The Clark County Board of Education unanimously approved the purchase of Heinemann literacy materials in its meeting Tuesday.

The purchase is another part of a district-wide effort to improve literacy comprehension across schools.

In her request, Christy Bush, Title 1 component specialist for Clark County Public Schools, said for students to see great success in reading, they must have books and materials in their hands every day.

The approval of Heinemann literacy materials for $168,676.94, which comes out of the board’s general fund, will impact reading and writing in the elementary schools in the district, Bush said.

“We will expect growth as early as state testing in May,” Bush wrote on the item request form.

Heinemann materials consist of additional reading resources for classroom teachers and students to enrich literacy instruction. These materials include guided reading level books and interactive read-aloud kits in which each elementary can continue working on the district’s goal to have every student reading and writing on grade level by third grade, according to the request.

These materials are an extension of the district’s Journeys curriculum which CCPS already implemented in its classrooms.

The board also considered the first reading of the Calendar Committee’s proposed 2019-2020 calendar. The board will vote on a final schedule at another meeting later this year.

The two options each have 173 instruction days with the first day of school as Aug. 14 and the last day of school as May 15, 2020.

One of the only differences between the two options is option two includes President’s Day as a possible make-up day.

Both calendars would schedule fall break for Oct. 11-14, Thanksgiving break for Nov. 27-29, Christmas break for Dec. 23 to Jan. 3 and spring break for March 30 to April 3.

The board also approved a new job description for a maintenance worker for the athletic facilities, buildings and grounds.

The maintenance worker would report to the administrative director of operations, and would perform a variety of maintenance duties related to maintaining and repairing district athletic facilities and grounds.