Board debates 2025–26 proposed calendar and whether to treat snow days as instructional or days off

The Fox Chapel Area School District Board of School Directors spent a substantial portion of its meeting discussing the district—s proposed 2025–26 academic calendar, including how the district uses Flexible Instructional Days (FIDs), how built‑in snow days would change the schedule, and how those choices affect instruction for students, particularly secondary students who take AP and Keystone courses.

Why this matters: Calendar design affects instructional time, state testing windows, AP/Keystone preparation, staff schedules and family planning. The board heard competing arguments about preserving traditional snow days for families versus using virtual instruction to avoid extending the school year.

What administrators said Superintendent Dr. Reljak and district staff explained that the district applied for and received Pennsylvania Department of Education approval to use Flexible Instructional Days (a three‑year application) and that the district has used FIDs in recent years. "We put that application in...and we've used it, I think, twice now, maybe three times total since we've had the application," the superintendent said, adding that last year no FIDs were used and this year the district used two.

Administrators emphasized scheduling constraints tied to graduation, AP testing windows and Keystone exam schedules. They said the district aims to balance semester lengths to align with block scheduling at the high school so that students taking a course in either semester receive comparable instructional time.

Attendance and technology data District staff gave preliminary data about a recent virtual/FID the district held: districtwide daily attendance typically runs about 94–96% after the pandemic, they said, and the district logged 46 help‑desk tickets on the FID day out of roughly 4,300 students (34 of those tickets were from elementary families). The administration reported that about 2.12% of elementary families choose not to take a district device home; those families made up about 40% of the help‑desk tickets on the virtual day. Staff said they will seek additional attendance data for virtual days and emphasized outreach and supports for families who need device or connectivity help.

Options discussed Board members and administrators discussed several options: (1) keep the current calendar with FIDs and add virtual instruction when needed; (2) build one or more pre‑planned snow days into the calendar so the first snow day would be a non‑instructional day and not require a later makeup day; (3) use two‑hour delays or swap professional development days for snow days. Administrators cautioned that non‑instructional snow days can reduce instructional minutes—especially for students on block schedules, where missing a day can mean losing 90 minutes for certain classes—and that FIDs require planning to meet requirements for special education, nursing and attendance reporting.

Board direction and next steps No formal vote was taken on the proposed calendar at the meeting; the administration will post the proposed calendar on the district website for public feedback and return to the board for approval in February. Several board members asked administrators to gather additional data on attendance patterns for FIDs and the distribution of help‑desk issues by family type so the board can better assess tradeoffs.

Ending Administrators said they will continue to refine communications and supports for families around virtual days and will present the proposed 2025–26 calendar for a future vote after collecting feedback.