Mount Lebanon superintendent presents 2025–26 calendar survey results and recommends proposed calendar

Superintendent Dr. David Friese presented results of a public and staff survey on the proposed 2025–26 school calendar at the Jan. 13 Mount Lebanon Board of School Directors meeting and said administration recommends adopting the draft calendar as presented.

Friese reviewed the statutory and contractual constraints that guide calendar creation. He cited Act 56, which permits a school term consisting of either 180 days or a required number of instructional hours (990 hours at the secondary level, 900 at elementary, 450 for half‑day kindergarten). He also noted flexible instruction days may be used only for unscheduled emergency situations (unsafe buildings due to weather, law‑enforcement emergency or similar circumstances) and cannot be pre‑scheduled for non‑emergency uses such as election days. Friese explained that Pennsylvania election‑code requirements mean schools commonly serve as polling locations and that, for safety and logistical reasons, the district often hosts elections with schools closed to students on those days.

Friese said the MLEA teachers’ contract requires 184 staff student days, six professional learning days and four classroom‑management days, adding that the proposed calendar moves from 184 student days to 182 student days and repurposes two days as professional learning days to meet state‑mandated training needs. He said the change aims to increase focused instructional time before end‑of‑year exams rather than leaving weeks of less‑structured time after tests.

The district sent the calendar survey on Nov. 24, 2024, to about 4,200 individuals (approximately 700 staff and 3,500 parents/guardians). The overall response rate was 6.2%. Among staff (103 responses, ~14% response rate) 31% provided generally positive feedback about the calendar; 26% favored a later start; 9% favored an earlier end; 6% favored a shorter winter break; 5% favored a longer winter break; 34% favored a shortened/modified spring break; and 19% favored additional days for Thanksgiving. Parent/guardian feedback (159 open‑ended responses, ~5% response rate) showed 20% positive feedback on the calendar and 34% preferred a later start to the school year; smaller shares favored other changes.

Friese said the calendar for 2025–26 will include one of the district’s longest winter breaks due to how holidays fall on the calendar this year, and that some requested schedule changes could be accommodated in later years when holiday placement permits a different distribution of student days. He said the administration’s recommendation is to keep the draft calendar as presented and thanked staff and families for their feedback.

Board members praised the presentation of survey data and noted the small response rate; one board member (former teacher) commented that instructional time after Memorial Day historically yields limited learning gains and said they favored front‑loading the year. The superintendent pointed out the calendar legend shows differences in student vs. teacher days and indicated the administration will continue to refine how professional learning and classroom‑management days are communicated to staff.