The Warren County Public Schools Board of Education on Wednesday adopted a school calendar for the 2010-11 academic year that keeps in step with a modification in the state budget.

The first day for county students under the calendar, adopted at Wednesday’s special board meeting, would be Aug. 3. The last day for students would be May 19.

State law requires school districts to set up a calendar with the equivalent of 177 six-hour instructional days, which comes out to 1,062 hours.

Superintendent Tim Murley said the General Assembly has provided funding for 176 instructional days, and the school board approved a calendar with that number of instructional days.

To bring the district in compliance with state law, the district will have schools meet for 365 minutes of instructional time each day – or six hours and five minutes per day.

By doing so, the district would exceed the minimum equivalent of 177 six-hour instructional days by more than eight hours.

In the 2009-10 school year, Lighthouse Academy met for 365 minutes per instructional day, and was the school with the least number of minutes in the district.

Murley said that if the school board did not take that course of action, the district would have had to fund for the additional day out of its own pocket, at a cost of about $380,000.

In other business Wednesday, board members evaluated Murley’s performance since his November hiring.

Board members characterized the evaluation as something less than formal, since Murley, who came on board as interim superintendent in September following previous head Dale Brown’s retirement, has been the district’s leader for less than a full year.

Nonetheless, comments during the meeting indicated that Murley has performed well.

“With everything this district has experienced in the past year, it’s been a daunting task, but I would say you’ve handled every opportunity with flying colors,” board chairman Mike Wilson said.

Several board members, and Murley, said that one of the biggest challenges to address in the near future is the district’s ability to meet No Child Left Behind standards.

Warren County met 23 of its 25 target goals to meet adequate yearly progress for the 2008-09 school year, but since the district fell short of the 100 percent goal for the third year, the district was placed in Tier III of consequences.

Students were assessed in demographic groups based on their scores on the Kentucky Core Content Test, and Lost River Elementary School and Drakes Creek Middle School fell short of their targets in reading and mathematics for students with disabilities.

Consequences for schools in Tier III entail reporting the status to parents and revising the school’s or district’s plan, and technical assistance is provided by the state while the district is subject to corrective action by the Kentucky Department of Education.

“We are progressing, but we’re going to have to pick up to meet those goals,” Murley said. “Our parents have very high expectations and our administrators and teachers do as well.”

Board members Kerry Young and Becky Evans credited Murley for his openness in working with personnel and for his decision making.

Another board member, Don Basham, echoed the comments of the other members, while issuing a challenge to Murley and the district to teach one core curriculum area taught without textbooks, utilizing more technology instead.