The Atlantic Community School District’s Board of Education will meet this (Wednesday) evening at 5:30, in the High School Media Center. Discussion items on their agenda include: the 2018-19 School Calendar, Driver’s Education Services, Summer 2018 Capital Projects/request for bids, and facility planning. With regard to the Calendar, a committee was formed and two calendars were provided to staff in each of the District’s buildings, for feedback. Given that the first allowable start date is Aug. 23rd, 2018, the final day for school using the current calendar would be the Friday before Memorial Day. School officials say 20 instructional hours were missed due the weather to date, with total being 1,073. This year, the district will add the 25th as a student day, and other small tweaks to the calendar to meet the requirement. Any additional weather delays will result in the make-up of additional instructional hours.

The 2018-19 School Calendar would be different from 2017-18, in that First Semester will have students in school on Dec. 21st. Last year, they did not have school on the Friday before break. The committee thought having Martin Luther King as a professional development day, was too close to the extended break. They agreed President’s Day would be a better time for Prof. Development. The calendar discussion will also include moving spring conferences to later in the school year, or make sure the P/T Conference is the only activity on two evenings. District staff were split 50-50 with regard to changing the week-long break to an extended break around the time of Easter. By doing that, officials say they were able to increase the number of instructional hours in the schedule to create more flexibility with the hours.

Action items this evening include approval of Resolutions pertaining to: the 2018-19 Budget Guarantee, in the amount of $217,766; 2018-19 Board-Approved PPEL in the amount of $152,452, or .33-cents per thousand dollars assessed valuation, and, a 2018-19 Fund Transfer of $8,000, from General to Activity, for Protective Equipment. The Board will also act on the resignation of Emma Bireline as Head Varsity Volleyball Coach, and approve a contract/Letter of Assignment with Kelly Simonton, District Maintenance.