Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Academic Calendars topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Dinwiddie school board approves 2025–26 and 2026–27 academic calendars after discussion of makeup days and teacher time
Summary
The Dinwiddie County School Board approved draft academic calendars for the 2025–26 and 2026–27 school years after presentations about weather makeup days, banked hours and added early-release teacher work time.
The Dinwiddie County School Board approved draft academic calendars for the 2025–26 and 2026–27 school years after a presentation from district staff that outlined weather makeup days, banked instructional hours and added teacher work days.
Dr. Clay presented the two-year drafts and said the 2025–26 calendar totals 1,044 instructional hours, leaving 54 bank hours (equivalent to nine days), and the 2026–27 draft provides about 1,050 hours with a historical target of roughly 60 bank hours (10 days). He told the board the division builds schedules by hours to meet Virginia’s requirement that schools provide either 180 days or 990 instructional hours.
The presentation noted the 2023–24 school year exceeded the division’s banked hours after several weather closures; the middle school also missed additional time because of a boiler fire, so the district submitted a state weather-waiver request for those hours. To add planning time for staff, the calendar committee removed one professional-development day and inserted two early-release (half) days counted at three instructional hours each.
Committee members who drafted the calendars included one representative from each school and central-office staff; Dr. Clay said the committee totaled 13 participants and iterated drafts with school-level feedback. He said the drafts align with nearby jurisdictions on major breaks and that the calendars include a flex day in August for teachers and two professional-development days.
Board members asked about how unused bank time might be returned to staff; Dr. Clay said prior practice has been to convert unused time into a wellness day for staff and students and that the committee had discussed possible target days such as the Monday after Easter or the Friday before Memorial Day.
The board voted to approve the 2025–26 and 2026–27 calendars as presented.
Board action on calendars was limited to approval of the drafts; any later changes will follow the district’s regular process for calendar revisions and notification to families.
