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The School Board set a date and time for a second monthly meeting, approved the calendar for the 2025-26 school year, unanimously approved the Associate Teacher program, and approved budget documents at its Jan. 16 meeting. 

At the organizational meeting on Jan. 7, the School Board decided to hold two monthly meetings starting in March. 

On Thursday, the board decided the second meeting will be held on the fourth Thursday of every month from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The location of the second meeting is expected to be at an SPS property, but is subject to change.

The expectation of the second meeting is to be a business only meeting, with no work session. Staff presentations will be concentrated in the first monthly meeting, but may be needed in the second meeting if new action items require it.

2025-26 calendar

In a 6-1 vote, the board approved the 2025-26 school calendar. Vice Chair Sean McGee was the only dissenting vote.

The approved calendar includes three full clerical/planning days, two full professional learning days, no early release days, two end of semester transition days without students, and three full days of parent-teacher conferences. The division will be closed the Friday before Labor Day and the last day of school for teachers and students will be June 5, 2026. Fall break will be Nov. 24-28, winter break will be Monday, Dec. 22 to Friday, Jan. 2. Spring break will be April 6-10. Days off for federal holidays will continue as normal.

McGee said he received over 500 comments on social media when he asked the public what calendar they preferred. He said 95% to 98% of those comments were in favor of the option the board chose. 

However, he said he also got numerous requests to add more teacher work days. Specifically, teachers mentioned the day after winter break, and sometime in October. McGee also proposed that June 4 be the last day for students and allow teachers to use June 5 as a final catch-up day. Lastly, he wants to give teachers the option to work from home during full clerical days. 

In regards to using the first day back from winter break as a teacher work day, Superintendent Dr. John Gordon III said he would rather have teachers and students have the full week to wrap up any new material as well as beginning to review for SOL tests that start before the end of the semester.

He asked the board not to make a decision on using June. 5 as a teacher work day until they know how many bank days are left. 

In regards to teachers working from home during clerical days, Gordon said “that’s tough” because not everyone has the ability and access to work from home. 

“I would caution to set that precedent of saying ‘You can work from home,’ because sometimes that also eliminates the ability for those teachers to collaborate, and again, some of those administrative meetings,” Gordon said. 

He added that they can reconsider this idea at a later date after speaking with teachers and administrators more. Additionally, he pointed out that parent-teacher conference days should be expected to be used as extra planning/clerical time if no conferences are scheduled. 

Associate Teacher pathway

The board also unanimously approved the Associate Teacher program, a new teacher pathway for prospective teacher candidates. 

The Associate Teacher pathway is targeted toward long-term effective permanent substitutes and teacher assistants who currently hold Bachelor’s Degrees. Those who pursue this pathway must commit to working for SPS for at least two years upon obtaining eligibility for a teaching license. Once accepted into the program, the employee must be actively working on licensure within 30 days of acceptance, and must obtain licensure within the school-year employment term. 

Dr. Jessica Avery, Director of Human Resources, said associate teachers will have responsibilities like any other teacher. They will be developing lesson plans, instructing students, contacting parents, managing the classroom and evaluating students.

“The goal is to make sure that we are preparing them to teach the students that they are working with, getting their full licenses,” Avery said.

The associate teacher salary will also be a significant pay raise to those who pursue this pathway, Avery said. It is based on how long the employee was a long term sub or teacher assistant before joining the program.

Gordon also mentioned the salary is about $9,000 to $10,000 less than other teachers to ensure fairness.  

In addition to the Associate Teacher pathway, SPS currently uses iTeach, the Teacher Quality Partnership Grant, and tuition reimbursement as other teacher pathways. 

Board member Tyron Riddick said he was “super excited” and “overwhelmed” with joy about the Associate Teacher pathway, as he completed the program in another school district prior to being on the School Board. 

Proposed budget document requests

On Feb. 27, Gordon will present his proposed 2025-2026 budget. Board member Kimberly Slingluff requested the Superintendent provide her with two documents prior to his budget presentation. 

Her first request is an itemized Excel spreadsheet of the board’s operating costs in the categories of purchased services, travel and training, dues and subscriptions, materials and supplies, and food for both the 2022-23 and 2023-24 fiscal school years. Slingluff also wants the date, item purchased or reimbursed, vendor name, description, purpose, purchase amount, and the board member’s name included.

McGee and Board Member Dawn Marie Brittingham, Ed. D. agreed with Slingluff’s request, saying they would feel more comfortable voting on a proposed budget if there was more information available regarding previous board spending. 

“Anytime anyone on this board want to see more detail when it comes to how money’s spent, I’m going to support that,” McGee said.

Slingluff’s request was approved in a 5-2 vote, with Board Members Karen Jenkins and Valerie Fields dissenting. 

Her second request was for an Administrative Survey Report containing the name, job title, work location, supervisor, salary, and contact end date for each SPS administrative employee. 

The request was approved in a 5-2 vote, with Board Members Karen Jenkins and Valerie Fields dissenting. 

“I feel it’s prudent as a School Board that we should look at our own budget, and as long as I’ve been on the board … I know that we have never looked at our budget and how we’ve spent our budget, where we’ve spent it, what we spend it on,” Slingluff said. “The best way to project our own budget for the future year … would be to look at the past and see how it’s been expended up to this point.”