The Jaffrey-Rindge School Board has set the last day of school for June 15 and high school graduation for June 8.
Superintendent Reuben Duncan met with the school board Monday to discuss the final day of school and graduation date, proposing two options: lengthening the remaining days of the school year or pushing back the final day of school.
“My recommendation is to follow what we already approved and live in that calendar,” said Duncan, after much discussion about the two options.
Many at the meeting were against the idea of adding time to each day – something implemented last year – as it creates challenges for parents, teachers, and students.
“We scheduled our senior trip for June 4 thinking that graduation was on June 8… a lot of people have said they couldn’t make it to graduation on June 15,” said Kenny Smith, student representative to the school board. Smith said many seniors, including himself, have already committed to working over the summer, with many start dates occurring on or before June 15.
The board also agreed to a school calendar for the 2018-19 school year, tentatively setting graduation day for June 14, which accounts for snow days. The board showed interest in moving the graduation date up a week if a number of snow days didn’t need to be used throughout the year.
The board agreed 6-1 to fund the purchase of a new scoreboard for Conant High School’s outdoor sports facility.
The purchase – amounting to $18,679 for purchase, installation, electrical and other work – will come from two school funds: $9,646.96 from the Arthur Daniels Trust Fund (which can be used for athletics-related purchases) and the remainder from the Durant Fund (which can be used for Conant-related expenses).
Board chair Laurel McKenzie voted against the proposal because she wanted all of the funds to come from the Arthur Daniels Fund.
The board agreed to award the district’s food service contract to Cafe Services, a one-year contract with the option for four additional one-year renewals.
Cafe Services beat out the previous food service provider Chartwells, as well as ano ther company. Each company was scored on a 100 point matrix, with Cafe Services easily beating out the other two competitors in most categories.
Nicholas Handy can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 235 or nhandy@ledgertranscript.com. He is also on Twitter @nhandyMLT.