Calendar Changes and Construction Update
30 July 2024
Greenback Families:
This is a revision of our calendar change. As we close in our construction end dates, the margin appears close at Southwest Elementary, so we are going to make another district-wide calendar revision with the intent to give more preparation/cleanup time of the impacted buildings. Because this calendar change impacts our younger students, we are aligning it with LMS and PHS so those older students are available to watch younger siblings, etc.
The first day of school for SW (K-3), LMS (6-8), and PHS will be August 21st. One-stop enrollment is still on August 5th at PHS. We will have a new pick-up/drop-off lane at SW and a new secured entrance, but otherwise the procedures for those schools should mostly look the same for the start of school. The building principals will send information out on orientation and sports meetings at a later date.
For the 4th and 5th grades, which will be at our newly renovated Pratt Academic Center (PAC), the first day of school will be August 26th. The construction timeline is still tight, and the staggered start allows our PAC staff to prepare the space and procedures for a new building. There are always some growing pains with a big change, but the staggered start will allow us to smooth that out for the first days of school. The PAC will also have our central office, the Lilypad Childcare Center, and the historic Frogdome. We will still have three days available for emergency closures (snow days, etc) if needed, so the end calendar date for 4th and 5th grades will match PreK-12. We will have an open house for 4th/5th graders and their parents on August 20th; Principal Antonia Villa will send out more information in a letter to parents.
We made Oct 18th, April 21st, and May 23rd school days to add three of the days back into the calendar while still ending school before Memorial Day. We did not change the big breaks (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring Break) due to likely travel plans for staff and parents. PHS and LMS athletics practices dates are not impacted by this calendar change because KSHSAA sets those dates.
We appreciate everyone’s patience as we wind down our construction and get to take advantage of the updated facilities for our students. The timeline on the Frogdome, the new PreK/tornado-safe-rooms at SW, and the Lilypad Childcare Center remain the same as the July 10th update letter.
We plan to put out a couple of videos to discuss drop-off and pick-up procedures at SW and the PAC. Please look for those. As always, we are a family and we appreciate your patience and support. We are excited to have our kids return to school.
Respectfully,
Tony Helfrich