With the start of classes in Clinton County schools just days away, Director of Pupil Personnel Julie York reviewed the 2014-15 calendar last week, one that about mirrors the past year, with only one noticeable change.

This year, there will be no early release days built into the school year. Last year, after the majority of faculty had opted for such a day to release students early one day per month, partly due to a need for extra training, this year the majority of teachers were in favor of doing away with option, York noted.

Also, due to the extreme weather last winter, the latter portion of those early release days had to be used for class instruction anyway to help make up missed days.

The calendar includes the usual fall and spring week-long breaks and a three-day Thanksgiving holiday that will include the Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving Day and a two-week Christmas break. There are also four built-in professional days in which classes will be dismissed for students.

Currently, the tentative closing day for students (barring no days missed) would be May 18.

School is starting about a week later than usual, due to the 127 Corridor Sale basically being moved back somewhat this year. Because of the proximity of the heavy sale traffic to the schools, school officials have been–for safety reasons–starting the school year after the sale’s conclusion.

Also, there will be 172 instructional days compared to 170 last year, but two of those days could be used as make-up days at the end of the school year, York noted.

York also noted that although attendance rates have been rising slightly over the past couple of years, the district is always looking to improve and taking part in raising the drop-out age from 16 to 18 has helped in that area. School districts that have raised the age to 18 receive $10,000 from the state, with those funds to be used to target at-risk students, including those who may otherwise drop out of school without intervention programs.

As far as when students “will not” attend class, the first day off for students will be Labor Day on Monday, September 1. Also on September 29, there will be a professional day for teachers only.

The fall break, which always coincides with the Foothills Festival, will be the week of October 13-17, followed in November by the aforementioned three-day Thanksgiving break.

Christmas break will begin on Monday, December 22 and run through January 2, 2015 with students returning to class on January 5. Holiday breaks will also see classes dismissed on January 19 and February 16 for President’s Day and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Spring break is scheduled to run the week of March 30 through April 3, with no more days off before the end of school.

As always, the approved calendar is “tentative” at best, with the possibility of missed days for weather, illness or other unforeseen circumstances. Several days, however, have been set aside as make-up days at the end of the regular school year.

The DPP also released some other information about school attendance, including the following:

* Clinton County School District ended the 2013-14 school year with an enrollment of 1,758 students. Overall attendance rates have steadily increased for the past three years from 93.3 percent in 2011-12 to 93.45 percent in 2012-13 and finally 93.97 percent at the end of 2013-14. The district attendance goal is 94.5 percent, so there will be some work to do to reach this goal.

* It is important for students to arrive at school and to remain at school until the end of the day. Both arriving late and leaving early result in a tardy for students. Students are permitted 10 parent notes for the entire school year. Students that have an accident or illness resulting in students being absent for five or more consecutive school days, should fill out paperwork for home hospital instruction. Home hospital helps the students keep their work caught up without being counted absent from school.

* KONA ICE will once again sponsor the school district for good attendance. Each month a school meets its attendance goal, KONA ICE will visit the school. KONA ICE also sponsors the attendance drawings at each school where prizes including ipads, t-shirts, and candy are awarded to the students with prefect attendance for that month.

* Kentucky High Attendance Day will be Thursday, September 18, 2014. On this day, all Kentucky schools compete in categories based on school enrollment size to see which schools can have the highest attendance that day. Each school in the district will plan fun surprises for the students that day and discuss the importance of good attendance as it relates to learning and doing well in school and in life.