 teacher days, 10 annual leave days and 27 workdays.
The first day of school will be Monday, Aug. 26. Other highlights include students having the entire week of Thanksgiving, Nov. 25-29, off, the last day of the first semester on Friday, Dec. 20, and the last day of class on Friday, May 23, 2025, both early dismissal days.
The only change made from the presented calendar was moving a planned workday from Sept. 30. Per Burrell, this is due to not having a professional development day available on Sept. 30. To give a little more balance to the semesters, that workday is now the Monday after Easter, Monday, April 21, 2025. This means students now have a four-day weekend as Friday, April 18, 2025, is a scheduled holiday.
Burrell said this helps since Easter does not coincide with spring break week, March 31 – April 4, 2025. Burrell said if they have spring break coincide with Easter in 2025, there would only be three weeks before final exams.
Burrell said this calendar applies to Franklin, Nantahala and Highlands schools, except Macon Early College, which follows the Southwestern Community College calendar. In the past, Nantahala and Highlands have had slightly different calendars than the Franklin area.
Board Chair Jim Breedlove would prefer if a school calendar bill would pass allowing school districts to set an earlier first day of school. Currently, North Carolina public schools can start no earlier than the Monday closest to Aug. 26. Several school boards across the state have pushed to have an earlier start date for more calendar flexibility.
Board Attorney John Henning said a bill passed by the N.C. House allowing school boards to set their own school start dates is on the crossover list for the N.C. Senate, but it has not been taken up. The N.C. General Assembly goes back into session in April.
The board bandied about the idea of changing the 2024-25 calendar if the NCGA approves school calendar flexibility. However, Burrell recommended it would be best to stick with this calendar since parents and guardians will start planning around the calendar once it’s approved.
The calendar will be posted on the Macon County Schools website, www.macon.k12.nc.us.
School board meeting schedule
The school board meeting moved up its next meeting a week to Monday, Feb. 19, starting at 6 p.m. at Macon Early College. The board approved its calendar for the rest of 2024 as follows: March 25 (Macon Middle School), April 22 (Mountain View Intermediate), May 20 (Nantahala School), June 27 (Thursday, Central Office), July 22 (Central Office), Aug. 19 (Central Office) Sept. 30 (Highlands), Oct. 28 (South Macon), Nov. 25 (Bartram Academy) and Dec. 16 (Cartoogechaye).
A budget work session is set for Wednesday, March 6, starting at 1 p.m. at the Central Office. The board will decide on a date and time for its annual board retreat after going over various dates via email. Breedlove said it’s likely for mid-March.
A full recap of the Jan. 22 Macon County Board of Education meeting will be included in future issues.
The personnel reports approved after closed session did not include a new football coach for Franklin High School.