Summer Food Service available until School begins on August 26th
As you may know, the Hancock County Board of Education approved an alternative calendar for the 2024/2025 school year, as reported in The Clarion in the 5-23-2024 edition. The first day of school is Monday, August 26th, and the Summer Food Service Program Grab-n-Go deliveries ended on July 26th, but there is a plan in place for families to receive food assistance until school starts!
Hancock County Schools Superintendent Robby Asberry explained, “We have reached out to our Family Resource Youth Center Coordinators at each school. They will ensure that those families in need receive food assistance.”
On the last week of the Summer Food Service Program deliveries in the county, recipients were provided with all of the information necessary to continue receiving food assistance until school begins, Asberry said.
The Hancock County District Calendar Committee meets annually, and is made up of community members, parents, teachers, and staff. They recommended the alternate calendar schedule to the HC Board of Education members, it was unanimously agreed upon, and then approved during the monthly BOE meeting in May.
Why was the decision made to push the start date back for students? One reason voiced by longtime BOE Member Donna Quattrocchi at the May meeting, was that some parents had been asking for a change in order to have more time with their children in the summer.
Some community members have voiced concerns of the later start date causing a later end date, and thus diminishing Summer Break 2025, but that is not the case. The last day of school is scheduled for May 23rd, 2025. Fall Break, Christmas Break and Spring Break were not affected with the change either.
Board of Education Member Brooke Payne said, “It’s based on the state requirement for the hours, but we always had some comp time that we would use for free make-up days. We did lose one day we normally have off that we had to give up for it.”
When asked what the main reasons to start school later were, Brooke said, “For one, to give the kids a longer summer break; That was a huge deal. And, it also gives our teachers a little bit more time too, to prepare their classrooms and get their trainings done and everything. Then, a big factor is always that it’s so hot in August. So we kind of felt like that was better for the kids that ride buses too. One thing that we were able to do because of the NTI (Non-Traditional Instruction) days that were allotted, is instead of doing traditional snow days, those will be NTI days.”
The KY Department of Education’s NTI Program provides continuation of learning on days when the entire district is closed for health or safety reasons. On NTI days, the district can make a plan for continuing instruction for students and provide for student and teacher interaction. Up to 10 NTI days can be approved to count towards student attendance days in the school districts’ calendars by the Commissioner of Education.
District Calendar Committee Leader and HC Schools Assistant Superintendent Nick Boling said the new calendar also allows more time for staff to engage in additional professional development over the summer. The change creates additional staff training opportunities as well, that would otherwise not be possible.
There are staff and teacher Work Days scheduled for August 15th, 19th, and 22nd. Opening Day for teachers and staff at HC Schools is Friday, August 23rd. They will all be well prepared and ready to welcome back the students when they begin their first day of school this year on August 26th!
Asberry stated, “I’ve had many community members reach out to me expressing their appreciation for this calendar change.”
By Jennifer Wimmer
