Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Teacher Calendar topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
WEA asks Westminster board to restore two missing elementary planning days in 2025-26 calendar
Summary
A representative from WEA urged the board to add two elementary planning days to the proposed 2025–26 calendar, citing a contract requirement for four planning days evenly distributed across the school year and stressing the impact on teachers' ability to meet families and plan instruction.
Melissa Duran, identified at the meeting as representing WEA, addressed the Board of Education during public comment on Feb. 11 and asked the board to add two planning days that she says are missing from the district’s proposed 2025–26 calendar.
Her request matters because, she said, the planning days are a contractual entitlement and provide time for elementary teachers to meet with families, plan with colleagues and prepare instruction—activities she said support student outcomes.
Duran said the contract guarantees four elementary planning days “that will be evenly distributed through the school year.” She told the board the proposed calendar is again missing two of those days and that the district has not followed the contract language since the 2021 school year. She said when planning days were scheduled in prior years, teachers used the time to meet families who work evenings, to plan with coworkers, and to do work that otherwise falls to evenings and weekends when the days are omitted.
Duran urged the board to review earlier calendars she previously provided, compare available instructional hours and recommend where two planning days should be added to the 2025–26 calendar to comply with the contract and support teachers and families.
Board members did not take immediate action during the meeting; staff noted the calendar committee and administration will continue to review the proposed calendar and related contractual questions.
