The details
The new calendar puts the first day of school on Aug. 12 and the last day on May 27. The school year’s first semester has 79 school days, and the second has 91 days, which includes STAAR and AP exams.
Thanksgiving break will start on Monday, Nov. 23, and class will resume on Monday, Nov. 30. Winter break starts on Dec. 18, and students will return to school on Wednesday, Jan 6, per the schedule.
Spring break is set for March 15-19, with students returning to class on Monday, March 22.
What else?
GCISD will not have class on the Nov. 3 Election Day, due to feedback from parents and district staff after Election Day in the 2024-25 school year, executive director of instructional leadership Kalee McMullen said at the meeting. Monday, Nov. 2 will also be a district holiday, giving students a long weekend before Election Day.
“It’s really challenging for us to have school on Election Day,” McMullen said. “There are a couple districts around us that have school on that Monday, and that are off on Election Day, but that would prove to have low attendance on that Monday, since a lot of people would turn that into a four-day weekend.”
Additionally, the new schedule includes an extended weekend in October, after receiving requests from teachers for more time for parent-teacher conferences and instructional planning. There will be no class from Friday, Oct. 9 through Tuesday, Oct. 13.
One more thing
The new calendar also includes an additional school holiday on April 30, to break up the time between Easter, on March 28 through the end of the school year on May 27.
“This was determined ... to strategically break up the long instructional period between Easter weekend, that falls a little bit earlier next [school] year, and the end of the school year,” McMullen said.
