The District 202 Board of Education approved the 2019-2020 school calendar at last night’s board meeting.
The first day of school will start August 21st, with the final scheduled day being May 21st, assuming that the five emergency days at the end of the year are not being used.
The calendar also features four Act of God Days, which could also come into play if the weather next school year is similar to this year.
Superintendent Steve Wilder indicated that there may be some changes on the horizon as far as school days go.
“There’s legislation pending in Springfield right now about the five-hour instructional day. [It] looks like that’s going to go through and there have been a couple of amendments to the proposal,” Wilder told the school board. “My best guess is that the five-hour instructional day will be reinstated before the 2019-2020 school year.”
Wilder believed that there would be amendments to allow schools to utilize e-learning days and some work to allow flexibility for students who are taking vocational and dual credit courses.
Board members also approved the bus lease bids for the coming school year. Central States Bus Sales was the only bid but according to Wilder, the cost was inline to where administrators thought they would be for next year. Wilder even went as far as to say that in his time at the district, Central States was the best company they’d worked with “by far.” The cost to the district is $15,883.19 per bus.
Additionally, board members approved a three-year agreement with Mid-Century Communications for internet service for the district. Wilder said that the contract would begin July 1st and have increased bandwidth over their current provider. The cost would be $1,200 a month. Wilder says that the costs would go down by 60 percent with the E-Rate grant.
