School Board approves 2022- 23 academic year calendar with stipulation on PD day

Are you a teacher at Stanley-Boyd, or parent of a student there?

Here’s some good news: there’s a calendar for next year! Acting at the January School Board meeting, the representatives of the Stanley- Boyd School District voted to approve a calendar for the 2022-23 academic school year, to begin Friday August 18 with a stipulation of further discussion on a floating Professional Development (PD) day August 17, after it was CHANGE TO MIND

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revealed by one board member that teachers didn’t take such days lightly.

“I have a wife who’s a teacher and a daughter who’s a teacher,” board member Chad Verbeten shared January 24. “I don’t think either of them under any circumstances would give up a floating PD day before school starts.”

In other words, tread lightly. Verbeten also shared that he thought it might be time for the board to review how it compensated teachers, and not necessarily monetarily. Teachers put a lot into the job by arriving early and other ways, and the district should look into how it could recognize that commitment, Verbeten said.

Later voting to renew a cap on special ed seats in the district as it related to Open Enrollment from outside, the January School Board meeting earlier saw an appearance by High School Counselor Brennan Schrader, who had come to talk about a prospective program named ‘Brining Change to Mind,’ aimed at doing away with the Stigma surrounding mental health issues.

The program, which was approved at the January meeting, calls for a student-led group in which teens would have a platform to raise awareness around mental health “and create a culture of peer support within schools,” it was related to the school board members by Schrader.

While not designed to make students mental health experts, substitute for counseling or be group therapy, the program includes a free subscription to the Headspace App, which uses mindfulness to help manage stress, improve focus, and encourage better sleeping patterns. Designed for those students who might be interested in learning more about mental health and how to decrease the stigma which surrounds it, Bringing Change to Mind would meet one to two times per month at the school, with more information available at Bringingchange2mind. org.

Mental Health, meanwhile, is the second leading cause of death of those ages 10 – 24, making the issue of particular salience to those of school and college age. The program was approved with a motion from Chad Verbeten, seconded by Denise Hoffstatter.

Also covered at the January School Board meeting, meanwhile, was the date of Easter, otherwise used to as a proxy to calculate Spring Break, if unofficially. The earliest Easter ever is, is the last weekend in March,” Verbeten shared of the Western dating schema. There was another question though, long term.

“Teaching is going to become like a free market,” one board memebr said. “How are we going to keep our teachers?”

That could be a question worth looking into.

Bob Seidl (left) and Kayleigh Steinmetz were among those faculty present at the Janaury school board meeting. Photo by Joseph Back.