In the late stages of the school year, particularly from late March to late April, school districts are busy formulating and finalizing their upcoming academic year — which begins on July 1, before things ramp up in the middle of August.

After getting input from administration and the public, the Webster City Community School District put some touches on the 2023-2024 academic calendar. Of course, things can always change, with inclement weather and shifting around professional development days.

For now, though, things are in place.

In their latest regular meeting, held on Monday at the WCCSD School Administration Office, 820 Des Moines St., Webster City, the Webster City Community School District’s Board of Directors put the stamp of approval on a slightly modified school calendar for 2023-2024.

The most notable tweak was placing a professional development day on Monday, Jan. 2, 2024, with classes resuming on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2024. Professional development days, set on Wednesday by other school districts, were shifted toward Mondays.

According to Dr. Mandy Ross, Webster City CSD superintendent, there was plenty of public input from the district’s post addressing the calendar on social media, which attracted nearly 90 comments.

The meeting took approximately 30 minutes, with half of the allotted time consisting of the public hearing.

After approving the agenda, the board opened the floor in regards to its school calendar. Along with public feedback, Ross mentioned that there had been input since February, where the district provided a form to its staff members.

“The most popular response was for us to get out of school as close to Memorial Day as possible, followed by having the Friday before spring break off,” Ross said. “Because if we would take out those two Fridays after parent-teacher conferences, we could get out before Memorial Day next year.”

Ross then spoke about the start of classes. Due to state law, school cannot begin before August 23.

“It’s by law, and it’s so people can attend the Iowa State Fair,” Ross said. “This restriction becomes challenging when meeting the request to end school before Memorial Day.”

Ross also noted the move from Wednesdays to Mondays for professional development.

“You get better quality professional development happening for the full day, instead of a couple of hours,” Ross said. “If it’s on Wednesday or any other day of the day, it’s hard to focus on our own learning, after you’ve been teaching all day long.”

The other major tweak is officially letting school out two hours early on Homecoming Week, to allow for the parade.

“It’s something that we do, but I don’t think it’s been on the calendar,” Ross said. “It just pops up. So, we’re going to add that.”

The other modification is to place the last day of four-year-old preschool onto the calendar.

Along with the school calendar, the board approved a resolution to retain current director boundaries, a tentative agreement with the Webster City Educational Services Association, and agreed to non-bargaining and administrative salaries for the upcoming school year.

The board then agreed to personnel items, before receiving updates from Ross and board president Beth Van Diest, which addressed property taxes.

Before adjourning, the board approved previous meeting’s minutes and open enrollment.

The next school board meeting is set for 6 p.m. on May 8 at the School Administration Building.