CHANGE OF PLANS: Due to the onslaught of rain making the lake cranky and inhospitable, our Polar Plunge event will now be a block party on the SGHS parking lot from noon to 2 p.m. tomorrow! Attendees should still bring their registration paperwork and luau outfits, and the food trucks will be there! Recap: Partying, No Plunging. We’ll see you there!

Bloomsdale Elementary Construction Progress:

• The district held a groundbreaking on Feb. 9 to celebrate the start of construction at Bloomsdale Elementary, the first of several Prop SG groundbreaking events. In attendance were students, families, faculty and staff, facility committee members, Prop SG Campaign Committee members, campaign donors, Board of Education members, community leaders, business owners, elected representatives, Brockmiller Construction, Inc., and KRJ Architects. Students led the attendees in the Pledge of Allegiance before helping the Board of Education members count down to turn a shovel of dirt! Students then had the opportunity to pick up a shovel and move some dirt themselves.
• A rendering of the new addition can be seen here. This project is a new secure main entrance that will be composed of an approximately 1500 sq. foot addition. This would allow the school office to securely welcome visitors and route them either into the office space or into the building. This space will include the double-gated entry, offices, a work space and a restroom. The existing spaces where the offices are currently located will be renovated. Bloomsdale Elementary’s project is the first of the Prop SG projects to undergo construction, with the hope of being completed before school begins in the fall.
• Construction work is moving along, with a crew having poured concrete this past week.

Other Prop SG Projects:

• District administration meets at least every two weeks for updates with the construction manager at-risk and architects to discuss progress.
• The Early Childhood Committee launched this week, with a purpose of determining specifics related to the Center’s development, including building plan and design, reorganization of current early childhood programs, before and after school childcare, extended school year, and more. See the most recent building layout here. Geotech has been out to the site where the Center will be built, which will determine where the building will be positioned. This committee group plans to tour two established Early Childhood Centers at the end of March to observe the spaces and programming.
• Due to an increase in material costs, along with unforeseen site challenges, the district is currently working with Brockmiller Construction and KRJ Architects to reorganize the timeline for all Prop SG projects, and will have more information soon.

Board members approved the 2023-2024 District Calendar. Annually, faculty and staff are encouraged to provide input on the calendar via a survey. Comments and suggestions from the survey are taken to the SG R-II Calendar Committee for consideration as they work to create a final draft. A recommendation is sent to the Board for review and approval. Deputy Superintendent Dr. Taylor shared an overview of the calendar:

Dead Period: July 29 - Aug. 6, 2023 (Board Approved Aug. 30, 2022)

New Teacher PD Days: Aug. 7- 9, 2023

First Day of School: Monday, Aug. 21, 2023

Teacher & Para PD Day: Monday, Oct. 2, 2023 (The PD day traditionally held the Friday prior to the Labor Day Holiday has been moved to October.)

Parent Teacher Conference: Early Dismissal at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023

Veterans Day: No School on Friday, Nov. 10, 2023

Thanksgiving Break: Early Dismissal at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023

Class Resume: Monday, Nov. 27, 2023

End of First Semester: Early Dismissal at 1 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 22, 2023 (Moving the half-day to Friday gives us the two full weeks for Winter Break and also encompasses three full weekends in that time.)

Winter Break: Two Full Weeks

Classes Resume and Second Semester Begins: Monday, Jan. 8, 2024

River PD Event: Friday, Feb. 16, 2024 (SG R-II hosts Herculaneum, Jefferson R-VII and Windsor.)

Presidents Day: Monday, Feb. 19, 2024

All Employees PD Day: Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024

Spring Break: First week-long Spring Break beginning Friday, March 29, 2024

Eclipse: No classes on Monday, April 8, 2024

Classes Resume: Tuesday, April 9, 2024

Last Day of School: Tuesday, May 21, 2024

Last Teacher PD Day: Wednesday, May 22, 2024

Graduation: Saturday, May 18, 2024, at 8 p.m.

Scheduled Make-Up Days: May 22 - 29, 2024. This year, the first two inclement weather days will be snow days and the next five inclement weather days will be AMI days before returning to snow days.

Students’ Last Potential Make-Up Day: Wednesday, May 29, 2024

Employee Make-Up Days: There are also potential make-up contracted days for employees added at the end of the year, due to inclement weather.

Semester Balance: There is a balance of 84 days first semester / 86 days second semester.

Student Hours: 1,097.0 total hours of student attendance. The state minimum is 1,044.

Board Briefs: Check out the Board Briefs from the Feb. 21, 2023 Board of Education Regular Meeting here! This unofficial document includes more context and details than our official Board News. All Board documents, such as the Board News, the presentation and these Board Briefs, are located here, and on the “Board of Education” page of our district's website.

Open Enrollment: HB 253, SB 81 and SB 5

At its Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023 Regular Meeting, the Board of Education adopted a resolution to oppose any legislation providing for open enrollment in Missouri public schools of non-resident students. Currently, the Missouri Senate and Missouri House each have a bill regarding Open Enrollment. The Missouri Association of Rural Education (MARE) crafted a resolution and requested that school districts put this document to their boards of education for consideration.

District administration and Board of Education pointed out just a few of the negative consequences of open enrollment on public school districts:

• Districts can pick and choose which students to accept, which leads to inequities. For example, districts do not have to accept students with special needs. Some students from lower socio-economic families would not have access, as travel without provided transportation could be impossible.
• With state funds following the students, the allocation of resources for districts would leave smaller school districts struggling to survive, while leaving larger districts with continual unexpected budgetary guesswork and fluctuations.
• Communities who have a history of supporting their schools lose some incentive to support and vote for their local public schools’ bonds and elections if families are sending their children to another school district outside of their communities.
• The relationships and collaboration between school districts would change, as there would be a level of competition for students. There would result in a shift in culture, where initiatives and programming that best benefits students are no longer shared.

Capitol Visit:

District administration and Board members plan to visit the Capitol in March to oppose bills that could negatively affect our schools. The Board strongly urges families and community members to reach out to our local legislators to share our concerns about these bills:

• Representative Rick Francis: 573-751-5912, Rick.Francis@house.mo.gov
• Senator Elaine Gannon: 573-751-4008, Elaine.Gannon@senate.mo.gov