As the school year enters its final month, Superintendent Robert Boyle reports that students and staff are busy with activities to close out the year.

Among them are the eighth-grade survival trip May 16-18, and the seventh-grade camping trip the following week. Those and other activities throughout the school district were noted in Boyle’s report to the Ketchikan School Board.

The board meets on Wednesday with a light agenda. Other than the consent calendar, there are no action items. The board is due to hear a report from Ketchikan High School Principal Bob Marshall, and results from a School Climate Survey.

Items listed for the board to discuss include a review of various curricula that are ready for an update, and substitute-teacher pay.

The curricula up for revision are art, music, health, and physical education and swimming. Committee members already have gone through each category and selected updated material, according to a district memo. The updates will be placed on the May 23rd agenda for board approval.

In a separate memo, Human Resources Director Shannon Sines writes that the district in March had spent almost 90 percent of its budget for substitute-teacher pay. She writes that the district regularly exceeds that budget item.

Also on the agenda is an executive session at the end of the meeting to discuss ongoing teacher-contract talks. The district and Ketchikan Education Association were to resume negotiations on Monday.

Wednesday’s school board meeting starts at 6 p.m. in borough assembly chambers at the White Cliff building. Public comment will be heard at the start and end of the meeting.

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