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 motion, with the board president calling the vote "Aye" and the motion carrying.

Ahern described several calendar adjustments made to align SSD with partner districts, including moving the fall break back one week and shifting an October professional-development day to align with other districts. He said the calendar package submitted for approval included both a family/student calendar and a separate staff calendar to reduce confusion.

Also on the agenda, district officials sought approval of a purchase-of-service contract for the Center for Autism. A motion to approve the contract was moved and seconded; the chair asked "All in favor?" and recorded "Aye," after which the chair said the motion carries.

Separately, Kevin Ahern and North Tech principal Emmanuel Young and South Tech principal Dr. Jake Luzzi gave an extended update on career and technical education (CTE) operations. They reported that both North Tech and South Tech have enrollments above 800 students (North Tech about 821, South Tech about 848 in the snapshot presented), that enrollment has returned to pre-pandemic levels and that about three-quarters of graduates move on to education or employment related to their technical program. Ahern described changes to access and admissions, including adoption of a lottery-based admissions process with minimum eligibility criteria to improve equity.

Principals described instructional priorities and new practices. Emmanuel Young said North Tech is building a "proficiency skill" to assess workplace readiness and is expanding professional-learning communities (PLCs) and competency-based education pilots. Dr. Luzzi said South Tech is focusing on equity, climate and culture, and student success measures such as increasing the share of CTE concentrators meeting criteria for Missouri's CTE certificate.

Leaders also reported on adult education: the district's Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) cohort moved to North Tech, allowing the program to expand to 35 students and produce about 7% of the state's new LPNs in the past year. Dr. Luzzi reported a near-90% NCLEX pass rate and a 100% placement rate for graduates the board was able to contact.

Board members asked for follow-up detail about the district's per-pupil funding and the district share of costs to expand programming; Ahern said staff would bring back cost estimates and a facilities plan for further discussion.

At the end of the meeting the board approved motions to set closed meetings on January 28 and February 11; the chair called the roll and those present voted in favor.

Votes at a glance - Purchase of service contract for the Center for Autism: motion moved and seconded; chair recorded "Aye"; motion carries. - Calendar revisions for 2025-26 (family/student calendar and staff calendar): motion moved and seconded; vote recorded as "Aye"; motion carries. - Motions to set closed meetings (Jan. 28 and Feb. 11): motion moved, roll-call vote recorded as affirmative; motion carries.