Board approves 2025-26 student calendar and autism services contract; technical-education leaders present expansion plans

The Special School District of St. Louis County Board of Education voted to approve revisions to the district's 2025-26 calendar and separately approved a purchase-of-service contract for the Center for Autism at a public meeting where technical-education leaders also outlined enrollment growth and program priorities.

During a presentation on the proposed 2025-26 calendar, Kevin Ahern, chief of technical education district operations, said the staff calendar contains 190 staff days and the student-facing calendar contains 173 student attendance days, including 13 professional-development days and four banked snow days. Ahern said the district also has 36 hours of alternative methods of instruction (AMI), which he said equates to about six school days. "We need to have a 169 student attendance days" to qualify for maximum weighted average-daily-attendance (ADA) funding, he told the board, referencing a state statutory change. Board members later approved the calendar after a…