For most local public school students, this is the last week of summer freedom — as they’ll return to school next week.
Students in the Jefferson City School System will return to class on Monday, Aug. 1, followed by Jackson County School System students on Thursday, Aug. 4. Commerce students, however, have another week off before heading back to school on Monday, Aug. 8.
Teachers in Jefferson started their pre-planning days on Tuesday and will continue through this Friday. Jackson County teachers will hold their pre-planning days Monday and Tuesday, Aug. 1-2.
For the 2011-2012 school year, the superintendents for both school systems foresee a minimal increase in their student populations.
“We don’t anticipate any great growth, obviously, because practically nobody is moving into the community,” said Shannon Adams, superintendent of the Jackson County School System. “We might grow a little bit, but we don’t anticipate it being much.”
The Jackson County School System is slated to start the new school year with an estimated 7,200 students — about the same number of children enrolled in the district at the end of last school year, according to Adams.
“It’s really hard to tell (the final enrollment number) until Labor Day,” Adams said. “There are still some families who choose not to start the kids until after Labor Day.”
The Jefferson City School System estimates that it will welcome around 2,860 students for the first day of class. The district ended the previous school year with 2,760 students.
The Jackson County School System, for a change, has no construction projects planned during the school year.
“This is the first time in several years that we didn’t have any,” Adams said.
The district is focusing on paying down its bond debts from previous construction projects.
However, the school system installed new air conditioning units in the kitchens of its older schools. The move was aimed at preventing heat-related illnesses among employees working in school kitchens during hotter months, he added.
As for other changes this school year, the district is expanding its standards based report card to the eighth grade. The Jackson County School System has been using its non-traditional report card in elementary schools for a few years, and later expanded it to middle schools.
Adams said the school system also has a new definition of bullying in its code of conduct that includes online bullying among students.
