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BEA School Board has choice of two 2024-25 calendars

By Chuck Hunt - Editor | Jan 21, 2024

Molly Eckhardt, in front, and Travis Armstrong presented two calendars to the board.

The Blue Earth Area School Board had a busy agenda for their January meeting held last Wednesday, Jan. 17.

One of the items was a look at two possible school calendars for the next school year, 2024-2025.

One of the calendars was very similar to the current year, with school starting for the high school on Tuesday, Sept. 3, the day after Labor Day, and on Thursday, Sept. 5, for grades K-7.

On that calendar the last day of school would be on Wednesday, June 4, and graduation would be held on Sunday, June 1.

However, a second proposed calendar had school starting before Labor Day, in August, and ending in May.

School would start on Monday, Aug. 26, for the high school and on Wednesday, Aug. 28 for K-7 students.

The last day of school would be Wednesday, May 28, two days after Memorial Day.

And, graduation would be on Sunday, May 25, the day before Memorial Day.

“We have had some comments in the past about school going into June,” sixth grade teacher Molly Eckhardt told the School Board members. “That is why we are looking at alternates.”

Eckhart is a member of the calendar committee. She and BEA activities director Travis Armstrong brought the proposed calendars to the board.

“We did a survey and found that it was split as to which calendar was preferred, with many saying they did not care which one was selected,” Eckhardt reported.

“We did a lot of study and had a lot of discussion about the two calendars,” Armstrong added. “We don’t think starting in August will affect things like fall sports.”

It was also felt that having graduation on Memorial Day weekend might actually be advantageous for some families, as it could be easier for out of town family members to get to graduation.

“Many people have graduation parties on Memorial Day weekend anyway,” one board member commented.

Superintendent Mandy Fletcher told the board that the presentation of the two calendars was for discussion only at that meeting.

“You will need to make a decision at our February board meeting,” she said. “You can talk to people and get input from families, parents and the community.”

She added that the school has already been getting some inquiries as to when school will start and end next year.

In other business at the meeting, the BEA board:

• Elected new officers for the year. All of the officers were re-elected.

Current board chair Sara Hauskins and board member Kyle Zierke were nominated for the board chair position, but Zierke declined the nomination and Hauskins was elected.

Zierke was elected vice chair, Stacey Beyer was elected as clerk and Jeff Eckles was elected treasurer.

All of the board committee assignments were left the same as the past year.

• Learned that the Facilities Committee had looked at construction management companies to assist Blue Earth Area in their plans for future construction or building improvements.

They have chosen Kraus-Anderson to work with, superintendent Fletcher said.

• The board also heard a report from the BEA Foundation Committee which included information on the Maroon and Gold Gala, which raised $41,000.

At a recent foundation meeting, $11,000 in grants were awarded.

• Approved a resolution directing the administration to make recommendations for reductions in programs and positions.

“This is something that needs to be done annually at this time,” superintendent Fletcher said. “Whether we make any reductions or not.”

• Approved the annual Pay Equity Report after first hearing a report from Fiscal Services director Allan Wilhelmi.

• Approved several personnel changes, including a resignation of evaluation specialist LeAnn Boettcher, effective June 6. Boettcher had retired in 2017 and came back to help out. She was thanked for her 37 years with the district.

Phy Ed/health teacher Brenda Smith’s retirement as of June 6 was also approved and she was thanked for her 36 years with the district.

Other personnel matters included a new hire of Cameryn Kidder as a paraprofessional for Begindergarten, a lane change for Title I teacher Gianni Alm and a maternity leave request for Kindergarten teacher Samantha Landsteiner.