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District outlines new calendar development process for 2025–26; possible two‑week winter break considered
Summary
The board heard an explanation of the revised calendar development process for the 2025‑26 school year, including broader bargaining‑group input, a simplified public calendar format and potential scheduling adjustments such as an extended winter break and a converted floating holiday.
Board members on Jan. 14 reviewed the district's revised process for developing the 2025–26 school calendar and heard highlights of likely changes staff will present for approval in a future meeting.
District leaders said they changed the calendar process this year after waning participation in the district's historical calendar committee. Instead of convening a large standing committee, senior leadership drafted a base calendar and carried the draft to bargaining units, supervisors and parent groups for feedback. "We started with a base calendar for where the holidays fell that was the traditional calendar for this year," a district leader said, and then leadership solicited input across groups beginning in August.
Kim, president of the CEA (the district teachers' bargaining unit), told the board the revised approach gave teachers and bargaining representatives a stronger voice: "My bargaining unit is a large one, and having only my voice on the committee, it was kind of hard to always portray the needs of all 800 roughly teachers. In this format ... we had a bigger voice," she said.
Staff described two notable prospective changes for the 2025–26 calendar: the possibility of a two‑week winter break in that year because of how holidays fall in the calendar, and a modification to Thanksgiving week that would retain parent conferences while adding a staff work day and converting a traditional holiday into a floating holiday for employees. The district also said it will keep a modest cushion of built‑in hours and five contingent days at the end of the calendar for snow or emergency closures. District staff noted they will make the calendar a simple, high‑contrast PDF so families printing a paper copy can quickly see no‑school days.
No formal vote was taken on the calendar development process at the Jan. 14 meeting; staff will present a formal proposed calendar for board action in a later meeting.
