GOSHEN — It looks like some notable changes may be in store for the Goshen Community Schools calendar next year.

According to GCS Assistant Superintendent Barry Younghans, members of the Goshen Board of School Trustees are currently weighing the pros and cons of a proposed calendar for the 2012-13 school year. A vote on the calendar is expected to take place at the board’s Feb. 13 meeting.

Included among the bigger changes listed in the proposed calendar is an earlier start and later ending to the school year, the addition of a full week of fall break, and an extension of spring break by an additional three days.

During the 2011-12 school year, students returned for their first day of class on Aug. 17, while under the 2012-13 calendar they would return on Aug. 10.

In explaining the reasoning behind the earlier start date, Younghans said the decision revolved primarily around the corporation’s desire to end the first semester before students break for Christmas.

“It’s really important for us to not have a semester end immediately after Christmas break,” Younghans said. “We don’t want to have kids come back and then three days after the break have to take their finals, so the commitment was to try and get the semester ended before Christmas break.”

When discussing the proposed longer fall break, Younghans noted that students this year started fall break on Friday, Oct. 21, and returned back to school on Tuesday, Oct. 25, effectively giving them two weekdays off plus the weekend. Under the newly proposed calendar, students would receive the entire week of Oct. 15-19 off for fall break.

“The real benefit for us in extending fall break is student morale, and giving kids a break,” Younghans said. “The academic load we’re putting on kids these days is significantly greater than in the past, so we’re kind of reflecting a college-level calendar with this to give the kids a little more time to decompress.”

Unchanged on the proposed calender is Christmas break, which will still include a full two weeks of time off.

“It’s two full weeks, just like it has been in the past,” Younghans said. “Our last day of school before the break will be Dec. 21, and then we return on Jan. 7.”

As for the three days added to spring break, Younghans noted that this proposed change stems primarily from the desire to support the corporation’s popular Marine Biology trip without requiring participating students to miss any school days.

This year, spring break began April 2 and ended April 6. However, participation in the GCS Marine Biology trip required that students leave several days earlier, thus resulting in missed school days for those students. Under the new calendar, spring break will begin on Wednesday, March 27, and run through the following Friday, April 5, for a total of eight weekdays off from school.

“Over spring break, we have consistently sent a huge number of kids on our Marine Biology trip, and that has always been an issue for us academically because they usually always have to miss a couple days of school,” Younghans said. “We’re firmly behind the trip and the educational opportunity it provides to these kids, and these extra couple of days will allow us to not have those conflicts.”

Rounding out the changes to next year’s calendar is the plan to end the year about one week later.

This year, students had their last day on May 25, and seniors had their graduation on June 3. Under the new calendar, students would finish school on May 29, and seniors would have their graduation on June 9.

“We feel that extra time will be really nice, because it gives us a whole full week to gather student info, make up any snow days we might have, that type of thing,” Younghans said.

While a separate public meeting to discuss the calendar will not be held by the board, Younghans noted that members of the public are more than welcome to attend the board’s upcoming Feb. 13 meeting to voice any comments or concerns they may have with the proposed calendar before it is voted on by board members.

“We actually consider the school board meeting to be the public hearing,” Younghans said.