STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
Blaine County School District students will get one more day of summer vacation this year.
The school district has pushed the start date for students from Wednesday, Aug. 31, to Thursday, Sept. 1.
The postponement of classes allows teachers to take part in a safety training designed to offer techniques for providing a safe, secure learning environment for students. Officers with the Blaine County Sheriff’s Department and Hailey Police Department will join with the district’s information technology team in taking part in the training.
Superintendent Jim Foudy apologized for any inconvenience the change to the school start may cause: “We truly appreciate the flexibility and understanding of our families and community as we make this change so we can provide our staff with an important safety training ahead of the school year.”
School resource officers provided by the Hailey Police Department will cover five schools this year, instead of three.
Previously, school resource officers were assigned to Wood River High School, Silver Creek High School and Wood River Middle School.
Now, one school resource officer will cover Wood River High School, Silver Creek High School and Alturas Elementary, while another will oversee Wood River Middle School and Hailey Elementary School. School officials say they are working on accommodating the district’s other schools.