The April 18 bad weather day will be used and the early release days on May 11 and 18 will be converted to full school days to meet the required number of operational minutes.
LISD board members approved the 2021-22 calendar revision Feb. 24. Board members Anna Smith and Sade Fashokun voted against the changes.
The 2021-22 calendar included some excess instructional minutes, but the number of minutes was tighter due to the early-release Wedesndays built into the calendar, said Chief Academic Officer Matt Bentz at the Feb. 24 trustee meeting. This included less than a full day of excess minutes for middle and elementary school students
Bentz said the district considered other options such as adding two school days to the calendar, changing the last half-day of school into a full day or converting a professional development day to a regular school day. But the recommended calendar plan found a balance for students and staff while meeting the number of required learning minutes established by the state.
Board members discussed how losing the two early release days would affect the dedicated time teachers have to complete a state-required reading academy.
"I don't want to put those teachers in a position where they can't make it up because they don't have these early releases," Board Member Anna Smith said.
Superintendent Bruce Gearing said teachers have 24 other early release days to complete the training, which if not completed would have "severe consequences." Gearing said the district cannot control the weather and the Feb. 24 winter weather could have put the district in a worse position to add more minutes.
"Some of these things are out of our control. We'll do everything in our power to make sure that we help them through, but we're going to have to get them through," Gearing said.
Here are some dates to know for the rest of the 2021-22 school year:
- March 2: early-release Wednesday
- March 9: early-release Wednesday
- March 14-18: spring break
- March 21: staff development day; no school
- March 30: early-release Wednesday
- April 6: early-release Wednesday
- April 15: Good Friday; no school
- April 18: bad-weather day; school day for staff/students
- April 27: early-release Wednesday
- May 4: early-release Wednesday
- May 26: last day of school; half day
- May 26-27: high school graduations
