Where is the Miami-Dade County Public Schools 2020-21 calendar?

Forget for a moment what time Miami-Dade County schools will start their day come August.

When is the first day of school?

Summer plans are on hold and work arrangements are in limbo after the proposed 2020-21 school calendars were pulled off the Miami-Dade County School Board’s agenda in November. Board members had questions and concerns, and now the calendars may not be approved until next month.

It has created tension with the United Teachers of Dade, which has accused the district of trying to circumvent the process.

“We have been receiving calls and emails asking when the calendar will be set,” said UTD secretary/treasurer Mindy Grimes-Festge at a January School Board meeting. “Teachers need to know so they can make arrangements for summer employment, professional development opportunities and vacations for those who can afford them.”

There’s growing anxiety about what next school year’s calendar will look like, especially since the Broward County School Board approved its school calendar in December. That calendar includes a few big changes: A later Aug. 19 start date and a full week off for students and teachers for Thanksgiving.

Neighboring school districts look to each other for synchronicity. Miami-Dade Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said on WLRN recently that a quarter of the school district’s workforce commutes from Broward.

The school district goes through the same ritual every year: An ad-hoc school calendar committee made up of representatives from the district, the United Teachers of Dade and the Miami-Dade County Council Parent Teacher Association/Parent Teacher Student Association meets privately every fall to draft the calendar.

This year, that committee drafted two calendars, both starting school Monday, Aug. 17, 2020, and ending Wednesday, June 2, 2021. One looked like Broward’s with a week off for Thanksgiving, but just for students — teachers would have planning days that Monday and Tuesday. Miami-Dade’s spring break would be the week after Broward’s.

But according to the district, when UTD solicited teachers for input, the calendar without Thanksgiving week off for students was favored by a slight margin.

That’s the calendar that went before the School Board for the first time on Nov. 13. Deputy Superintendent Valtena Brown explained at that School Board committee meeting that 1,553 teachers preferred the calendar that had planning days spread throughout the year, compared to 1,404 teachers who preferred the calendar with Thanksgiving week off.

Brown added that about 2,600 people reported being satisfied with those options compared to 300 who were dissatisfied.

“That’s 149 people making a decision for 20,000,” said board member Larry Feldman.

Board member Steve Gallon liked the idea of having Thanksgiving week off.

“Let’s face it: people somewhat start to check out,” Gallon said. “It would’ve been very nice.”

Board member Martin Karp withdrew his support for the calendar.

“I’m not supportive of such an early start and such an early finish,” he said.

Board member Mari Tere Rojas agreed.

“As I see this right now, I am not comfortable with this,” she said. “Based on what I’m looking at, I will not be voting in favor of this.”

Brown explained the rationale behind the calendar, which gives students three full weeks of instruction before Labor Day and other scheduled days off in September.

“We received quite a few concerns about the number of days teachers are off and students are off,” she said. She added that Miami-Dade County started school later than any other county in Florida in August because districts are shifting earlier to let out before Memorial Day weekend.

Board member Susie Castillo didn’t take issue with the early start. Board member Marta Perez raised another point.

“It just seems going through all that work and then not following the recommendations is really not all that useful,” Perez said. “We’re asking them, ‘Which one do you prefer?’ and then we’re saying, ‘You don’t know what you want.’ ”

That’s why UTD took issue with the district’s decisions to scrap the calendar instead of letting it be put to a vote by the School Board.

“That’s the process that we’ve done for years. It’s always worked,” said UTD president Karla Hernandez-Mats. “And for them to unilaterally not be happy with the results and want to scrap it and start all over again, it disenfranchises the educator’s voice because they all had input in this.”

She said the calendar could become an issue in bargaining, another point of contention between the district and UTD. After several bargaining sessions, the two parties are nowhere near an agreement. Teacher pay hasn’t even been discussed.

“Unfortunately it makes me waste time putting pressure on the school district when it should just be done without having to fight over it,” Hernandez-Mats said.

Brown said the delayed calendar won’t impact summer school. She pointed out there were challenges with the calendar last year, too. Miami-Dade approved the 2019-20 calendar on Jan. 16, 2019.

She said her staff will meet with UTD, and each side will bring samples of calendars. She said she’s recommending some changes and variations based on board members’ feedback but wouldn’t elaborate.

“Somewhere in between, we’ll come to consensus,” Brown said.

Hernandez-Mats, however, said she was unaware of any upcoming meetings with Brown’s staff. If the calendar is going to be voted on at the Feb. 12 School Board meeting, it must be discussed at the committee meeting a week prior, which is Wednesday.

Like bargaining, “Nothing’s been scheduled,” Hernandez-Mats said. A bargaining date is now scheduled for Feb. 10.

“I don’t know why nine people making a decision should outweigh more than [3,000] people who took the survey,” she said. “They talk about respecting the workforce and how they want to follow processes, but when we’ve done a process a certain way, it makes us think that they just want to outweigh the will of the people. It seems like they’re trying to circumvent the process.”

Brown said she pulled the calendar because she wanted to provide board members with information they requested, like figures on absences the days before Thanksgiving, and take into consideration some of their suggestions. She said she has had conversations with board members individually.

“The recommendation to the board is the administration’s recommendation to the board that is balanced between the academic needs of students, the needs of parents and the needs of teachers,” she said. “If at that time I felt from the questions I needed to provide additional information to the board to be able to make decisions, then that’s what I felt was in the best interest of me to do.”

“This is an instructional calendar for students,” Brown added. “It is not a work calendar for teachers.”

MDCCPTA/PTSA president Beth Edwards did not respond to requests for comment.

A district spokeswoman said that the district and UTD reached a consensus on two calendars on Thursday. Teachers will be surveyed and results should be available Monday, ahead of Wednesday’s committee meeting.

This story was originally published January 30, 2020 at 6:00 AM.