CAPE ELIZABETH — Members of the Cape Elizabeth School Board said that they have incorporated parents’ and teachers’ feedback about the district’s calendar on Jan. 14.

The 2020-2021 school year calendar has fewer early release days, said Superintendent Donna Wolfrom. During staff professional development days, students will have half days, five in total throughout the year.

School Board Vice Chair Kimberly Carr said that many teachers requested having a full day for professional development sessions, as teaching classes and then switching gears can be hard.

After hearing feedback, School Board Chair Heather Attenburg said that “trying to be respectful of more classroom time was one of the big pieces.

“Looking at the calendar as a whole and seeing November, which we heard a lot of complaints over the years — all of us parents and board members and teachers alike — there are very few complete weeks and we’re honoring that as well,” she said. “You can notice that we don’t have a prof development day in the month of November.”

Grades 1-12 are to start on Aug. 31 and kindergarten will begin on Sept. 3.

“We’re starting in September but we have a decent end date as a result,” said Elizabeth Scifres. “Labor Day is now a full day weekend as well as Columbus Day weekend.”

The last day for students, weather permitting, is expected to be June 15.

Attenburg also addressed the issue of how Election Day, on Nov. 3, affect classes.

“There’s been a lot of discussion in the schools because that affects us, there’s no students on Nov. 3, Election Day,” she said. “We met with town officials and there really is no other facility. We’ve gone through all sorts of possibilities that can handle the traffic. The biggest thing is the exit polls and the space that needs to be provided for the extra people who come to present and that sort of thing. We have to be in the current state continuing to use the space of the gymnasium in the high school.”

Wolfrom said that a solution may come from Augusta, where the problem is being discussed.

“It seems to be a hot topic,” she said. “There seems to be other districts that have this issue.”

The school board also approved the budget goals for FY 20-21. The three goals state that the board will be “Maintaining and improving high quality education for every student, (providing) careful examination and consideration of the success and effectiveness of the expenditures in order to provide a fiscally responsible budget, and a clean and continual communication throughout the budget process.”

Carr said that she likes having communication remain a goal for the next year.

“I think our budget process was really appreciated by the community and we really strive to increase the community engagement,” she said.

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