Option A which was the majority favorite after the administration posted an online survey seeking community feedback on three calendar options in December, said Kristen Eichel, assistant superintendent for administrative services. The chosen option mirrors last year’s calendar and will be replicated for the 2025-26 school year.
“[The district] feels really good that people took advantage of providing voice and input about what they like and areas that they wanted to see tweaked or look a little bit different,” Eichel said.
The details
The first and last days of the school year will be Aug. 14 and May 22 respectively. There are no early release days and no school on election day, Nov. 5 due to safety concerns as several CISD schools are mandated by Dallas County to serve as polling stations, Eichel said.
Fall break is set between Oct. 11-14 and spring break is scheduled for March 17-21 to align with Dallas College for dual-credit students at Coppell High School. The calendar also meets the state’s required 187 teacher workdays and contains 76,095 instructional minutes which exceeds the requirement by 495 minutes, Eichel said.
Building in extra minutes allows flexibility to use additional minutes in lieu of bad weather days should the need arise. It also compensates for instructional time lost in instances where some CISD schools close while others remain open, she said.
The first day of the second semester starts Jan. 7, 2025, according to district documents. Additional calendar dates include:
- Thanksgiving break: Nov. 25-29
- Winter break: Dec. 23-Jan. 6, 2025
- District holidays: Oct.14, Jan. 20, 2025
- Professional Development Day/Student Holiday: Oct. 11, Dec. 20, Jan. 6, 2025, Feb. 17, 2025, and April 18, 2025.
- Bad weather days: Feb. 14, 2025; April 21, 2025
- 83 days in first semester; 88 in second semester
Historically, early release days have seen some of the lowest attendance rates throughout the district prompting its removal from the calendar. Additionally, the state requires all Career and Technical Education classes to run for 45 minutes each day, which becomes a challenge during those half days, Eichel said. The decision also aims to alleviate scheduling conflicts for parents, who may have to make alternate arrangements when their kids are released from school early.
The calendar offers educators remote work options on teacher workdays before and after each semester, Eichel said. There are also more of these workdays built into the calendar to allow teachers plenty of time to prepare their class in person, remotely or exercise a hybrid option.
“I feel really confident that this is what our community wants and this is what our staff wants,” Board member Leigh Walker said.
