Friendswood ISD’s board of trustees received its first look at a draft for the district’s 2024-25 academic calendar at its Dec. 11 meeting.

What you need to know

Officials are considering three options for the district’s newest calendar. The options have the same last day of school on May 22 as well as the same winter break from Dec. 20, 2024-Jan. 7, 2025, and spring break the week of March 17. Options A and C have the school year starting Aug. 13, while Option B has the school year beginning Aug. 12.

The key difference has to do with which days teachers have development days and what days they can exchange, according to district documents.
  • Option A includes everything that is in options B and C, minus caveats for staff days.
  • Option B has a professional learning day on Nov. 1.
  • Option C has the same professional learning day on Nov. 1 and includes five additional minutes to each school day as well as two noninstructional days for data analysis and lesson design in October and February.
The process to narrow down the calendar options began in October with a staff survey along with discussion at a couple of advisory meetings, according to district documents. Nearly two-thirds of staff chose the third option.

The details


District officials must meet several requirements in the new calendar based on state law. According to district documents, some of those include:
  • A minimum of 75,600 minutes annually
  • Up to five waiver days for embedded professional learning
  • School days being at least four hours long
  • 187 work days to meet teacher contracts
Furthermore, officials worked on a few different principles when designing the calendar, including the first semester ending by winter break and the school year ending by Memorial Day, according to district documents. It also built in a two-day cushion for weather.

Stay tuned

The district’s board will consider approving the new calendar at its January meeting, according to district documents.

The board will next meet at 5:45 p.m. Jan. 16 at the district’s boardroom, 402 Laurel Drive, Friendswood.