PEORIA, Ill. – The Peoria Public School Board will be asked Monday night to approve a modified calendar for the coming school year.
Such a calendar has been tested this year at Harrison Community Learning Center, where the principal has said it’s, for the most part, worked well for students and teachers alike.
In a letter sent to parents Friday, Superindent Dr. Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat says the modified calendar will “produce a meaningful transformation in the social and emotional wellness of our staff and students.”
The summer break would be reduced to 42 days, while fall and spring breaks would both be ten days.
In addition, “We believe that this change is delivering on the promise of the 2016 County Facilities Sales Tax vote, which taxpayers of Peoria County approved, and which allowed the installation of air conditioning in all our school buildings,” wrote Kherat.
The Peoria Federation of Teachers on social media was still trying to gauge interest among its members.
Kherat was not available for an interview Friday evening, but is expected to talk to reporters Monday ahead of the vote.
Below is the full letter sent Friday to “district stakeholders.”
Peoria Public Schools families and staff,
I want to provide an update to keep our Peoria Public Schools community informed prior to the regularly scheduled Board of Education meeting on Monday.
After years of research, consideration and study in addition to a pilot conducted by one of our schools, we are proposing a change to our school calendar and asking the Board to adopt a Modified Calendar starting with the 2022-2023 academic year.
We believe that this change is delivering on the promise of the 2016 County Facilities Sales Tax vote, which taxpayers of Peoria County approved, and which allowed the installation of air conditioning in all our school buildings.
We also believe that this new calendar will produce a meaningful transformation in the social and emotional wellness of our staff and students while providing time for additional interventions and acceleration throughout the school year and reducing the summer slide.
I have included a few PowerPoint slides in this email to detail further information about the proposed Modified Calendar for our families and staff to review prior to the meeting.
Thank you for joining us on this journey,
Dr. Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat
Superintendent
(Peoria Public Schools)
