The RISD board of trustees initially reviewed the calendar options during its Dec. 8 meeting. The board reviewed community feedback at the Jan. 12 meeting before adopting calendars for each year.
“I just want to thank everyone who worked on the calendar and all the teachers’ feedback,” Trustee Vanessa Pacheco said. “I think this calendar is great, and I like the idea of having a conference day for parents and teachers [on Jan. 8].”
The approved 2023-24 academic calendar includes 174 instructional days and 13 additional days for teacher professional learning. The school year is scheduled to begin Aug. 15 with winter break starting Dec. 22 and students returning Jan. 9. Spring break is set for March 11-15.
RISD Superintendent Tabitha Branum said the major difference between the two discussed calendars was the use of April 1 as a weather makeup day. Under the approved option, April 1 is a weather makeup day with the last day of school set for May 24.
The 2024-25 academic calendar will start Aug. 13 with winter break starting Dec. 23. The second semester will begin Jan. 7 with spring break being held March 17-21. The 2024-25 school year would end May 23.
“I think everyone felt like [this calendar] was as close to a really good calendar as possible,” Branum said. “Not perfect, but a really good calendar that aligns with other districts.”
There were several factors in putting together potential school calendars that fill the 75,600 instructional minutes required by the state, including trying to balance teachers’ preferences, testing calendars, alignment with Dallas College for dual-credit courses and student extracurriculars, according to Branum.
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. According to Branum, this extra length of the school day allows the district to “bank” potential days for snow days or cancellations.
Branum said the 2024-25 calendar may be subject to change based on when Dallas College schedules its spring break and decisions made during Texas’ 88th legislative session, which began Jan. 10 and will run through May 29.
