Law, calendar enable school year to end June 1

   Students, families and teachers who are giddy over the news that the last day of school for Monticello will be June 1, instead of June 8, can thank the following:

   • An Iowa state law, passed in 2014, that school years are to be counted by total classroom hours, not days.

   • The Monticello Community School District’s 2022-23 calendar, which included extra hours above the required number of 1,080 in the event of weather-related closings or delays.

   The district has had six snow days this school year, as well as a number of late starts and early-outs. Adding six days to the end of the calendar would have meant the last day of school would be June 8.

   But because of the extra scheduled hours, Monticello’s district found itself fewer than four hours shy of the requirement, so it can make those up in one day, even with an early dismissal.

   Superintendent Brian Jaeger recommended to the Monticello School Board at its April 24 meeting that it approve a June 1 last day, with a 1 p.m. dismissal.

   “As you take all the hours and put them together, the total number comes to 1,077.45,” Jaeger told the board. “We had padded our hours a little bit going into the calendar. What I’d like to recommend is, rather than putting six days on the calendar, to ask the kids to come back on June 1, and that would be the last student day.”

   The board unanimously passed it.

   In his weekly video, Jaeger expanded on the change.

   “I think it’s good for two things,” he said. “One, now that that’s been decided, our teachers can finalize their curriculum and planning for the next month, and make sure we get through everything we need to by the last day of school.

   “And for our families and our kids, it is very hard to go to school in June. So if we only have to make up one school day, I think that’s a pretty good situation.”

   Staff members will need to come in for one additional day, June 2, to fulfill their contract requirements.