The USD 428 Board of Education and Superintendent Tom Vernon met with the Great Bend chapter of the KNEA teachers union on Monday afternoon for a session of Interest Based Bargaining (IBB) over the upcoming school year calendar. At issue is how to balance the required number of hours of instructional time while having a desirable ratio of days off for Winter, Spring and Summer vacations. Currently, according to Vernon, no one likes the idea of starting school as early as August 12, but there is equal dislike for the options of doing away with Spring break or shortening Winter break.