June 3, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Redmond, Wash. – The Lake Washington School District has finalized changes to the 2008-09 school year calendar as well as the planned school calendar for the next three years, as part of an agreement on contract negotiations for the Lake Washington School District/Lake Washington Education Association collective bargaining agreement for 2008-09 through 2010-11. LWEA teachers voted 89 percent in favor of the agreement on May 21. The District’s Board of Directors voted to approve the contract settlement at their June 2 meeting. The school calendar is negotiated during collective bargaining as part of the terms and conditions of employment.

The calendar for 2008-09 was first developed as a tentative calendar during the last collective bargaining in 2005, so that families would be able to plan ahead even though this year extended beyond the agreement. “We tried very hard not to change the 08-09 calendar,” said Dr. Chip Kimball, superintendent. “The state moved the WASL testing up one week. It was the collective wisdom of the teaching staff that it would be bad for kids to be off one week then come back to go directly into WASL testing.”

As a result, the spring break for 08-09 changed from April 6-10 to March 30-April 2. At the board meeting, Kimball and board members acknowledged the hardship for some families who have made plans based on the original calendar and advised parents to make the best decisions for their families.

One change, moving mid-winter break to a Thursday and Friday plus the Monday Presidents Day holiday, will not begin until 2009-10 so that it will not impact families that already have plans for 2008-09. The change from a Monday through Wednesday holiday emphasizes that the mid-winter break is not a full week.

School will begin in September for each of the four years for which calendars have been developed. In two of those years, 2009-10 and 2010-11, school begins before Labor Day since that holiday falls on the seventh and sixth, respectively. School will start on the first of September for both of those years. For 2008-09, school begins on September 2, the day after Labor Day. For 2011-2012, it is tentatively scheduled to begin on September 6.

School calendars are posted on the calendar page of this Web site, www.lwsd.org.

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About Lake Washington: Lake Washington School District is a high-performing public school district serving Kirkland, Redmond, and Sammamish, Washington. It is the sixth largest district in the state of Washington, with over 23,000 students in 50 schools.