As many of you may or may not know, much of what happens in school districts depends on what happens in the capitol during the legislative sessions. This includes how much funding we receive and which mandates we need to complete. One of these mandates from last year's legislative session is called The Read Act. It states that all elementary teachers, special education teachers, secondary English teachers, and people who teach reading or do interventions must be trained in the Science of Reading by July 1, 2025. The training will take about 60 hours to complete and we will need to have about 100 of our staff trained. The State has set aside money to pay for the registration fee for each of these staff members. However, the State will not reimburse school districts for staff training time outside of their contracted time.
So what does this mean for Byron Public Schools? First and foremost, we cannot afford to pay the staff for training outside the contract day as this would be in the tens of thousands of dollars. Therefore, we will need to carve out some time in the 2024-25 school year (next school year) to make time available for staff to be trained. At the Board meeting this past week, the School Board approved the following changes to the 2024-25 calendar and an updated calendar has been placed on our school website.
Thursday, October 17 - Staff Development Day - No School for Students
Friday, December 20 - Staff Development Day - No School for Students
Thursday, March 13 - End of 3rd Quarter
Friday, March 14 - Teacher Professional Day - No School for Students
Monday, March 24 - Staff Development Day - No School for Students
Wednesday, May 28 - Last Day of School
Thursday, May 29 - Staff Development Day - No School for Students
Note: Project Kids will be open for most of these days.
Again, we apologize about these additional days off as we know that it may be an inconvenience for working families; however, we feel like we have no choice due to the financial burdens the alternative could cause our district. We tried to change the days off to make for longer breaks. Please note, because we are having less student contact days, the plan for the 2024-25 school year will be to exhaust the five e-learning days before the use of snow days during inclement weather. More information about this will be coming out in the fall.
Go Bears!
Mike Neubeck, Ed.D.
Superintendent Byron Public Schools
507-775-2383 (W)
507-923-8034 (C)
@NeubeckSupt
POG C's in Action
The Profile of a Graduate is the model we use to live out the District's Strategic Plan on a daily basis. It has been 6 years since we first implemented the Profile of a Graduate and we continue to find ways to teach the six Cs: Creativity, Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Citizenship, and Character.
Learn more about our Profile of a Graduate!
Mrs. Schneider and Mrs. Blom's Kindergarten classes were taught about living and non-living worms today. They compared, drew and investigated a gummy worm and a live worm!
Hello! We have two events coming up in the next few weeks that we are excited to share with you.
March 6th we will be showing the movie Screenagers, The Next Chapter. The film discusses the link between students using social media and mental health problems. The film follows real students as they go through their day in a digital era and the emotional effect it has on them.
The film is geared for both parents and students. We encourage parents to bring their child (middle school and up) to the presentation with them as it will provide some education and foster the foundation for further conversations at home.
We will be debuting the film in our new high school auditorium, which is exciting as well. We hope to see you there! See the flyer for more information.
We are also holding our Spring Dental Clinic on March 27 & 28. It is for students Kindergarten through 12 grade. Parental Consent, Medical & Dental Form Students who were seen in the fall are eligible to attend again as well as students who are new to the program. If you need a printed copy of the application, please contact jaclyn.nigon@byron.k12.mn.us or christine.jostock@byron.k12.mn.us
I hope to see you March 6th!
Smiles,
Christine Jostock, LSW, MA
School Social Worker, Homeless Liaison, Foster Care Liaison
Byron Public Schools
507/775-2189
