Perryville School District moving to fewer school days

The school year will be shorter, but the days will be 15 minutes longer in the Perry County School District next year. And rather than 174 days, as was scheduled this year, there will be 169 during the 2014-2015 school year, superintendent Scott Ireland said.

The state requires schools to have 1,044 hours of school and bases funding on that.

"When we cut the days," Ireland said, "we were already over the 1,044 hours. We were at like 1,100 and something hours. We wanted to have at least that much time in the classroom when we lowered the amount of days. By doing the 15 minutes, we're actually increasing the amount of instructional time over the course of the year ..."

Snow days are separate from the required number of school days, Ireland said. "We'd have to make those up as we currently do," he said.

School will start Aug. 14 and end May 15. Ireland said the schedule was chosen from five calendar options proposed to district personnel.

Ireland said there are no data that correlate the number of days a student is educated to their performance.

"Their performance is based on the amount of quality instruction they receive. That's what we're focused on, is giving students a quality education," he added.

Budget and buses

A budget of about $22 million -- the same as this past year -- is being put together for the next fiscal year.

"We're going to have a flat budget because you never know what's happening in our Legislature. ... [The] safe bet is to plan for what we finished with," Ireland said. He added the district may receive more or less, but not significantly so.

Savings

Starting next fall, the Perry County district will begin a lease agreement with Midwest Bus Sales, based in Tonganoxie, Kansas, that could save the district an estimated $600,000 to $700,000, Ireland said.

Midwest Bus Sales bid $455,289 per year for five years. Ireland estimated other costs at $727,903 for a total of $1,183,192.

The estimated savings was the difference between the district's current contract with Meyer Bus Lines and the Midwest Bus Sales bid.

The pact with Midwest Bus Sales includes 41 buses equipped with three cameras each. Drivers will -- and are -- being hired by the district, Ireland said. A transportation director, Sarah Orf, and assistant transportation director, Melissa Hemmann, have been hired as well.

The package includes bus maintenance, and fuel will be included in the district's budget, set to be voted on by the board in June. Plans are to build a lot for the buses in back of the career center and to purchase a fuel tank to be kept on site, Ireland said. He said the district is having an architect, Glenn Brickhaus of Perryville, Missouri, design the bus facilities. The project will be put out for bids, and Ireland hopes it will be completed by Oct. 1.

Many of the Meyer Bus Lines drivers have applied for jobs with the district.

The transition was an emotional issue when the change was in process, Ireland said, but things have calmed down.

"We're making a big change from what people are used to," he said. "Now that we've made the decision, it's better."

The district transports 1,528 Perryville students. Ireland said the district has a proposal out to the parochial schools to transport those students, as well, but hasn't heard anything back yet.

Meyer Bus Lines transported parochial school students under the current contract, which expires next month.

With the savings, Ireland said, plans are to give raises to teachers and classified staff (office staff, maintenance, food services and noncertified teacher aides), put in a new road for parents to pick up and drop off students and purchase a new series of math textbooks.

The road will be off Schindler Road, which runs in front of Perryville Elementary School, Ireland said.

"That will take ... about 60 cars off that road in the afternoons and mornings, so that should alleviate the congestion and the possibility of accidents, because they line up on that whole road," he said. "That's been a concern in our district for a long time. The savings allow us to take care of that."

Teaching to achieve

On the subject of teachers, Ireland said the district wants to be as competitive as possible.

"We want to keep the quality teachers we have and ... recruit quality teachers ... and our salaries [are] pretty competitive now," he said.

The district has 207 certified teachers and 107 classified staff, which will rise by about 35 when all the bus drivers are hired.

A first-year teacher with a bachelor's degree will earn $31,300 a year in the fall, up slightly from the current $31,000 annual salary. Ireland said $300 was added to the base salary, and then teachers receive longevity and education steps for every eight hours of college credit earned beyond a bachelor's degree.

Classified staff moved up 10 cents an hour, he said.

The district plans to purchase a new series of math textbooks for $250,000 for grades kindergarten through 12. The textbooks were chosen by director of instruction and curriculum Linda Buerck and a committee of teachers, who began their work in October 2013 to see which books would fit best in the district. Their recommendation was made to Ireland, and he made a recommendation to the school board.

Buerck said in an email the district will be adopting the Pearson math program in grades six through 12 and the McGraw-Hill "My Math" series in grades kindergarten through fifth.

The order will be placed in the next few days with both vendors, and the materials are expected to arrive by the end of June.

"I have set up trainings for the teachers to familiarize them with the online tools and teacher resources included with each series," Buerck said in the email.

The books will align with Missouri's Common Core standards.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

388-3639

Pertinent address:

326 College St., Perryville, Missouri