The Alabama Department of Education has released the public school system calendar for the 2012-2013 school year.

Earlier this year, the state legislature passed a law to make school start dates more uniform and to protect tourism dollars from shortened summer breaks.  It requires schools years to begin no sooner than August 20th and end no later than May 24th of each year

All public schools will start on August 20, 2012 and end between May 22 -24, 2013, but other holidays and breaks may fall on different dates within the various school systems.

The Houston County School System's school calendar is as follows:

• School starts:  August 20, 2012
• School ends: May 23, 2013
• Thanksgiving Break: November 21, 2012 - November 23, 2012
• Winter Break: December 21, 2013- January 1,2013
• Spring Break: March 25, 2013- March 29, 2013
• Labor Day:  September 3, 2012
• Veterans Day:  Novemb

Pertussis, or whooping cough, is a highly contagious and sometimes fatal bacterial disease which has increased alarmingly in the past decade. To help provide protection, all students 11 years of age and older entering the sixth grade in Alabama schools during the 2012-2013 school year are required to have a tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccine.

Students entering the seventh and eighth grades during the 2012-2013 school year who did not receive the Tdap vaccination during the 2011-2012 school year are required to have the vaccination.

All students including those 11 years of age or older entering the sixth, seventh and eighth grades are required to have an up-to-date certificate of immunization.

The Tdap vaccine helps to protect adolescents from pertussis which will prevent spreading the disease to family members, other students and school staff. The Tdap school requirement will go up by one higher grade each school year.

Troy University’s Wiregrass Math and Science Consortium has been selected by NASA to join a newly created alliance designed to provide professional development for educators.

The Aerospace Education Services Project (AESP) Professional Development Alliance, administered by Penn State University for NASA, consists of a select group of high-quality professional development providers working to improve education in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines.

Members of the alliance collaborate to provide local teacher training programs, providing educators with sustained access to NASA resources and assets.

Troy University is the only university in Alabama selected to be part of the program.