The Dell Rapids School Board approved the proposed calendar for the 2016-2017 school year during their regular meeting on Monday, February 8th, but made a couple of changes to the calendar that was proposed.
“It’s very similar to last year,” said Superintendent Dr. Summer Schultz. “It’s gone through Superintendent’s cabinet. There were just a couple of areas that I wanted to make sure I got input on, and I got it. That was on the idea of spring break and the idea of in-service. Spring break is a tough one because April 14th and 17th is Easter. I asked a couple of choices.”
Dr. Schultz then presented the proposed calendar that had a start date of August 25th, Christmas break from December 22nd-January 4th, and a spring break March 23-24.
The board then had discussions regarding the scenario of a possible bad winter and having to continue school after Memorial Day to make up for snow days.
Another topic of conversation brought up around the calendar was taking days off for state tournaments. “I feel, this is just my recommendation, that for all sports, if students want to go and parents want to excuse them, that is fine. But it’s hard for me to justify, with a school of 1,000 kids almost, to shut down when any of our teams make it to the state tournament. There’s such a big chunk of kid that are not going to those. Staff that are not going. I’m not saying that in a negative way. It’s just that a majority of people don’t go. I would recommend we try moving forward that we don’t just have a mass cancellation,” said Dr. Schultz.
After discussions about snow days and taking days off for state tournaments, the school board made slight changes to the proposed calendar. They asked that the start of school be moved to August 24th, students come back from Christmas break on January 3rd, and instead of a four-day spring break in March, two back-to-back Fridays will be no-school days. The final day of school will be Tuesday, May 23rd. The day earlier start to school and the earlier day back from Christmas break allows for a couple of extra days for snow days without having to bring students back after Memorial Day.
The change from a four-day spring break weekend to two Fridays off of sch0ol in March is the compromise for no more days off of school for state tournaments. The two Fridays that will have no school are March 10th and March 17th with coincide with the girls and boys state tournaments. School will be in session on the Thursdays of the state tournament.
The school board approved the calendar with their suggested changes along with not taking any additional days off for state tournaments starting with the 2016-2017 school year. The vote passed 4-1 with Matthew Weiland voting nay.