JACKSON'S SCHOOL BOARD OKs 1992-93 CALENDAR

JACKSON - The Jackson School District has decided to take an agricultural exemption and will begin the 1992-93 school year on Aug. 26.

Under a state law passed several years ago, school districts must meet certain criteria if they want to begin school before Labor Day.

The opening day of school will be preceded by a two-day teacher workshop on Aug. 24-25, according to the school calendar adopted Monday by the Jackson School Board.

School Superintendent Wayne Maupin told the board the new calendar "is a little bit different than calendars you've had in the past. It reflects input from the administration, the Community Teacher's Association executive committee, and the professional development committee. This calendar is the best for our students."

Maupin said there will be 176 days of student attendance with four "snow days" built in for bad weather. The calendar contains 185 days for staff pay purposes, including 176 teaching days, two work-shop days at the start of school, one professional development day in mid-term, one parent-teacher conference day, one end-of-school workshop day, and four paid holidays.

The calendar calls for classes to be dismissed on Labor Day, Sept. 7, Nov. 12-13 for parent-teacher conferences, and Nov. 26-27 for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

The Christmas vacation begins Dec. 23 and ends Jan. 4, 1993 when students return to their classrooms.

There is no school on Jan. 18, which is a Teacher Professional Development Day. Classes will also be dismissed on Presidents' Day, Feb. 15, 1993, and on March 12, for the district teacher's meeting.

The spring break is April 9-12. "We've kept the spring break in the calendar at the request of the CTA executive committee because the second semester gets to be a pretty long haul," said Maupin. "It's nice to have a break or two in the second semester, and this assures there will be a break in the middle part of the second semester."

Maupin said the tentative last day of school will be May 27, 1993. The actual date will depend on how many days of school are actually missed during the year.

In other business, Maupin told the board the administration and the CTA are working on a proposed procedure or policy to recognize teachers who retire from the Jackson School system. He said additional information will be available later this spring.

The board voted to cancel its Feb. 25 meeting.