Students get 10-day spring break in 2010

Book your 2010 spring break getaway now: All county students will get 10 days off in late March and early April next school year.

That's three days more than Anne Arundel students usually get. This school year they will have off Thursday, Friday and Monday of Easter weekend.

"Repeatedly we get requests from families that they would really like a little more time for travel and family time at that time of the year," said Teresa Tudor, chairman of the calendar committee.

The board voted yesterday in favor of the calendar for 2009-10, with the longer spring break. Students will have off Monday through Friday the week of March 29, and also the following Monday, April 5. That's 10 days including the two weekends.

Ms. Tudor said parents come forward each year to ask for a longer break so they can take spring vacations. Most other school districts have a week-long break, and Anne Arundel has long been one of the few without it.

The committee also hoped the extra time off will improve student behavior. Disciplinary referrals spike each March and May, said Leon Washington, director of safe and orderly schools. In 2006-07, for example, there were 81 in May compared with 55 in January, the month after winter break, he said.

"I know it's good to give folks breaks periodically when you can," he said. "That seems to help with regard to discipline issues."

The 2009-10 school year will start Aug. 24 and 25 and end on June 14 for students. It will be one day longer than this year - 181 days instead of 180, which is the minimum required by the state.

Teachers will continue to work a 191-day year, but will spend one more day teaching students, said Bill Jones, executive director of the Teachers Association of Anne Arundel County. High school teachers will use the extra day to attend graduation.

Health care

In other business, the board approved an extended health care contract for school system employees that officials say will save money without eliminating any services.

The plan will save the schools $2 million over three years in the fees they pay to CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, said Alex Szachnowicz, chief operating officer for county schools. The savings will go back into the school system's operating budget.

The schools were contracted to pay about $5 million in 2009, but were able to renegotiate that contract down to $4.2 million. They'll pay $4.2 million again in 2010 and $4.4 million in 2011.

"We will actually be paying less in administrative fees at the end of 2011 than we had anticipated paying at the end of 2009," Mr. Szachnowicz said.

The new contract adds depression and back pain management to the services covered.

New courses

The board also approved four new high school courses: Media Production II, Speech and Debate II, E-Commerce and the Global Market, and Culinary Skills and Hospitality Management,

Schools will decide individually whether to offer them next year.

In media production, students will create films, podcasts and Web sites, study films and learn about careers in media. In speech and debate, they will build on skills learned in a prerequisite course to learn to collect evidence and form and present oral arguments.

Students in the new e-commerce course will develop their own e-commerce business plans, and in the culinary and hospitality course, students will learn about customer relations, sales, trends and international differences in those fields.

"We are developing 21st-century courses here," Lynn Whittington, head of the curriculum department, told the board. "As we're designing these courses, we have to look into the future. We can't look at today."