Board approves option 1 school calendar

by Joseph Back

in 4

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3 vote

Meeting Monday, Feb. 20 in the high school library, the school board tackled many topics. And while CESA 10 failed to show for an update on future construction planning amidst snow and icy roads, that didn’t mean thew subject of upcoming projects was left out in the cold.

Heading up agenda item 3.2 was the remodeling project update, given by district superintendent Jeff Koenig.

“As you know, we have several projects going on this summer,” he said, mentioning the bus loop, middle school locker room remodel into bathrooms, and security doors installed throughout the building. “We actually had Roehm construction start today,” he said, mentioning demo work in the middle school locker rooms. With asbestos present in some of the drywall and other materials, abatement will take place during spring break in those areas.

“The back bus loop has been moving along quite well, he went on,” saying the district was having a slight problem with the location of power poles and was working with Excel Energy on the issue.

More specifically, one of the poles is out of line with the others, meaning that a possible solution would be to either plant a new pole to replace the one out of line.

As to the security doors, Koenig said the district had been working with Tru Lock (expected on Wednesday) to look into having panic buttons in each office to lock down the school at a moment’s notice should the need arise.

Following Koenig’s brief update the board asked questions, with Lance Carlson asking if the bus loop work might not be a good solution. Koenig said the district had received “strong feedback” from parents in favor of the current flow as opposed to when bus traffic was in front. As to whether things were made harder for the littler kids by the arrangement, elementary principal Dean Lew explained they had help.

“They’re just walking up there,” he said, saying that they had little groups to help the kids get used to the building.

As to other board business, the board voted to approve option 1 for the 2023 -24 school calendar by a 4 – 3 vote, with Denise Hofstatter, Ryan Lewallen, and Becky Peterson voting against it. Option 1 calls for a first student day of Monday, Aug.14th this fall, with the first trimester ending on Nov. l 7 and the second on Feb. 14, students last day being May 10.Spring Break will run from March 25 to March 29 under the plan. So why the three ‘no’ votes as to Option 1?

“I just talked to a lot of teachers and having a more substantial break later in the year is something that’s important to them,” Lewallen offered as one possibility.

As to those calendars not chosen, Option 2 called for a students to report to school Aug. 14 with the last day on May 10, while Option 3 called for students to start Aug. 17 and attend until May 24.

As to teacher requirements, Option 1 makes October and April the most labor intensive, with 22 teacher days in store, while May has only 8. Option 2 shares the 22 teacher days in October and April while May has 12 teacher days. Option 3 has teachers working 17 days in May, while students attend for 16, weekends making up the remainder. All three calendars have the Wednesday schedule built in, and all three require 188 teacher days, while students will attend a total of 178 under the approved calendar.

As to potential building and construction plans, the school board next meets for a board conversation March 20, at 6:30 p.m. CESA 10, is expected to be there, in relation to construction planning for a gym the board is looking into, alongside its other projects.

The school board will meet March 20 in board conversation to discuss construction planning for a possible gym, the matter still exploratory at present, no firm plans being made.Stanley-Boyd Schools Photo.