Students and teachers in the Troy City Schools will enjoy a 10-day combined spring break and Easter break during the 2015-2016 school year.

The March 25, 2016-April 3, 2016, break is scheduled as part of the calendar approved by the Troy City Schools Board of Education on Monday.

The calendar was recommended by a faculty and administrative committee whose members studied two options for spring break. The second option included coordinating the break with Troy University and Pike County Schools earlier in the March.

Board member Jason Thomas expressed his concern that the city and county districts are unable to coordinate their spring breaks, affecting students in participate in the joint career-technical programs.

“I was over there earlier this month and they only had half the students there,” he said. “I know it’s a touchy subject with everybody … but it would be nice if we could at least try to work together.”

Dr. Lee Hicks, superintendent, said committee members had reached out to other institutions, including Troy University, to see if the breaks could be coordinated later in March. “We put we put this to the teachers for a vote and, well, we only had 14 votes for calendar 2 … All the rest were for calendar 1.”

In addition to the extended break, which begins on Good Friday (March 25, 2016), Troy City Students will have a fall break beginning Oct. 10. Classes are cancelled Oct. 12-14, and parent-teacher conferences are scheduled for Oct. 15.

Classes will begin on Aug. 12, with professional development for teachers on Aug. 3. The last day of classes will be May 25, 2016, with teachers dismissed after May 27. The complete calendar is online at www.troyschools.net.

The board also recognized the teachers of the year from each campus. “These are the teachers who will be nominated to compete at the state level,” Hicks said.

The honorees, who were selected by their peers, are Vicki Robinson, second-grade teacher at Troy Elementary; Stephenie Kelly, librarian at Charles Henderson Middle School; and Mitzi Woodall, special education teacher at Charles Henderson High School.

In other business, the board:

• Heard from Ann Felton, president of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, about the group’s initiatives designed to assist at-risk teens and pre-teens. “These programs are provided by the chapter as a resource for the school system,” she said. The programs included Delta Academy, an educational program for at-risk girls agest 11-14; Delta GEMS, created in 2004 to help young women ages 14 to 18 who are at-risk of not achieving academic success; EMBODI, a youth initiative aimed at African American males ages 11-18; and Disaster Preparedness, which helps teach students and their parents about preparing for disaster and personal safety. “Thank you for sharing this,” said board member Roxie Kitchens. “As a board we have discussed several times what we can do outside of school to help those children whose family support may not be there.”

• Recognized middle school advanced art student Demi Huynh, whose work is on display with a student show at the RSA Tower in Montgomery. She is also competing in the statewide Superintendent’s Art Competition. Huyhn’s watercolor painting of the middle school, titled “My School,” will be displayed at the central office.

• Authorized Hicks and CFO Mickey Daughtry to accept the lowest bid for the wireless system upgrade. Bids are due March 26, during spring break. “We need to go ahead an act on it so we can meet state E-rate deadlines,” Hicks said.

• Approved the financial report. Sales tax revenues for February were $233,170.59, up 8.6 percent from 2014. Utilities for December through January were $236,044.30, down 11 percent from the prior year.