North East Independent School District trustees on Jan. 23 approved the district’s instructional calendar for the 2023-24 school year.

Esmeralda Muñoz, executive director of North East’s Learning Support Services, said NEISD next year will have a later start date—Aug. 14—whereas the current school year began Aug. 10.

NEISD also plans to embed student and staff holidays at least once a month, maintain traditional holiday break schedules, and slot elementary and middle school parent conference dates next year, Muñoz said.

Additionally, NEISD will align holidays with neighboring school districts, finish the secondary fall semester before the winter break and schedule professional learning community time periods more consistently through the next academic year, Muñoz said.

Muñoz said the district developed the 2023-24 school year based on feedback from faculty, staff, administrators, students and community members.

According to Muñoz, NEISD is considering establishing elementary and secondary calendar focus groups—with more feedback from parents and students—to help form future academic calendars.

“That way, we can start to craft a calendar that a lot of our community, teachers and staff can be in alignment with,” she said.

Trustees Steve Hillard and David Beyer said they liked the planned 2023-24 calendar, but urged district staff to improve how it gets public feedback to craft academic calendars.

“I think we need to look at refining the process going forward,” Beyer said.

NEISD Chief Instructional Officer Anthony Jarrett said, in developing a school calendar, the district sought to balance parents’ concerns with state requirements with faculty and staff planning processes while keeping student performance outcomes in mind.