In his Community Commentary ("Calendar shift makes little sense," March 15), Brian Crosby states that moving the school calendar "does nothing to meet the needs of the students" and is not consistent with the Burbank Unified School District mission statement. I disagree completely.
The district's mission statement reads in part, "BUSD ? guarantees the effective use of all available resources to create, provide and support quality instructional programs, services and environments." With time spent in the classroom, the most valuable resource we offer, any change that allows us to more effectively utilize this time is in the best interests of all our students. I believe there are compelling reasons to move the instructional calendar back, recognizing that the principal beneficiaries will be our secondary students.
The first benefit of this move will be to allow classes to finish the first semester prior to taking the winter break in December, providing our students the opportunity to take their semester finals before the break and freeing them from having to study over the vacation period. Currently, we come back from the winter break with approximately three more weeks left in the semester. Since the last of these weeks is finals week, there are effectively only about 10 days of instruction possible, with several lost both to refreshing students minds upon the return from break and the review period just before finals. A calendar shift will allow extra time for instruction of additional material and provide better continuity of instruction, all without lengthening the academic calendar beyond the mandated 180 days annually. This will benefit all middle and high school students, since they typically encounter final exams in their classes.
