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North Pocono board approves 2025-26 school calendar after public objections about earlier start
Summary
After public comment objecting to an earlier August start, the North Pocono School District board approved the 2025-26 calendar and snow-day plan following discussion of contract and instructional constraints. The measure passed 5-2.
The North Pocono School District Board of Education on April 9 approved the district's 2025-26 school calendar and snow-day plan, voting 5-2 after several residents urged the board not to move the start date earlier in August.
The vote follows public comment from multiple parents who said a two-day earlier start would shorten summer break, create childcare and travel burdens and diverge from past practice. The board and superintendent said the change balances instructional days, collective-bargaining obligations and a prearranged snow-day plan.
Tom Sweeney, a Springbrook Township resident, told the board he and his wife moved to North Pocono because they believed it was the best place to raise their children and asked the board to "please reconsider" moving the start date earlier. "Those 2 days shorten our children's summer," Sweeney said.
Kimberly Sanderson, a Roaring Brook Township resident whose son attends Jefferson Elementary Center, said families and staff plan summer vacations and college move-ins around historically later start dates. "An extra day for a long weekend during the school year is a much different time spent than the summer," Sanderson said, and asked the board not to change the date to Aug. 20.
Deidra McNulty of Moscow told the board she was disappointed by what she described as limited transparency around the proposed calendar and said the earlier start "requires working families to arrange for childcare for 2 additional days" and could impose a financial burden.
Superintendent Dr. Powell responded to the public comments and to board questions by describing the district's constraints. He said the district builds four snow days into the calendar and is proposing to "take back" two weather days; the district also uses an Act 80 day model that allows some in-service professional development while students are present. "Per our collective bargaining agreement, the teachers are to have 184 teacher days. Obviously, the students by school code have to have 180 days of instruction," Dr. Powell said, explaining why the district uses half-day Act 80 scheduling.
Board member Kevin Powell (board member) moved to table the calendar for further discussion; that procedural motion failed. The board then voted on the original motion to adopt the calendar and snow-day plan. The motion passed 5-2. Recorded votes during the roll call show five affirmative votes and two negative votes.
The board president and administration said they will attempt to collect additional online input that had been circulated in the community but not submitted through the board secretary's public comment channels prior to the meeting. The district also outlined the snow-day plan publicly and noted the calendar aims to balance student instructional days, staff professional development and weather risk.
The board next meets for a work session on Monday, May 5, 2025, and the regular meeting on Wednesday, May 7, 2025, both at district school libraries or the high school auditorium.
