Proposed ’18-19 calendar, Friday Commencement are discussed

     A calendar for the 2018-19 school year was discussed at length during the monthly work session of the Monticello School Board Wednesday, Jan. 10.

     Changes to the proposed calendar, including the possibility of moving Commencement from its traditional Sunday slot to the Friday night of Memorial Day weekend, were considered. As it was a work session, no voting or decisions were made.

     The calendar was formed by the district’s 10-person Calendar Committee. Included are a winter break for students that runs from Dec. 24 through Jan. 2, 2019. Spring break would be March 18-22, 2019, to align with the spring break of Kirkwood Community College. Prom would be moved to May 4, to avoid the Drake Relays, the state track meet, Mother’s Day and Easter weekend.

     The end of the calendar came under discussion when board president Bud Johnson questioned why there are two days of classes after Memorial Day, and whether those could be inserted into other spots on the calendar.

     Districts cannot, by law, start a school year prior to Aug. 23, and that date falls on a Thursday in 2018, so the proposed calendar has May 29 – two days after Memorial Day – as the final day of classes.

     Solutions, Superintendent Brian Jaeger said, could be to eliminate the no-school day on the day before Thanksgiving, and to move one of the seven professional development days to a date before classes begin. The problem is that no snow days are built into the calendar, so if any occur, students would need to have class days after Memorial Day anyway.

     As for Commencement, the idea of moving it to a Friday night was discussed, with the idea of freeing up the rest of Memorial Day weekend for those who attend. Such a change, if approved, wouldn’t take place until the Commencement of 2019.    

In other school board business

     • The board heard a report from Superintendent Jaeger about the $83,500 improvement project for the high school gym, scheduled to begin the week of May 28.

     The project includes painting the ceiling and walls, which will include painting over the Panther mural on the north wall of the gym; upgrading to LED lighting, replacing the scoreboards and wall pads, and re-doing the gym floor.

     The Monticello Athletic Boosters plan to contribute $17,500 to the cost of the scoreboards. The district will spend $70,000, and any leftover funds will be spent on upgrading the trophy cases at the high school.

     • Jaeger offered a report on the Iowa School Report Card, an Iowa Department of Education initiative that measures a school district’s performance in eight categories.

     Those include proficiency in reading and math, college and career-ready growth, annual expected growth, closing the achievement gap, college and career readiness, graduation rate, attendance, and staff retention.

     The systems assigns the ratings of exceptional, high-performing, commendable, acceptable, needs improvement, and priority.

     Monticello’s district was rated as acceptable at Carpenter Elementary and the middle school, and commendable at the high school. No rating was assigned to Shannon Elementary because students in grades K-1 don’t take Iowa assessments.

     • The board heard a report from Angie Kurt-Sconsa about the Transition Alliance Program (TAP).

     The program is an alliance between the Monticello and Midland school districts, and Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation services. Kurt-Sconsa works with disabled students with the goal of helping them gain employment.

     She offers counseling on opportunities, career exploration, workplace readiness training and more, working to help students with job-seeking skills and on-the-job training opportunities.