Calendars adopted for 2015-16 school year

With no objection, students and teachers alike already know how the 2015-16 school year will fall as adopted by the Acadia Parish School Board Monday night.
The calendars are very similar to last year’s in nature. The school year begins in early-to mid-August for students and teachers alike. In 2015, those dates are Aug. 10-11 for teacher training and Aug. 12 for the first day students report to public schools in the parish.
The end of the school year falls on Thursday, May 26, with early dismissal, and the faculty’s last day of school is Friday, May 27. It is also on May 27 that students’ final report cards for the year will be printed.
Other highlights from the 2015-16 calendars are as follows:
• Grading periods’ end for Fifth Ward schools in Acadia Parish: first, Oct. 6; second, Dec. 17; third, March 15, 2016; and fourth, May 26, 2016.
• Grading periods’ end for other schools in Acadia Parish: first, Oct. 14; second, Jan. 8, 2016; third, March 18, 2016; and fourth, May 26, 2016.
• Phase I testing (performance-based assessments) will be held March 14-18, 2016.
• Phase II testing (end of year assessments) will be held April 25-29, 2016.
• LEAP/iLEAP testing will be held April 5-6, 2016.
As for the dates many will want to circle, the holidays, they will be Labor Day (Sept. 7), Rice Festival (Oct. 16), Thanksgiving (Nov. 23-27), Christmas/New Year’s (Dec. 21-Jan. 1), Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Jan. 18, 2016), Mardi Gras (Feb. 8-10, 2016) and Spring Break (March 25-April 1, 2016).
The calendars were approved unanimously (8-0) by the board.
The board also approved dates for their next meetings. It will meet for committee meetings on Wednesday, April 29. One of those committee meetings will feature the consideration of “revenue” for the 2015-16 budget. Its next board meeting is Monday, May 4.
The short meeting featured three Budget & Finance Committee recommendations: the calendar dates for the 2014-15 budget revisions and 2015-16 budget preparation and adoption and two items regarding property owned by the school board behind the old Wal-Mart.
All three items were approved unanimously Monday. The budget calendar will continue on as scheduled and the next two steps in the potential sale of the property were on the agenda. The board first had to declare the property as “surplus,” which occurred Monday night, and then it could look to sale the property at least at appraised value. The board will also likely opt to add language in the sale contract to be given the first right to buy-back or refuse to buy-back the property if it is to be resold at any time at appraised value.
Prior to the board meeting, Rev. James Proctor was sworn in as the District 1 school board representative.