District officials sent emails to both parties on Nov. 27 presenting three options that were created by the District Advisory Committee and Campus Calendar Committee, according to Gina Peddy, executive director for curriculum and instruction.
Zooming in
The committee's report was presented by Peddy during the Nov. 13 board of trustees meeting. She said there were a number of priorities that needed to be addressed. For instance, the district looks to have an even amount of instruction days in each semester while ending the school year prior to Memorial Day, she said. The state requires 75,600 instructional minutes for students and 187 contract days, according to documents.
Peddy noted an informal survey was sent to staff, and 453 responses were garnered—about 60% were answered by teachers.
When asked about adding 10 minutes to the school day for an addition of student fall break and teacher work days, she showed the following data:
- 60% said yes
- 32% said no
- 8% said no preference
- 61% said yes
- 24% said no
- 15% said no preference
Place 1 trustee Christy Stacy said CISD families take vacation throughout the year and was in favor of the administration's goal in creating a longer fall break.
“We are trying to give families a designated time to do that,” she said. “Attendance has been a problem [because of vacations], and as of last year, it looks like we lost $3.2 million in funding due to vacations. I know they are trying to get a handle on that. A majority of the teachers and principals are excited to do that.”
The framework
Each of the three options will have school starting Aug. 13, 2024, and ending May 22, 2025.
All three options also have spring break the third full week of March to coincide with the spring break for Tarrant County College. Peddy noted the district partners with dual credit courses with the community college so the dates will be March 17-21.
Option 1
- Called the "traditional" calendar and mirrors the 2023-24 school calendar
- Winter break: Dec. 19, 2024-Jan. 8, 2025
- Thanksgiving break: Nov. 25-29
- Fall break: Oct. 11-15
- 86 days in first semester; 87 in second semester
- Features five extra minutes per day compared to 2023-24 school year
- Extra days off were added on Oct. 11, 2024, and March 24, 2025
- The extra days extend fall break and spring break, respectively, for students by one day
- Winter break: Dec. 23, 2024-Jan. 8, 2025
- Thanksgiving break: Nov. 25-29
- Fall break: Oct. 10-14
- 86 days in first semester; 88 in second semester
- Features 10 extra minutes per day to provide two additional teacher work days compared to 2023-24 school year
- Would create a weeklong fall break from Oct. 14-18
- Winter break: Dec. 23, 2024-Jan. 7, 2025
- Thanksgiving break: Nov. 25-29
- 83 days in first semester; 87 in second semester
Place 3 trustee Dudley Jordan questioned whether the survey for the staff should be concluded first so parents could see what the results were.
Board President Cameron Bryan echoed Jordan’s thought process.
“I think our parents really want to support our teachers and want to support what our teachers think the calendar should be for academic excellence,” Bryan said.
The survey will be active for staff and parents until Dec. 4, according to the district.
