During the regular school board meeting held on Monday, March 10th, Superintendent Summer Schultz presented the board with results of a parent, staff, and student survey on school start date. The survey was made available between February 27th and March 9th. 315 responses were received from survey takers logged in as Dell Rapids Public and 65 logged in as Dell Rapids St Mary. About 80% of total survey takers were parents.
The results of the survey that Schultz handed out showed parents were in favor of a later start date, and the high school students showed a preference for the first semester to end before Christmas break. However, ending the first semester before Christmas break would not be possible with the first day of school starting later in the fall. The entire discussion about the school calendar can be seen on the archived video located on the Webcasts page. The discussion starts at the 31:50 mark and ends at the 1:04:39 mark on the video titled DRHS School Board 3-10-14.
The survey results were were also presented to the Superintendent’s cabinet. Schultz has put together three draft versions of the FY2015 school calendar that will be considered by the school board during a special meeting that will be held on Monday, March 17th, at 7:00 p.m. in the HS/MS DDN Room. The three versions of the proposed calendar can be viewed by clicking the links.