The RISD board of trustees reviewed the calendar options during its Jan. 24 meeting. The district uploaded both options to its website, along with a video selection from the meeting, to allow community members to voice their opinions. The board will review the feedback at its Feb. 15 meeting with a potential adoption slated to occur March 7.
Both calendars include 174 instructional days and 13 additional days for teacher professional learning. Winter break begins Dec. 19 on both calendars with spring break set for March 13-17. The major difference between both calendars is a later start in the first semester and a lower number of holidays in the second semester.
Calendar Option 1 has 83 instructional days in the first semester and 91 instructional days in the second semester. The calendar would have the school year begin Aug. 10 and end on Thursday, May 25, 2023. On this calendar, students would return from winter break Jan. 4 and have five non-spring break holidays in the second semester.
Option 2 features 79 instructional days in the first semester and 95 instructional days in the second semester. This option would see the school year begin Aug. 16, 2022, and conclude May 26, 2023. Students would return from winter break Jan. 3 on this calendar and have two non-spring break holidays in the second semester.
Several board members expressed their preference for Option 1 during the Jan. 24 meeting.
Interim Superintendent Tabitha Branum said there were several factors in putting together potential school calendars that fill the 75,600 instructional minutes required by the state. Branum said the district tried to balance teachers’ preferences, testing calendars, alignment with Dallas College for dual-credit courses, student extracurriculars and more.
“There's no perfect calendar,” she said. “Everyone has a very personal connection with the calendar, and they want the calendar built around what works best for their family. But as we create a calendar, we have to create a calendar for what is really in the best interest of 37,600 families plus 6,000 staff members.”
RISD structures its class schedule on a minimum of 440 minutes per day compared to the 420-minute typical day of instruction required by the state. This extra length of the school day allows the district to “bank” potential days for snow days/cancellations, Branum said.
