(By Matt Pedigo, The Citizen-Times, January 18, 2018, Used with permission)
Meeting Monday, January 15, in its first regular session of 2018, the Allen County Board of Education approved next year’s proposed school calendar.
Director of Pupil Personnel Garry DeWitt presented the proposed 2018-2019 school year calendar, which sets Thursday, Aug. 9 as the first day of school for students and October 1-5 for Fall Break. School would be out for Thanksgiving on Wednesday through Friday, Nov. 21-23, and for Labor Day on Monday, Sept. 3.
The Christmas Break will be Monday, Dec. 17 through Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2019, with school resuming on January 2. In that, however, Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 17-18, are listed as make-up days should school see fall semester closures for early snow or illnesses.
In the spring 2019 semester, holidays include Monday, Jan. 21 for Martin Luther King Day, Spring Break as Monday through Friday, Apr. 1-5, and the last day of school for students—barring makeup days for snow or illness—as Thursday, May 23. Should make-up days cause school to continue beyond that day, schools would close for Memorial Day, Monday, May 27, with makeup days scheduled for weekdays from Tuesday, May 28 through Thursday, June 13.
Over the course of the year, school would also be out periodically for teacher professional development days, which are all on Mondays and set for the following dates: September 24, October 22, November 12 and February 18.
Altogether, the school year as drafted would be 174 instructional days.
The board gave it unanimous first-reading approval. A second reading, making the calendar official, is set for the board’s Monday, Feb. 12 session.
In other business:
The board heard statistics from the District’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Report for the 2016-2017 school year from Food Service Director Robin Herrington.
That school year reflected a student enrollment of 3,088. In that year, all schools except Allen County-Scottsville High School were enrolled in the US Department of Agriculture’s Community Eligibility Program, or CEP, which in essence provides free breakfasts and lunches for all students. (Faculty must still pay, and students pay for second helpings.)
With only AC-S being full-pay, cash receipts were down to $233,386. Herrington noted that AC-S was added to CEP this school year, so that will change in the next report.
Federal reimbursements totaled $1,632,476, and state matching funds totaled $18,204. Labor costs totaled $743,500, and food costs totaled $782,235.
“We buy high-quality products, like fruits and vegetables,” Herrington said.
Equipment and repair costs totaled $35,415. Herrington said the service had made some purchases, including a new milk cooler and a pass-through refrigerator.
For the year, a total of 283,075 student breakfasts were served and 424,132 student lunches. The daily average participation was 1,626 breakfasts and 2,438 lunches. District-wide, lunch participation was about 85 percent, Herrington said.
“Breakfast participation is increasing,” she added. “We’ve been looking at ways to improve that; we’ve added parfaits and smoothies.”
Nutrient analysis mirrored the previous school year’s: 632 calories per meal for grades kindergarten through eighth, with the target range being 600 to 650; and 759 calories for high school students, with the target range being 750 to 800. The target goal for saturated fats for the K-8 group was anything less than 10 percent; the actual number came in at 7.43 percent and 8.77 percent for high school students.
In terms of physical activity, no school provided 150 minutes of physical education per week, but elementary and middle school levels did provide daily recess, and all schools offered facilities, intramural and extracurricular physical activities.
•The board voted to approve receiving $7,798 from the Kentucky School Facilities Construction Committee, a move that can leverage up to $110,000 in additional bonding potential should the District need it.
•The board unanimously elected its officers for the 2018 calendar year. Justin Marsh remains as chairman, as does Al Barman as vice chairman.
•As the last payments on the renovation process for James E. Bazzell Middle School wind down, the board approved a pay request for $64,256.44.