The Cy-Fair ISD board of trustees unanimously approved the instructional calendar for the 2020-21 school year as it was proposed by the district's calendar committee.
Originally posted at 4:25 p.m. on Jan. 14
The Cy-Fair ISD board of trustees will vote on whether to approve the instructional calendar for the 2020-21 school year at its next monthly meeting Jan. 16.
A committee of 35 district parents, campus administrators, teachers, paraprofessionals and other members of the community convened in November to draft the calendar. The committee unanimously approved the calendar, and the board’s approval is the last step needed to become official, according to the district.
Chief Academic Officer Linda Macias said the committee considered state testing days, state law, holidays, student attendance data, and the calendars of Lone Star College-CyFair and other neighboring school districts when developing the plan.
“We were developing a calendar that was instructionally sound for students—not when the best times for vacations were or extended holidays—but it was truly a calendar that was instructionally best for our students,” she said at a Jan. 13 board work session where the calendar was discussed.
According to state law, teachers are required to work 187 days, but students have to be in school for 75,600 minutes. School cannot start before the fourth Monday in August unless the district is deemed a District of Innovation—a designation CFISD discussed pursuing in 2019 before putting the process on hold.
Macias said there are 900 additional minutes built into the proposed calendar, so if school is closed due to inclement weather for two or fewer school days, students will not have to make up for that lost time.
The proposed calendar is as follows:
- Aug. 10-14, 17-21: Professional days
- Aug. 24: First day of school for students
- Sept. 7: Student/staff holiday (Labor Day)
- Nov. 2-3: Professional days
- Nov. 23-27: Student/staff holiday (Thanksgiving break)
- Dec. 21-25, 28-Jan. 1: Student/staff holiday (winter break)
- Jan. 4: Professional day
- Jan. 18: Student/staff holiday (Martin Luther King Jr. Day)
- Feb. 15: Professional day/inclement weather day
- March 15-19: Student/staff holiday (spring break)
- April 2: Student/staff holiday (Good Friday)
- May 27: Last day of school for students
- May 28: Professional day/inclement weather day
The board will vote on the proposed calendar at a 6 p.m. meeting on Thursday, Jan. 16, at 10300 Jones Road, Houston.
