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Waukegan board hears debate over three-year academic calendar focusing on finals-before-winter break
Summary
Administrators proposed three successive calendars to ensure high-school finals occur before winter break and approach semester balance; board members pressed for disaggregated survey results, student representation on the committee and future data on student outcomes tied to calendar changes.
Waukegan CUSD 60 administrators presented three proposed academic calendars for the 2026–27 through 2028–29 school years and defended a change aimed at ensuring high-school finals occur before winter break.
Nick Aladzakis (calendar committee lead as named in the presentation) told the board the committee produced three calendar options after surveys and multiple meetings. “The main part is the first day, the last day,” he said, adding that the committee’s primary driver was to complete high-school finals before winter break so students would not return with finals lingering over the holiday.
Board members asked detailed questions about the committee process and who responded to the surveys. Miss Hannah noted the survey responses were “mostly staff” and asked for disaggregated results; Aladzakis offered to share the raw survey breakdown by group to show trends. Miss Lindsey urged the board to use three years of data to compare student outcomes under balanced and unbalanced semester models and flagged start times and sleep science for older students as a related policy conversation.
Administrators said the proposed start dates were a compromise intended to balance semester length (the target being about 83 instructional days per semester) while still ensuring finals fall before winter break. They also said regional considerations—Veterans Day, election days and Good Friday—affect the calendar and that the district would seek regional office of education approval.
Miss Hannah and other members asked why students and parents were not more involved in the calendar committee. Administrators said bargaining-unit processes and committee composition limited membership initially, but they acknowledged the board’s request for more community input and said they would provide additional data and outreach materials before the board votes next week.
Next steps: the board will review final calendar documents and vote at the next meeting; administrators promised to provide disaggregated survey data and additional analysis of student-impact metrics for the board’s consideration.
