The board of trustees approved the 2023-24 academic calendar in a 6-1 vote at its Dec. 19 meeting. Trustee Becky St. John voted against the selected calendar, citing concerns for the school year starting on a Tuesday rather than a Wednesday. She said a shorter first week of school would be best for the district’s younger students.
During the meeting, Executive Director of Instructional Leadership Shiela Shiver said the district needed to take restraints from the Texas Education Code into consideration when deciding the calendar. These included instructional minutes for students, contract length for teachers and local holidays.
In total, four drafts of the calendar were created. Shiver said the calendar surveys received over 1,000 responses, and 52% of respondents favored Draft C, which the board approved Dec. 19.
The approved calendar begins the school year Aug. 15. It allots six days of professional development throughout the year and includes flexible minutes, which will be used for two bad-weather makeup days Feb. 16 and April 15.
Thanksgiving break is set for Nov. 20-24. Shiver said winter break is different from 2022-23’s, which began on a Thursday. Next year’s break will begin on a Monday, Dec. 18, with students returning to school Jan. 4, 2024.
Spring break is scheduled for March 11-15. The last day of school and graduation will be May 23, 2024.
Regular school days will be 7:40 a.m.-3 p.m. for elementary school, 8:10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. for middle school and 8:40 a.m.-4 p.m. for high school.
The complete 2023-24 academic calendar can be found here.
