VIENNA — The Maries R-1 Board of Education at its Jan. 28 meeting approved the 2025-26 school year calendar, which will eliminate early dismissals on Wednesdays.

Superintendent Teresa Messersmith presented three drafts of the calendar to the board. She collaborated with the district’s calendar committee to create the options from staff feedback.

One of the suggestions the committee made was to avoid starting on a Monday as this school year did. Teachers favored starting later in the week. Messersmith said she took that into consideration, but because some high school students attend Rolla Technical Institute (RTI), which starts on a Tuesday, all three options started on a Tuesday so no RTI students would miss time.

Another suggestion was to end early-out Wednesdays in favor of adding two full professional development days to the calendar. Currently, classes dismiss at 2:05 p.m. on Wednesdays instead of 3:20 p.m. like the rest of the week. Teachers use the extra time on Wednesday afternoons to conduct department meetings and review data.

The first option followed a similar calendar to the 2024-25 except for eliminating early dismissals on Wednesdays and only including 169 days instead of 170 days.

The second option also eliminated early-out Wednesdays, but it included a full week off for  Thanksgiving after the calendar committee suggested the change. That version of the calendar added the Monday after Easter as an instructional day while other versions had it as a day off.

The third option most closely followed the 2024-25 calendar and included early dismissals on Wednesdays.

Teachers received a survey about the calendars, and about two-thirds of them responded. Of the 41 responses, 49 percent favored the first option, 27 percent favored the second option and 24 percent favored the third option. The results indicated only about 24 percent of the staff wanted to continue early dismissals on Wednesdays.

Messersmith said she did not feel strongly about keeping or ending early dismissal. She recognized the value of having two more full days of professional development because it allowed more opportunities to bring in guest speakers. She also said Wednesday faculty meetings involved data work that was valuable, and teachers may need to find new times to have those discussions without the time allotted on Wednesday afternoons.

The board approved the first calendar option, which the district posted to its Facebook page on Jan. 29. The first day of school is scheduled for Aug. 19, and the last day of school is scheduled for May 21, 2026. The calendar includes 36 hours for alternative method of instruction (AMI) days and 60 hours the district could miss due to inclement weather.

Messersmith noted that some employees, such as cafeteria workers and paraprofessionals, will have fewer days on their contracts because of calendar changes. She said those employees would have the option to work on those days off completing tasks such as cleaning.

Later, the board approved Missouri School Boards’ Association (MSBA) policy updates. Messersmith said many of the updates covered legislative changes in last year’s state Senate Bill 727, which among other things, created a schedule for schools to raise minimum teacher salaries to $40,000 by the 2028-29 school year.

The board also approved Ava Kloeppel as the district’s recipient of the MSBA scholarship.

Following a closed session, the board accepted an amended resignation for special education teacher Misty Sherell, which is now effective on Feb. 28.

The board also renewed Messersmith’s contract for an additional year. It will continue through the 2027-28 school year.