Alexander County Board of Education adopts 2025–26 school calendar; board cites limited weather flexibility

At a January meeting of the Alexander County Board of Education, members voted unanimously to adopt draft 1 of the 2025–26 school calendar, which sets student start on Aug. 25 and graduation on May 22.

Board members said the adopted calendar meets the state-required minimum hours but leaves very little margin for weather-related closures. Dr. Denita Dalrevis, who presented the two draft calendars, told the board, "This calendar does meet that, but it meets it by very, very little, leeway of only 6.25 hours." Dr. Bill Griffin, superintendent, added, "So there's not a perfect calendar here. There are things here that we would love to have, but we're just unable to do by the requirements that we have to, keep in touch with."

The board considered two committee-drafted calendar options. Draft 1 meets the state-required instructional time with a narrow buffer and would require using planned teacher workdays or other designated days to make up missed days if the district experiences more inclement weather than the allowed buffer covers. Draft 2 offered more flexibility, with about 22.25 hours of padding, and would have moved graduation roughly a week later to May 29. Both drafts include the district's allotted five remote-learning days that the district may use for inclement-weather makeups. Dalrevis also told the board that Alexander Early College’s calendar is constrained separately: "your calendar is bound by CDCC," a constraint she said limits alignment with the district calendar.

Board members debated the tradeoffs: draft 1 preserves an earlier graduation date but reduces flexibility for make-up days; draft 2 gives the district more inclement-weather hours at the cost of a later graduation. Vice Chair Degenhardt made the motion to adopt draft 1; Board member Arguelles seconded. The motion carried unanimously.

The board asked staff to post the adopted calendar for families and staff to allow planning for the upcoming school year. Officials reminded the public that state law (referred to in the presentation as the general assembly requirement) sets minimum instructional hours, limiting the district's calendar options.

The board did not schedule additional changes to the adopted calendar at the meeting; any future changes would be posted to the district website for public notice.