Highland Community Schools locked in its calendar for 2022-23, but the timing of spring vacation days produced a lively discussion at the School Board’s regularly scheduled meeting Monday.

The first day for students was set for Tuesday, August 23. The school year will conclude Friday, May 26, 2023, for 88 in-school days.

The spring 2023 schedule includes five days off spread out over six weeks: Friday, March 3; Thursday and Friday, March 16 and 17; and Friday and Monday, April 7 and 10, over Easter weekend.

School Board Director Rachel Longbine wondered why the days off in the spring weren’t included in a one-week block instead of spread out over multiple weeks.

Superintendent Ken Crawford and Elementary School Principal Jane O’Leary said the teachers preferred days spread out and not put into one week.

“I think February and March are really tough on teachers,” O’Leary said.

Crawford said the spring schedule was organized so that the school year would end before Memorial Day. The 2022-23 spring calendar is nearly identical to this year, when schools will be off Thursday and Friday this week, and again April 15 and 18 over Easter weekend.

Days off in the fall include Friday, October 14, and November 23 and 25, the day before and after Thanksgiving.

Winter break begins Thursday, December 22. Classes resume Tuesday, January 3, 2023.

The proposed 2022-23 budget was presented to the board and a public hearing was set for the board’s next regular meeting April 11. The proposed property tax levy is 13.00436 per $1,000 of property. A $100,000 home, for example, would run about $1,300 in school taxes; a $200,000 home would be double that.

The tax levy, Crawford said, has decreased slightly in recent years.

“It’s gone down about a nickel each time,” he said.

The proposed tax asking is about $4.3 million. Another $6 million will come from federal and state resources, among others. Total spending is estimated at $12.2 million, including $6.1 million on instruction.

(The complete budget grid will be published in the March 24 edition of The News)

The board approved a bid of $1.097 million from Spectra Build of Wapello for a wastewater treatment system upgrade. Five bids for the project ranged up to $1.48 million and Spectra was the low bidder.

Crawford said work was expected to be completed by the start of the 2022-23 school year.

The cost will be helped by a $200,000 grant from the Washington County Riverboat Foundation.

The board also:

• Approved $1,000 Hero payments to more than 40 staffers, including 16 associates, seven cooks, three bus drivers and three custodians. The funds will be provided by the state through the American Rescue Plan Act’s Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) program.

• Approved a resolution covering the redemption of general obligation school bonds.

• Approved, on first and second readings, a number of updates on district policies.

• Appointed Cory Quail as head football coach and at-risk teacher, Julie Glesmann as Elementary School special education associate and Jacob Allen as school play sponsor.

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the board will be at 6 p.m. April 11. A work session is scheduled for March 28.