There are a lot of behind-the-scenes decisions that go into providing a quality education and learning environment for students that go beyond just selecting curriculum. At Callaway Public Schools, the administration works closely with the school board to enact policies and procedures, give direction on building layout and design, and develop a schedule, all of which will accomplish those desired goals.

One of the issues the district has been specifically addressing during this school year has been attendance, and at the Feb. 9 meeting of the board, Principal Brittany Jesseph shared that January saw an uptick in student attendance - a positive sign that efforts that have been put into place are working.

Jesseph and Principal Heath Birkel also presented a calendar plan for the 2026-27 school year, which generated a lot of discussion at the meeting. “In our school we have two planning periods and six prep periods for teachers, so they would teach six classes and have two planning periods throughout the day. That’s pretty unique,” explained Superintendent JD Furrow. “So we began to analyze how we could best serve our students with our calendar and our schedule.”

Furrow said that the biggest changes in the proposed calendar are starting the school year a week later and releasing two days earlier, changing the professional development schedule for the teachers, and changing how the school does Bear Down Time with the 7-12th grade students. Bear Down Time is set aside for social/emotional learning, and the proposal is to eliminate that on Monday - Thursday and offer a 30-minute Bear Down Time each Friday instead.

“That would allow us to cover all of the topics that are necessary for SEL,” Furrow added. “Then Monday Thursday those minutes go back into the classrooms. So all of our classes end up being a couple of minutes longer, and a couple of minutes over the course of about 170 school days, make up for the shorter calendar and gives us as much time of teaching algebra as we had before.”

The principals also defended the two plan periods schedule to the board with history and evidence. “I think at the end of the day our principals’ main focus is the kids, our board’s main focus is the kids, so that was the directive to the principals to come up with a plan to show to the board that is kid-focused,” said Furrow. “I thought they both did a tremendous job. They put a lot of time into exploring the options.”

The final calendar and schedule will be presented at future board meetings.

In his report, Superintendent Furrow initiated discussion on how the district can best utilize the property at 101 S Needham Street. He said there has been lots of discussion about what to do with the property, including potentially relocating the preschool or using the property as a rental for teachers.

“I think in the big picture we are looking at some facility type things that would result in the house coming down sometime in the future, but we are a long, long ways away from that. We just want to use it now for something besides storage if we can,” Furrow explained.

At this point, the issue was just a discussion item as the district begins exploring the available options and determining what might be the best short-term use for the property. The 103 S Needham Street property is also owned by the school district, and bids are being taken for the cleanup and removal of items at that property in preparation for the demolition of the structure.

Furrow also updated the board on discussions about potential room changes to help make the school run more efficiently. Currently, the sixth grade class is located in the high school side of the building, and Furrow said that begs the question of whether to treat that grade as middle school or possibly move it back to the elementary wing. Discussion including moving the art department into the high school wing of the building and other classroom shifts that would result from the move. Renovation issues were also considered by the board.

The board heard an update on outstanding lunch bills, an issue the district has been working on for about the last year to address. There are currently six families over the $500 threshold considered when starting the legal process to reclaim funds. Furrow shared that well over $10,000 has been reclaimed since the school began action to clear up outstanding balances.

Every five years, schools are required to have an outside group come in and evaluate the district’s Continuous Improvement Process. CPS will have this external review in late March, during which time the group will review the school’s goal-setting and action steps.

Furrow did have good news about state aid and informed the board that the school would be receiving a marginally larger amount of state aid funds for the upcoming school year - about $18,000 more. “These numbers are not final yet, but are generally fairly accurate assuming the legislature doesn't pass any major changes in the current session,” he added.

Action taken by the board later in the meeting included approving the new collective bargaining negotiated agreement. The new base salary for teachers for the 2026–27 school year will be $40,400. This is a $400 raise over last year's base salary. The board also accepted the resignation of English teacher Courtney Espinosa, who will be relocating to South Dakota, and the resignation of the school’s business manager, Tiana Lisby, who will be moving back to California. Both resignations were accepted with regret.

The next meeting of the Callaway school board will be March 9 at 8 p.m.