LONE TREE

The verdict is in: Lone Tree will not adapt a four-day school calendar.

Instead, at their regular meeting Feb. 21, the school board approved an alternate five-day calendar that would remove early-outs on Wednesdays while also giving teachers more professional development time in the process.

After a public comment period that saw teachers and parents support both sides of the four versus five-day calendar debate, the Lone Tree school board addressed the crowd gathered in the school library.

“I’d like to thank the folks that participated in the process these last couple of months. The process was very important to us,” Michael Hotz said. “We have appreciated all the folks that have reached out to us directly with questions or shared opinions. We also appreciate the patience.”

“On a topic of this magnitude, we realize some are still going to question or disagree with the final outcome,” he continued. “Throughout the process, we did uncover a few things about the district that we will focus on addressing as we move forward, such as the challenges of substitute teachers. We kind of split the community down the middle, and as we move forward, we’ll be coming back together on other school topics.”

This led to a vote. Jennifer Eden motioned to approve the four-day calendar with Gordon Viers seconding. After roll call, Board President Robert Sladek, Hotz and Alex Ogren all voted nay, killing the motion.

Sladek and Ogren each voiced why.

“I think that this process has been essential. Obvious issues have surfaced that I want nothing more than to address,” Sladek said. “I don’t personally feel the urgency [to switch to a four-day calendar]. I feel that something this large is hard to make in a three-month timeframe, especially when we can sit back and learn from others. Whether that’s a year or two years, there’s always more to learn.”

“I’ve been on the fence on this whole thing, but I really tried to take any type of personal bias out of the decision,” Ogren, who cast the final vote, said. “I have a lot of reservations with as fundamental of a change as this is, abruptly. I’ve been uncomfortable with the timeline, but I do think there’s a lot that goes into this.”

“There are other calendar options that we could explore aggressively to address the needs of our staff and teachers,” he concluded.

Ogren’s statement led to him moving to approve an “alternate five-day calendar.” Four of the five board members approved the change with the exception of Viers.

The district will have more details for their altered schedule in the future.

Board action

After the vote on the calendar, the board surely let out a sigh of relief. But their night was not over.

They decided they would not partner with Johnson County Emergency Management to designate the school’s wellness center as public shelter in the event of an emergency. Superintendent Tyler Hotz recommended the board not approve as securing a generator seemed unlikely.

Sladek and Ogren still felt the center could be used as emergency shelter but didn’t see a need for partnership with the county.

The board approved to match the athletic booster club’s $7,000 donation to replace gym equipment. The booster club was recently gifted free equipment from the Riverside Casino & Golf Resort, which is updating their hotel gym.

The booster club is still on the Riverboat Foundation’s March 19 meeting agenda, in hopes they can potentially double their raised funds for this project.

Lone Tree’s fitness department could see a positive, massive change from this work.

The board also approved a Marine Biology field trip to Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium.

Next board meeting: The Lone Tree school board will next meet on Tuesday, Feb. 27 in the school library to discuss the LTEA’s initial offer.

Lone Tree’s next board workshop will take place on Wednesday, March 6, at 6:30 p.m. in the district office.