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Board reviews two-year calendar drafts; staff recommends starting after fair week and reducing early-release days
Summary
Division staff presented draft calendars for 2025–26 and 2026–27 after a committee review of parent and staff surveys; the drafts favor starting school after the county fair, a two-week winter break, fewer early-release days and added unencumbered workdays for staff. The board will consider action at the next meeting.
Division staff presented two draft school calendars — for 2025–26 and 2026–27 — at the Jan. 23 Page County School Board meeting, saying the drafts reflect feedback from parents, staff and a calendar committee.
Dr. Huber, who led the presentation with Dr. Johnson, told the board the division received 417 parent responses and 315 staff responses to calendar surveys. “The majority of our respondents were in favor of starting after fair week,” Dr. Huber said. The committee also recommended a two-week winter break and reducing the number of early-release days, citing transportation and nutrition impacts.
Staff said they used input from principals, instructional teams and teacher feedback to balance competing priorities. To give teachers more unencumbered time to prepare, the drafts convert several August orientation/early-release days into full professional/workdays and place some professional development days at the ends of grading periods.
Staff also proposed publishing two years of calendars so families and staff can plan in advance. “Our goal would be to bring back both calendars for action at the next meeting,” Dr. Huber said; staff asked the board for feedback and flagged snow-day and year-hour calculations as a scheduling constraint.
Board discussion centered on predictability and instructional requirements. A board member asked how snow days would be handled; staff said the division monitors instructional hours and will look for incremental ways to recover lost hours before taking days from built-in vacation periods.
No formal vote was taken; staff said they will return with any requested edits and expect to present the calendars for action at the next regular meeting.
