“We are working a year in advance to ensure that our community and our staff have an opportunity to plan and make arrangements for their family accordingly,” Superintendent Tabitha Branum said at the meeting.
The details
Beginning Aug. 12, the first semester of the academic calendar will end on Dec. 19. After a winter break from Dec. 22-Jan. 2, the second semester will kick off on Jan. 6 and wrap up on May 22 for students.
According to the approved calendar, Thanksgiving break will be Nov. 27-28. Spring break is tentatively planned for March 16-20, pending Dallas College system's approval of its spring break dates, which RISD tries to align with, according to RISD Chief of Staff Mike Jasso.
Other student holidays include:
- Sept. 1: Labor Day
- Oct. 10: Fall holiday
- Oct. 13: Fair Day
- Nov. 4: Election Day
- Jan. 19: Martin Luther King Jr. Day
- May 2: Memorial Day
What else?
The 2025-26 academic calendar includes weather makeup dates on April 3 and April 7 to be used if weather causes schools to close. Since RISD school days are about 20 minutes longer than the 420 minutes required by the state to meet a 75,600-minute minimum per academic year, the district will have extra minutes “banked” for other potential unplanned cancellations.
Information on RISD's 2024-25 academic calendar can be found here.
