by Mike Knaak
Students and parents in the Sartell-St. Stephen school district who like to plan ahead can start marking up their calendars. The school board at its Jan. 24 meeting approved the calendar for the 2022-23 school year and approved a provisional calendar for 2023-24.
Next fall, school will start on Tuesday, Sept. 6, for sixth- and ninth-graders. Prekindergarten through grade five will have open houses and conferences. On Wednesday, Sept. 7, remaining middle school and high school students will report. Sept. 7 will be another prekindergarten through grade five open house and conference day. Thursday, Sept. 8, will be the first day of school for prekindergarten through grade five.
The last day of class will be Friday, June 2, 2023. In between there will be 170 class days and 9.5 days set aside for professional development.
Spring break will be Monday-Friday, March 27-31, 2023. Seniors will graduate on Saturday, June 3. If needed, weather-related makeup days will be Monday, Jan. 16, for the first semester and Monday, Feb. 20, for the second semester.
The 2023-24 schedule follows a similar plan with Tuesday, Sept. 5, set for the first day of school. The last day of school will be Thursday, May 30, 2024, with graduation set for Saturday, June 1.
There are 170 class days and 9.5 teacher development days. Spring break is set for Monday-Friday, March 25-29, 2024.
One student contact day was removed for the next two years and teacher development time added. The state requires at least 165 days. The Sartell-St. Stephen calendar, with 170 days, compares with 170 in the Sauk Rapids-Rice district and 169 days in the St. Cloud district.
When he presented the calendars at the board’s Jan. 3 meeting, Superintendent Jeff Riddlehoover said the calendars provide time for more teacher collaboration and preparation for personalized learning. Teachers from every building helped set the calendars, he said.
