Preschool And Elementary Calendar Adjustment For Professional Development

The new school year is here and we are so glad to have our schools full and humming with life and learning. We want to let you know that we are adjusting the school calendar for our preschool and elementary students.

What Is Changing?

Wednesday, January 28 and Thursday, 29, 2026, will be non-student contact days for preschool and elementary students, allowing more than 2,000 of our educators to engage in a multi-day literacy-focused training.

Secondary schools and programs will run as normal on those days. January 30 is already a non-student day.

Why Are We Making This Change Now?

Early literacy is one of the most important indicators of future success and of reaching our vision of all students graduating, prepared for a successful life. This is our opportunity to invest in training that will help our amazing teachers and staff gain proven skills and strategies to improve outcomes for students.

This work also aligns with our district’s strategic plan, Climbing Together, which focuses on improving our third-grade literacy scores and providing key professional development across our system. We need this focused time for learning and calibrating on foundational understandings of literacy instruction.

We understand that this calendar adjustment has a substantial impact on you and on our community. This decision was not taken lightly by any means, but we believe this training opportunity is critically important for the thousands of students we serve across our community.

What Else Should We Know?

We are not adding makeup days to the end of the school year calendar based on this adjustment. Makeup days may still be added depending on any inclement weather closures that may occur during the year.

Updated calendars will be available on our school district website as soon as they are ready.