In its most recent Nov. 18 meeting, the School Board heard about the four options on the table for the 2026-27 school year, each with its own quirks.
The Board didn’t indicate which option they’d go with, but a majority of the nearly 13,000 survey respondents indicated they favored Option A.
Option A would have students start on Monday, Aug. 24, 2026, and finish on Thursday, June 17, 2027. Students would receive a two-week winter break from Dec. 21 to Jan. 4 with spring break from March 22 to 29. There would be a teacher workday on March 29.
Stephanie Soliven, Ed.D., the associate superintendent for Teaching and Learning, said at the meeting that this option was a favorite of the 7,772 parents who took the survey.
“When we broke it down to students, parents and teachers, parents overwhelmingly chose Option A. That was the choice that, without question, [they] supported,” Soliven said.
Soliven noted that the 4,463 staff members who took the survey preferred Option C.
Option C would have students also start on Aug. 24, with teachers returning to work on Aug. 17. Winter break would begin on Dec. 23 instead, and students would finish the year on Tuesday, June 15, 2027. There would be a reserved teacher workday on June 16.
Soliven said some staff members were concerned about the possibility of ending their year on a Monday.
“We do have a holiday for Juneteenth on that Friday [June 18], and so it is a bit of an awkward shift with school ending for students on Thursday, holiday for all on that Friday and then Monday is technically the last day that teachers will report,” she said. “I will say that on this year’s calendar, we denoted that as an optional work day for teachers who did not complete their wrap-up responsibilities the week before.”
Soliven also noted that the 532 student respondents chose Option B.
Option B is similar to Option A, but it has students starting on Tuesday, Aug. 25, rather than Aug. 24. Winter break would be from Dec. 21 to Jan. 4, with no extra teacher work day after spring break and ending the year on June 17 for students.
“Our students, interestingly enough — it was a small group of respondents — they chose option B with the extra teacher workday on that Monday and school starting on Tuesday. But when you looked at all the respondents, Option A was the preferred choice for the majority of our stakeholders,” Soliven said.
She said a Tuesday start has pros and cons.
“There were families concerned with the way daycare arrangements work, and they’re having that one odd day that made it really difficult,” Soliven acknowledged. “It was more of our families that had concerns about the Tuesday start.”
Option A was the first choice of 80% of respondents to the survey, according to the PWCS presentation.
The same religious holidays are to be observed in the upcoming school year, including Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, the latter of which was recently added.
The Board is expected to vote on the final 2026-27 calendar at its Dec. 3 meeting.
