Classes in St. Mary Parish will begin Aug. 7 for the 2013-14 school year, as approved by the St. Mary Parish School Board during their meeting Thursday.

Teachers report for an in-service the day before, and schools will close for their first break Sept. 2 for Labor Day. There is a fall break Oct. 11 and 14, followed the next day by the first of two parent/teacher conferences in the first semester. A second conference day now is required by Act 1 of the 2012 Louisiana Legislature. It will be held Dec. 16, prior to Christmas break beginning Dec. 23.

A second teacher in-service will be held Jan. 6, and classes resume Jan. 7. A third parent/teacher conference day for elementary students will be March 21, 2014. That day will be a middle and high school in-service day as well.

The Easter holiday falls after testing, so there will be no spring break. That vacation is scheduled April 18-25, 2014.

The Memorial Day holiday will be May 26, 2014, and report card day will be May 27.

There are 10 emergency days scheduled.

In other action, the board:

—Declined to allow assistant principals to serve as assistant coaches at the school in which they are employed. The measure, brought by board member Bill McCarty, failed on the votes of Ed Payton, Ginger Griffin, Marilyn LaSalle, Mike Taylor, Anthony Streva and Roland Verret.

—Approved the purchase of six buses at a cost of $82,752 each.

—Found a bidder for bread supplies. Lacassagne in Baton Rouge got the contract in the third round of bidding at a cost of $1,920 for the remainder of the school year.

—Agreed to replace playground protective material at M.D. Shannon Elementary at a cost of $1,000 to come from District 3 maintenance funds.

—Agreed to move the District 2/3 maintenance shop from Berwick Junior High to the Jacquet campus after air quality reports indicated moderate levels of gasoline and severe levels of light hydrocarbons and methylene chloride inside the school. Griffin voted against the measure.

—Agreed to the 10-day suspension without pay of a teacher who had an inappropriate verbal exchange with a student at Franklin Junior High. McCarty voted against the action.

—Expanded the agenda to approve a resolution supporting the City of Franklin Safe Routes to School grant. The grant would support construction of sidewalks to Foster, Hernandez and LaGrange elementary schools as well as Franklin Junior High.