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The calendar for next school year is closer to coming to fruition.

During its monthly meeting last Tuesday, the Clark County Public Schools heard a first draft reading of the calendar for the 2023-24 school year.

The calendar will undergo revision before the second reading, so what follows is subject to change.

Presently the school year would start during the second week of August, and, according to the different options discussed, opening day for students will be Tuesday, Aug. 15.

As usual, schools will be closed for the following federal holidays: Labor Day (Sept. 4), MLK Day (Jan. 15), and President’s Day (Feb. 17)

Students and staff would tentatively get a full week of fall break last from Oct. 16-20.

Students would also be excused from classes on Election Day 2023

Thanksgiving break would be three days, Nov. 22-24.

Winter break would be from Dec. 21 to Jan.2.

Spring break would be from April 1-5.

The last day for students would be May 17.

The full week of fall break suited the wishes of parents and staff who returned a district survey.

Of 492 surveys returned from staff, 57 percent said they preferred a week’s break, while 43 percent said they wanted a two-day break.

Of 1,071 parents who returned a survey, 56 indicated they wanted a week-long fall break, while 44 answered they wanted a two-day break.

Regarding Thanksgiving break, 60 percent of staff members who responded indicated they would rather have had a whole week’s break instead of a three-day holiday.

Fifty-six percent of parents who returned a survey indicated they wished their students a week-long Thanksgiving break.

Fifty-seven percent of staff preferred an Aug. 16 return date for students, while 47 percent of parents indicated that was their choice.

Over 200 students from grades seven through 12 also participated in the survey.

The students were split on when to return to school: 41.8 percent wanted to return to school on Aug. 23, and 41.3 percent wanted to return on Aug. 16.

Not surprisingly, 79 percent of students wanted a whole week of fall break, and 75 percent wanted an entire week of Thanksgiving break.

The revised calendar will be put before the board for a second reading and vote during January’s meeting.

In other business:

• The board voted to accept a service trail after it heard a presentation from Samsara, a company specializing in cloud-based connectivity services for tracking vehicles.

During the trial, Samsara’s services will provide real-time visibility of where each district school bus is, estimates of when a bus will arrive at a certain point, and a live stream of the activity on each bus.

Clark County will be the first school district to use the company’s services in Kentucky. The trial cost is $26,000.

• Baker Intermediate School and Conkwright Elementary School were honored for this Kentucky Division of Protection and Permanency High Attendance Day wins.

• Several staff members from all across the district were honored for helping the district obtain a favorable review during its last financial audit.