School Calendar Change, Higher Meal Prices Up for Consideration

A slightly shortened academic year and a higher price tag on school meals could be in store for students in the .

The Paulding County School Board at its meeting Tuesday morning will have a sizable agenda to tackle, with one item on it being a proposed change to the 2012-2013 school calendar. The board .

“If approved, we’ll be adding [to 2012-2013] a couple of additional days to Christmas break that were not on the original calendar that was presented and put on the web [after the February approval],” Associate Superintendent Brian Otott said. Currently, the 2012-2013 calendar has students going to classes until Thursday, Dec. 20, and returning to school Thursday, Jan. 3.

“It will basically, for the most part, model the calendar as far as the number of student days we had this year, at 178,” Otott added. “There will be some changes in the Christmas break which I think will be seen positively. [But] it really will be almost identical to the calendar we’re running this year.”

The amended calendar also would be similar to this year’s when it comes to teacher workdays—it would have five furlough days for teachers.

Board members will consider a recommendation to increase school meal prices. Before that, the board will hear from school nutrition officials the changes their department is having to enact and learn what other school districts are charging for their meals.

“There are a lot of changes going on in school nutrition, including the requirement for more fruits and vegetables, which are more expensive, larger serving sizes,” Otott said.

School expansion to begin soon?

The board also will consider a measure to approve a projected price for construction at Hiram Elementary. The scope of work set to take place there includes demolition of some of the existing buildings and the addition of facilities, which will ultimately lead to a capacity increase. Approval of the projected price would effectively be the board’s greenlighting of the project.

If approved, the project would get under way this summer, with crews working on the demolition of some portions of the school, relocation of mobile units on the property and preliminary site work.

“We couldn’t do anything at Hiram until the school year was over, because of course there are kids in those classrooms, but this would be the go-ahead to start the project,” Otott said. “This will be a project similar to Paulding County High School where you’re basically changing the entire look of the school and adding additional capacity for student growth.”

Hiram—the city, not the school—will be the subject of another board vote, as board members will consider giving the nod to intergovernmental agreements between the district and the cities of Hiram and Dallas to allow the cities to use school buses to transport children during their city-run summer camps. The district has to have an intergovernmental agreement so the cities can use the buses, but the cities will pay the district for the drivers.

Presentations to precede board action

State Rep. Howard Maxwell is slated to give board members a legislative update near the top of the board meeting.

Following Maxwell’s talk, Superintendent Cliff Cole will give an update on the school district’s budget, including a preliminary snapshot of revenues, expenditures and projected cuts.

High school to start lacrosse program

Board members during the meeting also will learn about North Paulding High School’s plan to start a junior varsity lacrosse program. It would be the district’s first foray into the sport.

Otott said the JV team would be open to freshmen through seniors, and the team would play other schools’ JV teams.

Follow the board’s action here

Dallas-Hiram Patch will bring you live coverage of tomorrow’s meeting when it gets under way at 8:30 a.m. We’ll bring you details of the meetings discussions and results of the votes as they happen.

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