The largely rural district, which enrolls about 2,800 students, annually is among the first to start each new school-year classes in early August.
But some Ross school parents in recent years have complained about the relatively early school opening dates, saying they preferred the mid- to late-August starts for most other local public-school systems.
In a recent announcement, Ross officials said they are considering a later school year start and switching away from the traditional two-year school calendar, which has been traditionally used by most other area districts, to a three-year calendar to better help school families plan out their summer breaks and other times off.
“We know how important the school calendar is to our families, staff, and community,” stated officials. “That’s why we recently invited input through a calendar survey to help guide the creation of the school calendar for the upcoming years.”
“The survey results provided valuable insights into what our families and staff value in a school calendar.”
Among the survey findings were a preference for a later class opening date in August with the third week of that month as the preferred start time for 83.1% of parents/guardians and 82% of staff, said school officials.
Other findings included: Longer summer breaks were preferred by 80.5% of parents/guardians and 77.7% of staff who responded to the survey.
And respondents also stated they wanted to eliminate the annual fall break with 47% of parents/guardians and 34.9% of staff choosing that option.
School officials said they are trying “to better support families and staff in planning ahead (and) the district is working to develop a three-year school calendar (that) will allow families to anticipate important dates for the school year and incorporate them into their long-term planning.”
Officials cautioned, however, that such major changes are not easy given the many variables and legal restrictions imposed by the state on all public schools.
“While the survey highlights shared preferences, creating a school calendar is a complex process that requires balancing many factors.”
In addition to community input, state-mandated instructional hours and testing schedules must be considered along with prioritizing instructional time to set students up for success on high-stakes assessments, contractual obligations such as teacher workdays and government holidays while also providing breaks for rest and family time while protecting instructional time, they said.
For more than a decade Ross Schools have annually been rated by the Ohio Department of Education as the top academic performer in annual district report cards compared to Butler County’s nine other public-school districts.
In April 2024, the school was ranked 91st out of Ohio’s 1,152 public high schools, according to an annual review of public high schools by U.S. News & World Report.
The proposed three-year calendar and survey results were presented to the Ross Board of Education in December and the board was scheduled to vote on the proposal during its 4 p.m. today meeting at Ross Schools’ central office at 3371 Hamilton-Cleves Road.
School officials said: “No calendar will meet everyone’s needs perfectly, but we are committed to creating a calendar that serves the best interests of our students, staff, and families.”
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