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Proposals for the next three years of school calendars, which largely continue current schedules and have been ratified by the teachers union, appear to be headed for approval in January.

The school board briefly discussed the calendars on Tuesday and agreed to place them on the board’s consent agenda at its next meeting on Jan. 15. Items on the consent agenda are routinely approved unless a board member requests to discuss them.

A calendar committee made up of representatives from the Palo Alto Educators Association, Classified School Employees Association and the district met throughout the fall to negotiate the next three years of school calendars.

They agreed to continue a full week off for Thanksgiving, which was piloted for the last two years with a plan to evaluate feedback from parents, students and staff before continuing it in the 2019-20 school year. In surveys, all groups indicated support for the weeklong Thanksgiving break, according to a staff report.

The start of the school year has been pushed earlier into August in recent years following a decision to have high schoolers take finals before winter break, Deputy Superintendent Karen Hendricks said Tuesday.

As proposed, the middle and high schools would start the 2019-20 school year on Tuesday, Aug. 13, and the elementary schools the following day. Thanksgiving break would be from Nov. 25-29, winter break from Dec. 23-Jan. 6 and spring break from April 6-10. The last day of school would be June 4, 2020.

In 2020, the secondary schools would start school on Aug. 12 and elementary schools the day after. Thanksgiving break would be from Nov. 23-27; winter break, Dec. 21-Jan. 4; and spring break, April 5-9. Schools would end the academic year on June 3, 2021.

In 2021, classes would start on Aug. 11 at secondary schools and Aug. 12 at elementary schools; Thanksgiving break would be from Nov. 22-26; winter break from Dec. 20-Jan. 3; and spring break from April 4-8. The last day of school would be June 2, 2022.

In other business Tuesday, the board approved the district’s first interim budget report in a 4-0 vote, with board member Melissa Baten Caswell absent.

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5 Comments

  1. Still no announcement that was asked many years ago when we were discussing moving finals before Winter Break of the topic of trimesters, or the quarter system.

    Quite typical that they promise the public (parents) that someone will look into the feasibility of a different system to make the school calendar conform to the previous norm of starting school after Labor Day and ending mid June. Empty promise of course.

    Such a shame that PAUSD can’t be innovative and start a new system rather than be a sheep and follow the herd.

  2. Why would you want school to start after Labor Day? As long as AP tests are important, the more days you need to prep. Starting in September is less class time before the AP test.

  3. The calendar was based on agriculture so kids could help out. Now the industry is summer camps.

    I hope they attach odd days and even days to odd and even days so kids can do long term planning and have predictable weekly schedules to have predictable free time

  4. How about they ditch the “Unified” school district so they can have a separate high school calendar where they add two weeks but allow the teens a later school start time? Research shows that teens’ biological clocks are set to later.

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