CENTRAL LEE NEWS

Central Lee mulls 2025-26 calendar

Board cringes at possible June 1 end date

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DONNELLSON – For the first time in almost a decade, the Central Lee school district could be looking at the school year for 2025-26 ending in the month of June - just barely.
Superintendent Dr. Andy Crozier said the district calendar pushes the school year into June  2026 following a calendar committee meeting held Monday night.
“In 2026 our last day is June 1, Nobody loves that and we’ve sliced it a lot of different ways. We’ll probably get a couple snow days no matter what,” he said.
The following year the school year regresses back into May, but this year the district is challenged to find where to save days knowing that snow days will probably occur.
“The 2026-27 calendar lines up pretty normal and we get out May 26 before Memorial Day so it’s pretty good,” Crozier said at Tuesday morning’s regular school board meeting.
“But this one we’re not sure where we can find days to get us out before June 1. With the start date being pushed back to Aug. 23 due to a Saturday, we lose two days. Thanksgiving is very late. One option is to have school on Dec. 22 and 23rd but nobody’s going to like that. So if you want to go to school those days and get out before June 1, that’s the only option we see.”
Mark Hulsebus asked what the issue was with going to school on Dec. 22 and 23. He said his option would be to go to school on those days and get out sooner.
Crozier said out of nine calendars he’s done, this is the first time he’s ever had classes ending in June.  He said he would send a survey out to families asking them which option they would prefer.
“Does it make any sense to go to school on June 1 if it’s the last day? If we get to April and we’re on schedule, I’ll probably just say we’re not going to school that day. But if we have one or two more snow dates, then the end dates are June 3 and we go to school Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday,” he said.
Hulsebus said the district could also use a couple spring break days to bring the last day of school into May.
“We could do that, but it would not be popular with staff,” Crozier said. “Nicole (Herdrich) would back me up on this, that spring break is really good for our high school. Those kids really need that break.”
In other action, Crozier said the baseball/softball campaign has raised about $35,000 of a goal of $300,000. He said they will not begin working until they have $180,000 to $200,000 of the funding raised. The district is planning some facility upgrades to those two outdoor facilities when funds have been secured through private donations.
“We have to have enough lead time to get bids out or RFPs out for bids. If they raise that money in June and want to start in July, that’s just not a realistic time frame to get our stuff done,” he said.
“Hopefully, we get some momentum on that soon so we can get working on it and get the board an update on our progress.”
Construction on the new district office just northeast of the current office is progressing. Crozier said crews are hoping to get drywall up by early February and are currently doing ductwork and electrical work.
“They are making some good progress and it's starting to look very nice.”

Central Lee community School district, projects, calendar, news, Lee County, Iowa, education, schools, students, spring break, summer, pen City Current, Dr. Andy Crozier,

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