After much discussion, and plenty of e-mails filling up the inboxes of school officials, the Hamilton Southeastern School Board voted unanimously to approve calendars for the next three school years.
Board member talked about the two options for school year 2023-2024 and opted for students to report for the first day of school on Wednesday, August 9th. The school year would end after Memorial Day in 2024, with the last day of classes Wednesday, May 29th. The only way to end the school year prior to Memorial Day would be to start classes a week earlier, August 3rd. The board looked at removing two flex days in the calendar, but without flex days, snow days would require class days after Memorial Day anyway.
Here are links to the three calendars approved by the board Wednesday night:
–2023-2024
–2024-2025
In other school board meeting news:
–The board approved a general obligation bond for building maintenance on several facilities totalling about $26 million. HSE CFO Katy Downing told the board no tax rate increase will be required to fund this work.
–A three year building lease was approved for the high school academy.
–School bus driver trainees will now be paid $19.50 per hour.
–Director of Educational Technology Jeff Harrison briefed the board on plans to switch from Skylert to a new system already utilized by several school districts in our area, ParentSquare.
–Juneteenth is now a paid holiday for HSE workers. Even though school is not in session on the date of Juneteenth, it will be a holiday for school district employees, including custodians, maintenance, mechanics, building techs, high school treasurers, and full-time central office staff. As of today, this would include 147 HSE Schools staff members.
–There was some discussion about when to approve textbook and resource changes, giving parents an opportunity to review the resources. The board is looking at having a vote in May, at a special meeting or part of already scheduled work sessions, providing time for ordering the resources for the coming school year.
–A school choral group , Fishers Sound, has won every competition it has entered in 2022. The choir is led by Therese Tazioli, and was honored by the board as part of the Snapshots of Success series.