MODIFIED 4-DAY SCHOOL CALENDAR FREQUENTLY-ASKED QUESTIONS
1. What are the reasons for a new calendar? First, the calendar model we have used successfully for 5 years, with early release on Fridays, is no longer an option for LISD due to a recent TEA decision relating to student attendance accounting. When this was communicated to LISD staff, they overwhelmingly (73%) asked for some type of 4-day calendar over a traditional 5-day calendar.
In addition, over half of all parents who responded to the fall calendar survey favored some type of 4-day calendar. This was before we knew the current early release calendar was not an option.
One of the most critical factors in student learning is the quality of the teacher. The new calendar will make LISD more competitive for attracting high-quality teachers and staff and will also serve as a retention incentive for the outstanding teachers currently serving LISD students.
2. Will this make school days longer? No. School days will be roughly the same length as our current Monday through Thursday schedule and possibly a few minutes shorter.
3. Will this make the school year longer? Yes, it will add a few days at the beginning of the school year in August. The first day for students will be August 6th, which is about a week earlier than usual. The last day of school will be May 21st, the Thursday before Memorial Day, which is no different from our usual calendar.
4. Why have Fridays off instead of Mondays (or some other day of the week)?
Fridays will be less disruptive for parents who are already accustomed to a different schedule on Fridays. Having Fridays off is also the least disruptive model for continued success for LISD extracurricular and co-curricular programs.
5. What about students who receive free or reduced price breakfast and lunch on school days? Our administration is looking into several options for continuing to provide meals for students on Fridays when there is no school. The most common option is to send extra food home with students on Thursdays, but a final decision is pending.
6. How will the new calendar affect extracurricular activities on Fridays? We will play games and participate in other competitions on Fridays just as we always have.
The upside is that a junior high student who travels to an away game on Thursday and gets home very late will not have to wake up early to attend school on Friday morning except in August or January.
Extracurricular activities will still be able to hold practices on Fridays and Saturdays just as they do now, with more flexibility in scheduling the Friday practices.
7. What about Friday pep rallies? Our campus administrators will work with our students and will look at how other 4-day districts are scheduling pep rallies. We will find the best plan for our students and community to promote the greatest possible participation.
8. Will the new calendar result in lower pay for teachers or other employees? No, it will not. From a staff perspective, they will be teaching, planning and grading as always. We will still exceed the required 75,600 minutes of operation, just as before, but in fewer days than before.
9. Will we lose instructional time? The new calendar will have 154 school days. Two of those days will be early release (half days) so we will net 153.5 days of instruction. Compare that to our current 2024-2025 calendar which has 171 school days with 34 early release days (half days) for a net of 155 days of instruction - a difference of 1.5 days.
10. Will holidays be shorter during the school year? All traditional holidays with an extended break will remain the same: Thanksgiving Break and Spring Break will still be a week each. Christmas Break will still be 2 weeks. We will observe two traditional Monday holidays - Labor Day and MLK Day.
11. How will the district know if this new calendar is successful? We will examine many data points that include but are not limited to the following:
★ Student academic success (STAAR/EOC, proficiency assessments, reading levels, math skills levels, completing dual credit college hours before graduation, earning an industry-based certification before graduation, ASVAB scores, ACT and SAT scores, and graduation rates).
★ Employee retention rate.
★ Student and employee attendance rates.
★ Percentage of students participating in extracurricular activities.
★ Numbers of certified and highly qualified applicants for each open position.
★ School climate surveys and parent feedback..
Updated 03/06/2025 2:00pm
12. What time will school start and end each day? School hours will be 7:50AM to
3:50PM or within a few minutes of those times. There will be no significant change in the
daily schedule.
13. What did the poll results look like? 269 parents gave a preference on the fall
calendar survey. 146 of them (54%) selected a 4-day or 4-day hybrid calendar.
14. When will fall band, volleyball, and football practices begin? According to the UIL
calendar, the first day for Band and Volleyball practice will be August 1st. The first day
for Football practice will be August 4th. These dates are not affected by a school
district’s calendar.
15. Where can I find information regarding the TEA decision that removed the current
calendar model with early release every Friday as an option? This was an update to
the Student Attendance Accounting Handbook (SAAH). This handbook is published
each year and governs how school districts operate with regard to student Average Daily
Attendance, which drives state funding of schools. The SAAH was published in
September and updated late in the fall semester, after the DEIC and calendar
sub-committee had started working on the 2025-2026 calendar.
HERE is a link to the SAAH. Section 5.5 on page 169 states that school districts “... must
ensure CTE course periods are a minimum of 45 minutes on standard/regular bell
schedule days.” We originally interpreted ‘standard/regular bell schedule’ to mean our
Monday through Thursday schedule, so there appeared to be no problem.
However, the addition of example 17 on page 180 made it clear that a district that meets
the 45-minute threshold Monday through Thursday, but falls below the 45-minute
threshold on Fridays will NOT be eligible for weighted CTE funding because releasing
students early every Friday is considered part of the “standard/regular bell schedule.”
CTE courses make up a large percentage of our secondary-level course offerings and a
large percentage of our students enroll in CTE courses. The funding generated makes
up a significant percentage of LISD’s state revenue each year and it would not be in the
best interest of taxpayers, students, or the district to jeopardize the ability to receive it.
16. What consideration has been given to flu and strep season? The calendar
committee gave this serious consideration. There are fewer school days during flu
season (January, February, and early March) than on any previous LISD calendar.
17. What consideration will be given to families who already scheduled late summer trips that may overlap with the first 2-3 days of school in August? It is expected that a few families will still be on vacation as school begins since it will be the first year with a new calendar. LISD will not encourage any family to cancel or change a family summer vacation. Our teacher and administrators will do their best to help every student and parent settle into the new schedule with as little difficulty as possible.