East St. Louis has a longer school year because of COVID. It might be the only one.

East St. Louis School District 189 students are gearing up for the last stretch of an extended school year, but for now, it will be the only lengthened calendar.

The school board approved the 2021–2022 calendar Tuesday night that ends the year in May. Because COVID-19 kept students at home in remote learning for most of the last calendar year, the board previously approved the use of CARES Act money to extend the current school year through the end of June to help students make up material they may have lost during an unprecedented year.

Superintendent Art Culver previously said in an interview with the Belleville News-Democrat that he wanted to extend the 2021–2022 and 2022–2023 school years through June as well, to mitigate learning loss in the long term.

“We’re going to do that upfront,” Culver said in April. “As we look at our proposed calendar that we’ll be negotiating with the union and the board, we’re going to be proposing a calendar that’s going to go through June.”

Ultimately, the calendar presented to the school board did not include that extension, but that doesn’t mean additional class time won’t be added later.

“The proposed calendar does not have the extended school year at this time,” Director of Communications and Strategic Partnerships Sydney Stigge-Kaufman said in an email. “One reason is that during the school year we can accurately assess student attainment data and academic growth in comparison with learning loss to fully determine if an extended school year next year is necessary.”

District 189 students — and all Illinois students — may find themselves in the classroom full-time as soon as August. The Illinois State Board of Education will be voting on a resolution requiring fully in-person learning in the fall on Wednesday.