Hyde County committee recommends “Calendar C” for 2025–26, proposes later start and banked minutes to cover snow days

At a March 24, 2025 meeting, members of a Hyde County Board of Education committee recommended the board adopt “Calendar C” for the 2025–26 school year and outlined a policy to use banked instructional minutes to cover weather-related closures, committee members said.

Mrs. Moulton, a member of the board’s calendar committee, told the meeting that under the proposed calendar the last day for students would be May 23 and graduation would be May 18. “This year, last day for students is May 23 with graduation on May 18,” she said. Summer-school dates remain under development and are expected to be released next week.

The committee explained the district’s practice of adding instructional minutes beyond the required minimum to “bank” time. According to Mrs. Moulton, the banked minutes allow the district to provide five snow days, five remote days and roughly 40 hours of professional development time for staff; she said the district used its remote days this year and avoided making up days in person.

“We are recommending calendar c to the board,” said Bracken Winland, a committee member who summarized results of a community survey. Winland said the survey included mostly parents with some staff and student input; while Calendar A drew the largest raw number of responses, Calendar C received the most first-place rankings when respondents ranked all three proposed calendars.

The committee described calendar logistics: students would return three days before Labor Day, spring break would be scheduled as a full week, and winter breaks would remain the same across the options. Staff would begin Aug. 21 and students Aug. 27 in the recommended plan; the presenters thanked the high school for agreeing to move graduation next year to enable the later start.

The presiding official opened a public hearing on the proposed calendar and asked whether anyone wished to be heard; the hearing was closed at 5:49 p.m. with no members of the public recorded as speaking. The committee said it will ask the full board for approval of the calendar at the regular meeting.

The board’s proposed calendar and the district’s banked-minutes policy will be considered at the upcoming official board meeting; no formal vote was recorded at the March 24 session.