Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Calendar topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board reviews three calendar models including post-Labor Day start; staff to survey community
Summary
A calendar committee presented three draft 2026'27 school-year models at the April 8 meeting — a traditional schedule, a midweek start model and a post-Labor Day start — and staff will post models online and survey the community before the board votes in June.
Charles County Public Schools staff presented three draft calendar models for the 2026'17 school year on April 8 and said the district will publish the models for public comment and return to the board with survey results before a June action.
Miss Mackey, the district calendar lead, described the three models: a traditional calendar with school starting the fourth Monday in August and two-hour early-dismissal buildups before breaks; a "midweek start" model that would back teachers' start dates up three days so students would begin on a Wednesday; and a post-Labor Day start that would push the student start to the Tuesday after Labor Day and shorten winter break slightly, with the last student day in late June.
Mackey said the calendar committee included parents, teachers, administrators, support staff and union leaders, and worked from parameters set by the board. She outlined trade-offs discussed by the group, including aligning with neighboring counties, preserving two-week winter breaks, and the operational cost to close buildings for election day.
"If we looked at adding another holiday for election day into the negotiated agreement, we'd be looking at an additional holiday where the system would have to pay about, I think Miss Acton quoted me, an average...about $300,000," Mackey told the board, explaining that some calendar models avoid closing facilities fully on election day to limit those costs and to avoid school buildings serving as active polling sites with students present.
Board members and the public asked for more student voice in the committee and for clarity about which federal and negotiated holidays would be observed. Several trustees said they favored the traditional model or the midweek variant and that a post-Labor Day start would run the school year too late into June. Trustees asked staff to add a public survey and to solicit student input via the Student Member of the Board (SMOB) advisory group.
Mackey said the models are posted on BoardDocs and that staff will add a community survey next week; the board indicated it would consider calendar action at the June meeting. She cautioned that some negotiated-holiday designations (for AFSCME and other employees) affect whether certain days can be added or shifted and that those labor and operational implications factor into final decisions.
The board did not vote on the calendars on April 8; staff will collect survey results and return to the board before a final vote in June.
