COASTAL OBSERVER

It was expected that Board Member Jarrod Ownbey would vote against the Georgetown Country School District’s  “modified year-round calendar.” But Chairman Keith Moore gave a double-take when he heard Board Member Eileen Johnson join Ownbey in voting “nay.”

A 7-2 vote last week approved the academic calendars for the next two years. 

“I knew we were going  to lose the vote. I did agree with him on this,”Johnson said. “You still have to speak up for your convictions.”

The district initially adopted the modified calendar for the 2023-24 academic year.

The modified calendar sets the school year to start in early August with a week off in October and in February. The first semester ends prior to winter break.

The traditional calendar starts school after the third week of August which is required by state law unless a district adopts a modified calendar. 

Ownbey’s wife teaches at Waccamaw Middle and his two daughters attend Waccamaw High. He opposes the modified calendar for its effects on some educators and student athletes.

Before the vote, Ownbey said there is no data that shows an educational benefit from the modified calendar, such as improved state test scores.

“I don’t know that you can really judge those metrics,” he said. “I just don’t see that this is the answer to those issues.”

Johnson said Ownbey’s argument reaffirmed her position that the modified calendar is unnecessary. She said there are other matters worth looking into in the district such as drug education.

Johnson said she doesn’t think the modified calendar will affect test scores and is irrelevant to what goes on in the classroom.

“We’re constantly trying to change things that aren’t broken,” she said. “A lot of these things take time. We need to be active. We need to be present. We can’t just sit up there on Tuesday night.”

Results from a survey by the district showed overwhelming community support for the modified calendar. Of the 2,267 people who responded, 77 percent favored the modified over the traditional calendar.

Johnson said survey data can be skewed by the participants themselves if they don’t fully understand what’s being asked.

“I’m not so sure about them,” she said.

Based on the state law requiring schools to start after the third week in August, Ownbey said he looked into S.C. Attorney General opinions about the calendar and cited one from  2007 addressing the Beaufort County School District. The opinion decided that Beaufort’s proposed calendar did not constitute a year-round school calendar, which the state doesn’t allow districts to adopt, because classes were not in session in June and July.

The modified calendar for Georgetown County School District begins school Aug. 3, 2026, and ends May 28, 2027.

“The fact of the matter is, we would not fall under that category, that sentence clause, with this calendar,” Ownbey said.