District staff present draft 2025‑26 and 2026‑27 school calendars; board to consider adoption at Feb. 28 meeting

Dustin, the district’s Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction, presented draft school calendars for 2025‑26 and 2026‑27 and described the committee process that produced the drafts. The board was given the drafts for discussion; the superintendent said the calendars will be brought to the general board meeting on Feb. 28 for consideration.

Dustin said the calendars were developed by a cross‑section calendar committee of teachers, classified staff, administrators and community members that met beginning Nov. 13 to align Rescue Union’s schedule with the high school district and to provide families with calendar information before open enrollment. “We have parents already asking as we approach the time to open registration,” Dustin said, explaining a motivation for producing calendars earlier than in prior years.

Highlights for 2025‑26: the draft meets the required 180 instructional days, includes two contractual professional development days and regular Wednesday early‑release collaboration days, and places the last day of the 2025‑26 school year on May 22. The committee recommended placing an emergency make‑up day near Veterans Day to avoid a low‑attendance minimum day; Dustin said the committee’s placement aimed to avoid creating a wasted day of learning.

Highlights for 2026‑27: the draft is similar but shifts the two professional‑development days before the start of school to allow substantive training tied to a planned math curriculum adoption in 2026‑27. That change moves the 2026‑27 first day from a Wednesday to a Thursday but retains the district’s practice of a short start week to ease students into the year.

Dustin noted the calendars also account for state testing windows, the district’s kindergarten ramp‑up to full‑day kindergarten (“magic Monday”), and retained one potential emergency closure make‑up day while removing another previously reserved day as the district’s exposure to planned power shutoffs has decreased.

The board asked no substantive questions at the study session and took no action; Dustin said the calendars will be returned for action on the Feb. 28 consent/agenda. Enrollment for the coming year opens Feb. 5, and the district intends to publish adopted calendars before that date.