Times Observer photo by Josh Cotton Warren County School District board member John Wortman, right, discusses a proposal to make the last day of next school year a half-day. Action on the question was tabled and will be discussed at a future committee meeting.

What should the Warren County School District do with the last day of school?

While the decision between a half-day for students and a full day might sound simple, the decision presents some significant challenges.

The issue was debated during Monday night’s school board meeting.

According to the draft calendar, the first day of the 2024-2025 school year is set for Tuesday, August 27.

The last day is set for Friday, June 6.

But there’s debate – and future dialogue planned – to define what that last day of school will look like.

Board member John Wortman has proposed that the school district go back to the tradition of the last day of school being a half day for students.

“I think that there’s probably a lot of work that also needs to be done from faculty and staff at the administrative level,” he said. “I think that having that time would probably provide some opportunities for (staff) to take care of some of those items without having students in the building.”

One of the concerns, though, is whether there will be a sufficient number of bus drivers to accommodate the change.

“Really, our drivers are super tight,” Transportation Manager Mike Kiehl said, telling the board there was a “day last week we didn’t have enough drivers to cover all the afternoon runs.”

He told the board that several drivers hold other jobs between their morning and afternoon bus runs, obviously complicating a shift to a half-day.

“That’s really concerning to me,” he said.

Kiehl also outlined that there are cost and safety issues to a half-day, as well.

“When we did do these in the past,” he said, the district did its best to communicate that to the community. “We’ve dropped kids off where there were no parents.”

Wortman said that “numerous school districts operate in a similar manner” and suggested that 16 months between now and June 2025 is “plenty of time to make proper communication with district families” and for transportation companies to make arrangements.

Superintendent Amy Stewart said that there are “certain things you can count on” when you operate a K-12 school district, like a kindergarten student falling asleep on the bus on the first day of school.

“It’s a given that there are a bunch of kids that don’t have a place to be” in the event of a half day, she said. “It is a hardship.

“Daycares will pivot… but there will be points of failure when we have half days,” she stressed. “It is definitely a challenge for us. We’ve done it. It’s not a fun play day for everybody…. It cuts both ways.”

Board member Kevin Lindvay said he’s not convinced a half-day is the “smartest thing to do” and made a motion, which was approved unanimously, to table the discussion to the next committee meeting.

“For planning purposes,” Board President Paul Mangione said, “we’re only talking about that last day of school. The rest of the schedule will remain intact.”

A couple other schedule-related issues were also discussed on Monday.

Lindvay asked about the order days are taken away in the event of snow days.

“The day near Memorial Day is always the first day taken,” Stewart said, explaining that the intent is to take the days in reverse order (from the end of the school year back) to ensure the district doesn’t run out of days to use.

Director of Administrative Support Services Gary Weber added that the order of days this year is impacted by testing schedules.

The calendar could also be impacted by a bill approved late last year that allows the district to count hours – 900 at the elementary level and 990 at the secondary level – instead of being beholden to the 180 day requirement.

The board approved on first reading a policy that would implement that change.

Stewart said it “kind of relieves the pressure” for reporting the number of school days.