COUNCIL BLUFFS — School is supposed to start Aug. 17 for students in the Council Bluffs Community School District, but a summer of flooding has prompted officials to create backup plans.
On Tuesday, the school board will consider an alternate calendar that starts school two weeks later than originally planned, on Aug. 31. The school year would end June 1 instead of the current May 24.
The calendar would be condensed, eliminating school vacations scheduled for the day before Thanksgiving, three days during winter break and three days during spring break.
The board won't decide Tuesday whether to delay the start of the school year. That decision would come later. Instead, District Superintendent Martha Bruckner will ask the board to approve the alternate calendar, "to be implemented only if flooding conditions indicate that a school start on Aug. 17 could be unsafe."
School officials want to decide by Aug. 5 whether to implement the alternate calendar.
The board also will discuss contingency plans if flooding conditions persist or worsen, since "we need to have plans in place to deal with almost any possibility," Bruckner said.
Those plans could include designating alternate buildings for students and teachers if their own school is inaccessible; developing safety and evacuation plans in case a flood emergency arises while school is in session; sharing buildings if flooding conditions persist at a school site.
The Tuesday school board meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. at 12 Scott St.
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