During the Jan. 17 Conroe ISD Board of Trustees meeting, trustees unanimously approved the second draft of the 2018-19 academic calendar, which featured an Aug. 15 start date, a May 30 end date and 177 total days of instruction. The decision came after the district published two calendar drafts to the CISD website in November and received feedback from community members, Deputy Superintendent of Schools Curtis Null said at the meeting. “Almost 3,000 comments came through [the district website] this year…and almost 60 percent of the responses were in favor of draft two,” Null said. Implementing an early start date for the second consecutive year is part of CISD’s District of Innovation designation, which allows the district to have greater local control and increased flexibility on educational programs, according to CISD’s website. The 2018-19 calendar also includes a March 11-15 spring break, three holidays on Oct. 8, April 19 and April 22, and a full week off school during Thanksgiving. Pertaining to the 2017-18 academic year, students will not be required to make up time for Jan. 16-17, during which classes were cancelled due to icy road conditions, Null said. The district put enough instructional minutes into the 2017-18 calendar to account for inclement weather days, Null said. Days missed during Hurricane Harvey in August were waived by the Texas Administration Agency and the district was not required to make up those days. “We also have enough minutes built into [the 2018-19] calendar so if were to have freezing days again…we wouldn’t have to ask our students to make up a day,” Null said.