Updated at 9:02 p.m.

Leander ISD's board of trustees voted 6-0 to adopt the District of Innovation plan at its meeting Thursday, Feb. 15.

Six community members spoke in opposition to the plan, including teachers, parents and students.

The board specified that if the district were to make an amendment to the plan, the entire process to establish a DOI plan must be restarted, including a board resolution, public hearing and 30-day period for public comment.

According to the Texas Education Agency, this guideline would be self-imposed by the district and could not be enforced by the agency.

Trustee Jim MacKay was absent from the meeting.

Original article posted at 12:53 p.m.

Leander ISD’s board of trustees will consider whether to adopt the District of Innovation plan at its meeting Thursday night.

The district initiated the process in November with a focus on calendar flexibility to allow the possibility of pushing back the first day of school and letting students out earlier for the summer.

There was a “tremendous amount of academic concerns as well as family concerns that were expressed to this administration by this community asking for relief on the calendar,” LISD Superintendent Dan Troxell said at a meeting in November.

In January, the plan was posted online for community feedback. The Districtwide Education Improvement Council, or DWEIC, voted to approve the plan on Feb. 8, according to Feb. 15 meeting documents.

The plan was developed specifically to allow flexibility with the school calendar, and according to the Texas Education Agency, further DOI exemptions can be added with an amendment in the future at a public meeting by a majority vote of the district-level committee and a two-thirds vote of the board of trustees.

LISD administration recommends the board pass the DOI plan with specific wording that any changes to the plan “must follow the same approval process used in the creation of the Innovation Plan,” which includes the TEA requirements plus public feedback and additional steps, according to Thursday’s meeting documents.

If passed by the trustees, the plan is set to last five years.