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The Covington County Board of Education adopted the calendar for the 2024-2025 school year and also approved a one-time employee incentive at a regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, March 12.

Superintendent Shannon Driver said the new calendar is similar to past years.

“We typically start later than the other school systems. One of the more difficult parts of the calendar is attempting to work your two weeks around Christmas because we only get 10 days. Our employees throughout the system asked to come back later after the first of January, and it worked out so we will have more time after that. We were able to keep one holiday per month with the February and April holidays serving as built-in weather days,” Driver said.

Teachers will return from summer break for professional development on Monday, August 5. The first day of school for students will be Monday, August 12. Schools will dismiss for the Christmas holidays on Friday, Dec. 20, and everyone will return on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025.

Spring break will be held March 24-28 before students complete the school year on Thursday, May 22. The last day of school for teachers will be Friday, May 23.

“I feel like it’s a good calendar and still gets us out before Memorial Day. We had input from our employees and feel like everyone will appreciate the time off after New Year’s Day,” Driver added.

The board unanimously approved a one-time employee stipend of $700 for certified personnel and $500 for support personnel.

“It has been a few years since we did this incentive. We did it post-COVID for all the labor and effort and wanted to do this again. Our staff has done an excellent job in getting an A on our state report card. A lot of work went into that, and we felt like this was a great opportunity to reward everybody and show our appreciation,” Driver said.

The board said a separate check would be issued for the incentive prior to spring break.

In other business:

• The board approved permission to bid on child nutrition program equipment (serving lines) in the cafeterias at Fleeta Junior High School and Red Level School.
• The board approved a bid from McKee & Associates to renovate the entrance at Straughn Elementary School.
• The board heard a distribution of financial reports that have been reconciled to most current bank statements. Chief School Finance Officer Ressie Gray announced the school system’s recent audit went well and made it to the next stage in Montgomery.

The board set the next meeting date for Tuesday, April 2, 5:30 p.m., at the central office.