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School Board Approves ’11-’12 Calendar; Summer Breakfast/Lunch Program; Summer Fees

Posted on Mar. 9th, 2010

Posted by Peter Solie
GardnerEDGE

USD231 Board of Education Offices

The USD231 School Board on Monday evening approved the school calendar for the 2011-12 school year. Highlights of the approved calendar are as follows:

• The first day of school in 2011 will be Thursday, August 11th.
• No School 1:00 p.m. Friday, October 7th through Friday, October 14th
• Thanksgiving Vacation: Wednesday, November 23rd – Friday, November 25th
• Christmas Vacation – Thursday, December 22nd – Wednesday, January 4th
• No School 1:00 p.m. Wednesday, February 15th through Monday, February 20th
• Spring Break – Friday, March 16th through Friday, March 23rd
• Last Day of School if no snow days are used – Monday, May 21st

Teachers will be working on many of the stated vacation days and parents should make themselves available for Parent/Teacher conferences during the October and February vacation periods.

At the bottom of the approved calendar it states, “The board reserves the right to alter the calendar to take into consideration weather conditions or other unforeseen circumstances.”

Eric Hansen, Director of Business and Finance for the district presented a plan for summer food service at Gardner Elementary School. The Board approved a plan to offer free breakfast and/or lunch to any child age 1 – 18. Participating children do not need to be USD231 students. The program at Gardner Elementary School will run from the first week of June to the last week of July this summer.

Mr. Hansen has been working with several stakeholders within the district and other groups such as Johnson County Park and Recreation, Gardner Park and Recreation, Johnson County Libraries, etc. to ensure the food service plan will coordinate with summer school activities, as well as, events and activities taking place outside of school.

The Summer Food Service program is paid for with funding from the Federal Government. Summer Food Service has not been offered in the past, because USD231 was not eligible. This year, however, over 50% of the students attending Gardner Elementary School are eligible for free or reduced school lunch and as a result, the Summer Food Service program will be available to any that wish to utilize it this summer. It is anticipated that the Federal Government funding will pay for all costs associated with this program.

In other news, Dr. Douglas Sumner reported to the Board that “It is a buyers market” when referring to job fairs and interviews in which he and his staff have participated. With many other districts laying off staff there are few districts that are hiring this year. According to documents distributed at tonight’s work session, USD231 anticipates 217 new students next year. Accordingly, they are projecting an increase of 22 certified teachers next year. Eric Hansen delivered an extensive review of budget cuts that have occurred earlier this year and future cuts that are being considered during the work session preceding the Board Meeting. GardnerEDGE will have a more detailed report on Mr. Hansen’s report tomorrow.

Finally, the Board approved the following Summer Session fee structure:
• K-4 Summer School at Gardner Elementary $120 (an increase)
• 5-8 Summer School at Wheatridge Middle School $120 (an increase)
• 2-8 Enrichment Summer School at Wheatridge Middle School $120 (an increase)
• GEHS Credit Recovery $165 (no change)
• GEHS Driver’s Education $265 (no change)

The proposed fee increases from $100 to $120 at the K-8 level reflect the cost of summer school programming. In 2009 the K-8 summer school programs collected just over $6,000 less than the expenses of the program. The GEHS programming collected approximately the same amount as expenses. The $20 increase at the K-8 level for summer school will put the program at a break-even point. According to Dr. Christy Ziegler, Director of Educational Services, “Students qualifying for fee assistance would pay a reduced rate or attend at no cost depending on their level of qualification.”

The next USD231 Board Meeting will be April 5, 2010 at 6:00 p.m.

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Finally a Fall Break wrote on 3/9/2010 6:13 am

I'm glad to see a fall break - I am hoping that this is combining the many days between late September and throughout October that we see every year. It will be better for parents to plan for a whole week than a day here and there.

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