001Hello, Bloomington Public Schools community. I'm School Board Chair Tom Bennett. And I'm Superintendent Dr. Eric Melbye. We'd like to share a few highlights from the February 23rd school board meeting, which included an important report from Dr. Melbye. Yes. I spoke about the considerable impacts of Operation Metro Surge on our students, families and schools. You can watch the board meeting to hear the full report. In short, our district has experienced significant disruptions to attendance and learning over the past few months. We anticipate there will be lasting impacts on our students, and our staff have had to adapt to support and teach. You also reviewed how the district is supporting students. Can you talk about that a little bit? Yes, happy to. Like many districts, we've been taking extra care to help support the needs of students
002and families, including regular communications, a board approved resolution affirming student safety, our social workers, Office of Educational Equity, and support staff helping with transportation, food and support at bus stops, and helping to make sure families in need and those wanting to help are connected with trusted and established resources in the community. I want to personally thank the Bloomington community for the incredible outpouring of support. Your desire to help is part of what makes this city so special. Yes it is. And I also want to thank you for the update on everything BPS is doing for students and families during this time. Of course. The board also took action on a small increase to some student fees for the 2026-27 school year to cover rising costs. This includes athletic and activity fees and some event admission
003fees. Student parking and admission to band, orchestra, choir, theater and musical productions will not increase. Finally, a change to the 2026-27 school year calendar was approved. Following the success of ninth grade only first days, sixth grade students will have one day to get oriented to middle school without other students in the building. August 31st will be the first day of school for grades six and nine only. Grades K-5, 7-8, and 10-12 will follow on September 1st. The other change is that October 2nd will be a professional learning day for elementary staff, which means no school for grades K-5, while 6-12 remains in session. That's great. I think the sixth graders are going to really enjoy having the school to themselves for that day. So that's it for our February 23rd meeting recap. We'll see you
004again in March.