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Urbandale administration proposes 2026–27 calendar changes; board sets public hearing for Oct. 20, 2025
Summary
Administration proposed specific adjustments to align professional learning days and school days across calendars for 2026–27; the board voted to set a public hearing on Oct. 20, 2025 to consider the changes.
District administrators presented a resolution asking the board to adjust the 2026–27 academic calendars to better align professional learning days and student days across the traditional calendar, Karen Acres (KA) and Metro West Learning Academy.
The proposal would move KA’s planned day off on Sept. 4 to a professional learning day and shift KA’s day off to Sept. 8 (the day after Labor Day). It would make Oct. 9 a school day for the traditional calendar, moving the professional learning day originally scheduled for Oct. 9 to Nov. 9. Finally, Nov. 30 would become a school day for everyone and the professional learning day originally on Nov. 30 would shift to Dec. 7. The presenter said the changes are intended to space professional learning days more evenly and align calendars so staff can be available for shared work.
The administrator described how full professional learning days are structured: two hours of teacher collaboration, an adaptive-learning block in the late morning and early afternoon, and an afternoon work block. The presenter said formal feedback from staff was limited but that anecdotal comments about the full-day structure had been largely positive.
A board member moved to set a public hearing for Oct. 20, 2025 to consider the calendar adjustments; the motion was seconded and passed by voice vote. No members of the public had signed up to comment at this meeting.
The calendar committee plans to convene in late August and aims to bring calendar proposals to the board in October for action after the public hearing process.
