Snow day adds to schedule

The first snow day in more than 30 years last week has resulted in another day getting added to the school calendar in Green River.

The Sweetwater County School District No. 2 Board voted unanimously to add a school day on May 25, which now replaces May 24 as the last day of school. The following staff days after the final day of school were also adjusted to accommodate the change. The district will decide next month how the snow day will impact the McKinnon school’s schedule as its calendar differs from the district’s main calendar in Green River.

Donna Little-Kaumo, the district’s superintendent, said other options were considered in adding a day to the schedule. Those options included having students go to school on a Saturday or subtracting a day from the Easter break. The Easter break option would have resulted in students attending school the Monday students would have been otherwise out of school. Little-Kaumo said the Easter break option wasn’t favorable as families plan vacations around the break.

“Saturdays weren’t a popular option either,” Little-Kaumo said.

The additional day is a necessity. Little-Kaumo said the district needs to make up the day despite having more than the minimum number of instructional hours required by the state in its calendar.

Little-Kaumo said the issue may get brought up during the legislative session as Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow plans to support a bill that would eliminate the need for a makeup day if the minimum number of instructional hours is met.

“Right now, if you miss a day, you have to make it up,” Little-Kaumo said.

The school board also voted unanimously to approve the retirements of Lisa Minamoto-Rodgers, a social worker at Harrison Elementary School and Marlys Ciscar, a first grade teacher at Truman Elementary School.

The board voted unanimously to go to bid for carpet work at Truman Elementary School, not to exceed $42,000. They also approved a request to bid for the second phase of the Truman roofing project, which is not to exceed $850,000.