Unlike the current calendar, the next school year will not include regular early release Wednesdays.
Chief Academic Officer Matt Bentz said community survey data about the calendar showed unanimous support for providing time for staff development and teacher planning time. However, campus administrators and the community preferred full days rather than early release days. The district began adding early release days to the school calendar in November 2020 amid the challenges of teaching students both in person and online.
“We have attempted to strike a balance by building in four additional professional development days, which actually has meant less students days,” Bentz said.
After board discussions at the Jan. 13 meeting, district staff added an April 10 student holiday to give families a student vacation day and provide staff at least one professional development or teacher collaboration day per month excluding December and May.
“I think it will be a much-needed break for those teachers in April,” board member Christine Mauer said.
The calendar includes two dedicated teacher workdays before school starts, two days for the Continuous Improvement Conference in October, two early release days and added staff development days during the school year.
Student holidays, in addition to regular holidays, include Sept. 26, Oct. 10-11, Nov. 8, Feb. 20 and March 20. Early release days will be Dec. 16 and May 26, which are before winter break and the last day of school, respectively.
The calendar does not include a bad weather day because it has enough banked—or extra instructional—minutes already in the calendar as to not require a bad weather day, Bentz said at the Jan. 13 meeting.
A draft of the 2023-24 calendar is available online.
