The day many local students have been anticipating for perhaps weeks is now at hand.

Thursday is the last day of school for the Fort Dodge Community School District.

District Superintendent Josh Porter told the Board of Education Tuesday that classes will be dismissed two hours early that day.

In other business, the board received a report from Jeri Ayala-Thompson, the principal of the Early Childhood Center, about the multi-tiered system of support used to help young students struggling in school.

She used the example of one of the center’s students to show how the program can be successful. She said the boy came to the school as a 3-year-old pre-kindergarten student who spoke very little and had “some unique behavior needs.” He required the constant attention of a paraeducator.

Ayala-Thompson said the school’s teachers and paraeducators worked intensively with him using the multi-tiered system of support.

She said that now he has achieved all of the educational goals set out for him at the Early Childhood Center and no longer needs a paraeducator. The boy will start first grade at Cooper Elementary School next year.

In the only substantial action item Tuesday, the board approved the purchase of a vehicle lift capable of lifting 12,000 pounds for the shop at the bus garage. It will be used for changing tires, putting on new brakes and doing other repairs on district trucks. It will not be able to lift a school bus.

The lift was purchased from BendPak, of Agoura Hills, California, for $10,045 plus a $1,500 installation fee.

Mohawk Lifts, of Amsterdam, New York, submitted the only other bid of $18,562.11 with no installation fee.