ROBERTSDALE, Alabama --- Teachers in Baldwin County will be able to fill the required number of instructional days with professional training following a vote at a special meeting of the Baldwin County Board of Education Friday in Robertsdale.

At its meeting May 17, the Baldwin County Board of Education passed a revised schedule for the 2012-13 school year cutting the number of instructional days from 180 to 175 following the passage of House Bill 360 by the State Legislature on May 16.

But, after asking for a clarification from the State Department of Education, it was discovered that the bill requires that the local calendar provide 180 full instructional days or the hourly equivalent.

For a 187-day certified staff, the revised calendar requires:

• 175 instructional days.
• Five work days.
• Two professional development days.
• One employee in-service day, which has been designation as Aug. 10.
• Four flexible professional development days, or a total of 26 hours.

According to the revised school calendar, the first professional development day will be held for teachers on Aug. 13, followed by a teacher institute on Aug. 14 and teacher workdays beginning Aug. 15. The first day of school for students is Aug. 20, two weeks before Labor Day. The last day for students is May 24, 2013, the Friday before Memorial Day. A teacher workday will be held on May 28, the day after Memorial Day.

All other certified staff working an extended contract period will follow a similar pattern of work and professional days.

For support staff working less than 242 day contracts, site administrators and department or program supervisors will assign appropriate professional development and/or work days to employees to ensure that they fulfill their number of contract days.

Administrators and supervisors must ensure that non-exempt support employees maintain the required time records in accordance with the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The flexible professional development days may be worked beginning May 30 of this year, through May 31 of next year, or approximately one week after Memorial Day.

“I think this is an excellent opportunity for teachers to receive credit for training that many of them have already been taking advantage of on their own time,” said School Superintendent Dr. Allen Lee at Friday’s meeting.

BOE members voted unanimously to approve the measure at the C.F. Taylor Building in Robertsdale, with President Angie Swiger and members Frank J. Trione, Elmer McDaniel and Norman Moore present for Friday’s meeting. Members Tracy Roberts, Robert Wills and Robert Callahan Jr. were not present.

In other business Friday, the Board voted to enter into an agreement with Hutchison Moore & Rauch LLC for engineering work at Foley Elementary School at a cost of $143,560.

The project will be used to correct a drainage issue which, Lee said, was caused by improper engineering during the planning stages of the school’s construction.

Lee said the City of Foley is aware of the issue and the steps the School Board is taking to correct the issue.

“I can’t speak as to whether or not the city has ‘signed off’ on the project,” Lee said, “but they are definitely aware of it and I don’t think they have an issue with it.”