Liberty Hill ISD board hears split community feedback on 2025–26 calendar, staff favor shorter student year

The Liberty Hill ISD Board of Trustees on Dec. 16 reviewed results of a districtwide survey that presented two 2025–26 instructional-calendar options and heard extended debate over whether to adopt a more traditional calendar or a modified schedule that would give teachers recurring student‑free workdays.

District chief of schools Travis Motol said the survey drew 2,481 total responses — more than 1,600 from parents and 824 from staff — and 834 commenters. He told trustees that both calendar A and calendar B meet state minimum requirements for instructional minutes (75,600) and contract days (187) but organize those minutes differently.

"Both of them meet the minimum instructional requirements of 75,600 and 187, teacher and campus days," Motol said. He described calendar A as the district's more traditional pattern and calendar B as a more innovative model that concentrates student holidays on specific Mondays to give staff designated planning time.

The survey: respondents and concerns

Motol summarized the vote-share numbers the district reported: 67% of respondents said they agreed or strongly agreed with calendar A, while 57% backed calendar B. He said calendar B drew more comments, reflecting its novelty and consequent questions about childcare and extracurricular impacts.

Trustees and other speakers voiced three recurring concerns: consistency so parents can plan, how staff workdays will be structured and protected, and how families with limited resources would manage child care on student‑free days. Several trustees and administrators urged the district to consider options for subsidized or low‑cost childcare, sack lunches for students who rely on meal programs, or using existing hourly staff in panther‑care programs to provide supervised services.

"We had a lot of positive feedback from our staff this year on that," Motol said of prior short breaks, adding that further discussions are needed on whether Fridays or Mondays would be designated staff days and how that choice could affect high‑school extracurricular participation.

Board members voiced differing views. Several trustees, including board member Brandon Carter and others, spoke in favor of calendar B and of considering a full four‑day week in future discussions as a way to give teachers more concentrated planning time and to aid retention. Other trustees stressed the need to protect families who cannot easily arrange alternate care and to ensure student attendance is not harmed by an altered weekly pattern.

Operational and budgetary follow-ups requested

Administrators told the board they will take several follow‑up steps: run the calendar proposal through the District Educational Improvement Committee in January, analyze whether modest daily minute additions could bank days to cover unexpected closures, and run scenarios estimating any operational cost savings from consolidated staff workdays. Motol suggested adding the equivalent of roughly five minutes to the school day could create a small bank of make‑up days if the district adopted calendar B as presented.

Trustees requested clearer definitions of how staff days would be used (for coordinated campus meetings versus independent planning), formal plans to support economically vulnerable families on student‑free days, and more precise modeling of any savings or costs tied to staggered campus operation, transportation or building usage.

What happens next

Motol said the district aims to bring refined recommendations back to the board in January or February 2025, after DEIC review and additional analysis. Any calendar approved by the board will also be posted for families before final adoption to give parents time to plan.