Calendar Development: 2025-26 School Year

Proposed Calendar (Oct. 24, 2024)

During the school board meeting on Thursday, October 24, Eric Irizarry, Director of Equity, Family, School & Community Relations, presented the proposed calendar for the 2025-26 school year. The presentation covered the calendar development process and timeline, results from the community survey, and a revised draft calendar for the board’s consideration. Dr. Irizarry also discussed the potential benefits and challenges associated with the revised calendar. The board will vote on the proposed calendar at their meeting on November 14.

Proposed 2025-26 Calendar

The Proposed Calendar, which maintains a two-week Winter Break, includes the following changes, made in response to survey feedback:

  • Spring Break moved to the first full week in April.
  • Professional learning days and teacher workdays were clustered to reduce the number of four-day weeks.
  • Family Conference windows for fall and spring were expanded for flexibility and are indicated on the calendar.
  • November 4 (Election Day) shifted to a teacher workday.

Community Survey (Oct. 1-9, 2024)

The ACPS Calendar Committee invited students, staff, families, and community members to review the draft calendar for the 2025-26 school year and provide feedback by October 9, 2024:

View the Draft 2025-26 Calendar

The draft calendar includes the following key dates:

  • First Day of School: Wednesday, August 13, 2025
  • Last Day of School: Friday, May 29, 2026
  • Thanksgiving Break: Wednesday-Friday, November 26-28, 2025
  • Winter Break: Monday, December 22, 2025 – Friday, January 2, 2026
  • Spring Break: Monday, March 30 – Friday, April 3, 2026

The survey is now closed. Results will be discussed at the committee’s next meeting on October 17.

Guidelines

A diverse Calendar Committee, consisting of school and department administrators, teachers, support staff, and parents/guardians, is currently working on developing the 2025-26 school year calendar. The process is guided by the following key considerations and requirements:

  1. State Requirements: By state law, our school calendar must include at least 180 teaching days or 990 instructional hours.
  2. Professional Learning & Collaboration: The calendar will be designed to accommodate professional learning and collaboration time for staff. We will evaluate the number of professional learning days and the potential use of half-days for these activities.
  3. Calendar Committee: We will seek input from a diverse advisory committee, including teachers, parents, and school administrators, to recommend a calendar to the superintendent.
  4. Teacher Contracts: The standard 10-month teacher contract will include 200 days. This comprises a minimum of 180 teaching days or 990 instructional hours, plus up to 20 additional days for various activities such as professional development, planning, and committee work, as outlined in § 22.1-302 of the Virginia Code.
  5. Calendar Options: For the 2025-26 school year, we will consider:
    • The benefits and drawbacks of starting and ending the school year earlier than usual, and whether to conclude the first semester at Winter Break.
    • Unique calendar options, which may offer different scheduling structures.
  6. Half-Day Professional Learning Days: We will evaluate the pros and cons of having half-day professional learning days.
  7. Student Days: We aim to maintain a minimum of 176 student days.
  8. Breaks & Holidays:
    • We plan to maintain a two-week Winter Break.
    • We will strive for consistency with Charlottesville City Schools regarding major breaks and holidays.

Timeline

The 2025-26 calendar development process will run from September through December 2024. The Calendar Committee will meet at least three times; meetings will be held virtually via Zoom and will begin at 6 p.m.

The following dates are subject to change.

  • September 5, 2024 | First meeting of the Calendar Committee
    • Review calendar committee process, guidelines and timeline
    • Gain input from committee members on initial calendar drafts
    • Begin drafting community survey questions
  • September 19, 2024 | Second meeting of the Calendar Committee
    • Finalize calendar options to present to the community for feedback
    • Finalize community survey questions
  • October 1, 2024 | Open community survey
  • October 9, 2024 | Close community survey
  • October 17, 2024 | Third meeting of the Calendar Committee
    • Review survey feedback
    • Finalize recommended calendar to present to the school board
  • October 24, 2024 | Present recommended calendar to the school board for review (information)
  • November 4, 2024 | Present recommended calendar to the school board for approval (action)

Resources


Please direct any questions about the 2025-26 calendar development process to Eric Irizarry, Director of Equity, Family, School & Community Relations.