NEW ULM — The District 88 School Board on Thursday approved a revised school calendar to make up snow days.

The board voted unanimously 4-0 to approve a 2018-2019 revised calendar to partially make up eight days lost because of inclement weather. Board chair Steve Gag and board members Denny Waloch and Melissa Sunderman were not present.

The revised calendar adds three snow make-up days for students and three staff development days. The planned snow make-up days are March 22, April 18 and April 22, with staff development days occurring in June.

With the eight lost school days due to closures, the district stands at 162 operational days; three days shy of the state statute requiring schools to have at least 165 school days. Last spring, the board voted on a total of 170 school days for the 2018-2019 year to plan ahead for possible school closures. However, the circumstances of this winter have forced the district over the limit.

Superintendent Jeff Bertrang said the district’s goal is to avoid having students attend school in June.

“Locally we’ve lost a lot of instructional time here with our students, and we need to get back on track with adding some of those back in,” Bertrang said during the meeting. “As we talked about at the [Feb. 20] study session, we want to try to do it within the calendar year and not have to go into June if possible.”

Board member Matt Ringhofer brought up the question of whether families and students would suffer penalties if they missed school on April 18 and 22 due to planned vacations over Easter break.

Bertrang said they wouldn’t suffer penalties and the district would treat the absences as normal sick days or family vacation days.

“We’ll be flexible because it’s something they weren’t expecting and we know that,” he said.

In other business, the board approved its meeting calendar with the decision to hold study sessions the second Thursday of every month and regular board meetings the fourth Thursday every month. Adjustments to the calendar will be made in November and December due to holidays.

The board also reviewed school and statewide education policies with special consideration of Policy 724, Financial Transactions within Individual Buildings and Student Activities Fund Management.

The policy dictates the process regarding financial transactions in individual buildings, along with the management and control of funds connected to student extracurricular activities. This was the first of two readings of the policy, with the second occurring during the March board meeting.

The policies reviewed and approved with no changes are as follows: R 201 Board Member Compensation, 507 Corporal Punishment, 508 Extended School Year for Certain Students with Individual Education Plans, 515 Protection and Privacy of Pupil Records, 616 School District System Accountability, 641 Teaching About Controversial Issues, 714 Fund Balance and 907 Rewards.

The board approved bids for summer construction projects on a middle school freezer and cooler project and construction on Washington Learning Center’s roof.

The board awarded the middle school freezer project to Webb Construction with a proposed expenditure of $159,800.

A bid from Gag Sheet Metal Roofing in the amount of $436,650 for WLC’s roof was approved as well.

The board also thanked New Ulm Public School bus drivers for their hard work and dedication during the months of January and February.

The next school board study session will be held 5 p.m. Thursday, March 14, at Washington Learning Center, and the next regular school board meeting will be held 6 p.m. Thursday, March 28, in the district board room at 414 S. Payne St.