Friday, 16 February 2007 01:13

The Amador County Fair- Moving On The Calendar

slide5The Amador County Fair will be held this year at the traditional time- the last weekend in July. However, this could be the last time the fair is held on that traditional weekend. Fair officials have decided to move the Amador County Fair to the first weekend in August, making the 2008 Amador County Fair July 31st through August 3rd. The original plan by the Fair Board was to move the 2007 Fair, this year’s fair, to the new weekend, however that decision was reversed when 4-H leaders brought to the fair board’s attention a leadership conference that many 4-H participants were scheduled to attend. It would have been a direct conflict forcing kids to decide between the fair and the conference. For families participating in the fair’s programs, exhibits and livestock venues this will put the end of fair and the typical start of the Amador County Unified School District school year one week apart.

According to fair officials the Fair is reaching out to the school district for consideration of moving the school calendar back one week. This could be accomplished, however it would mean that there would be no one week break in between the first and second quarters. It sounds simple, but for those that have been around awhile, you will remember there is nothing simple about the school calendar in Amador County. Through a series of negotiations conducted in the late 90’s the calendar, more specifically, the perimeters under which the calendar is developed, are set as part of the Amador County Teachers Association contract. The contract reads that “should the district develop a calendar outside of the perimeters established contractually any change will be negotiated with the teachers association.” Those perimeters include a one week break at the end of the first quarter and that the first semester will end before the Christmas break. According to Amador County teachers Association officials a calendar that it outside of the current perimeters has not been brought to their attention at this point. Officials at the Amador county Fair say that the change at this point is a proposal but that “nothing is a done deal yet.”

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