Board Report - February 9

Board Reports

Board Considers School Calendar For 2026-2027

The Union Board of Education on first reading considered a proposed calendar for the 2026-2027 school year. The Board will consider approval during the second reading at the next Board meeting on March 9.

The calendar, which closely mirrors this year’s calendar, calls for the first day of school to start August 13 with the last day tentatively set for May 25, 2027, with five snow days built into the calendar. If no snow days are used, the last day of school would be May 18.

Early Release Fridays will also continue under the proposed calendar for next year, starting in September and running through April 9, 2027.

View proposed calendar.

The public may email comments about the calendar to board@unionps.org.

Board Hears Report on Future Ready Career Labs At 8^th Grade Center

Eighth graders are getting a chance to explore careers thanks to two Paxton-Patterson Career labs offered in Future Ready Career Labs at the Union 8^th Grade Center.

In a report to the Board, 8th Grade Principal Michelle Cundy said, “Both labs offer a wide range of careers and support pathways into high school and support our mission of ‘100 Percent College and Career Ready graduation’.”

The 8^th Grade Center has two classrooms, each with 12 labs. One classroom explores medical careers and the other explores a variety of other careers, she said. In the medical class, students can learn more about nursing, dental, mental health, veterinary, and emergency medial technicians, while the other classroom offers an assortment of other careers from engineering, construction, hospitality, cosmetology and criminology, for example.

Students are surprised to learn there is a lot more bookwork involved before they can operate the labs but they said once they operate the labs, they appreciate the preparation they were asked to do. Teacher Janet Teel oversees the medical classroom while teacher Meg Counterman oversees the other one, Cundy said, crediting them for the work they have to do to juggle 12 different activities in a classroom all day. “There’s a lot of prep work the teachers have to do in order to make this work,” Cundy explained.

The labs help students decide if they are interested in exploring a career, or just as important, if they are not interested in pursuing a particular career.

Board members watched two videos of the classes, which are embedded as follows:

Union 8th Graders Explore Medical Careers Through Hands-On Learning

Union 8th Graders Discover Future Pathways in New Career Connections Class

Board Accepts Bid to Relocate Fire Riser At High School

The Board of Education accepted a bid of $249,500 from Magnum Construction to relocate the High School’s fire riser. A fire riser is the vertical pipe assembly that delivers water from the main source throughout a building’s fire suppression system.

Dr. Josh Robinson stated “This project will provide for a new fire water supply to the fire water system that serves the northwest part of the High School. The existing line is cast iron, has corroded badly, and we have had three separate leaks on this line.”

 In other action, the Board approved a resolution and notice of the sale of $32 million in general obligation bonds as approved by voters in 2023.

Board members also approved a three-year renewal for Linewise services for a cost of $147,975. The service allows the district to monitor internet traffic for students and staff, block unwanted materials and allow teachers to turn off internet services as needed.

Video