School calendar for ‘21-22 gets school board nod

    With a few changes here and there, school board members gave their okay to the 2021-22 calendar for Chase County Schools.
    Action on the calendar was part of Tuesday’s board meeting, which also included purchase of chromebooks using COVID relief dollars.
    Supt. Adam Lambert reviewed the changes to next year’s calendar, which include a full two-week Christmas break for students and staff and trading the one-day winter break for a two-day spring break in March.
    The holiday break will run Dec. 20-31. Teachers will return on Jan. 3 for inservice and students will be back in class on  Jan. 4, 2022.
    The spring break March 10-11, 2022 will be followed by a Monday, March 14 teacher in-service, giving students a five-day weekend.
    The calendar eliminates the full day off on Wednesday before Thanksgiving, but has a 1:30 p.m. early out on Nov. 24, followed by the two-day Thanksgiving break.
    High school graduation will be celebrated Saturday, May 14. A suggestion from board members will be added to the calendar, specifying the last day of attendance for seniors on Friday, May 13.
    The last day of ‘21-22 classes for K-11 is Friday, May 20, with teacher inservice on May 23-24.
    Prior to the start of school this fall, teachers will be at school Aug. 16-17 for “preservice days” with school starting Wednesday, Aug. 18.
    Supt. Lambert said the calendar includes 185 contracted teacher days and 172 student attendance days.
New chromebooks
    Money being funneled from the federal government to states, known as the GEER Fund, is available to schools as COVID-19 relief, according to Supt. Lambert.
    He told board members he applied for funds for new chromebooks for incoming freshman this fall, and presented two bids for purchase.
    GEER stands for Governor’s Emergency Education Relief, and is part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding.
    The superintendent said the money can be used to purchase computers, and he applied for funds to pay for both the new chromebooks being used by freshmen this year, as well as the freshmen expected to be enrolled this fall.
    The board accepted the bid of $18,183.60 for 60 chromebooks ($278.06 each) from the Sterling company in No. Sioux City, South Dakota.
    Also submitting a bid was Trafera of St. Paul, Minnesota at $18,840.
    More on Tuesday’s meeting will follow in a story in next week’s issue.