A change in the 2024-2025 school calendar adds more professional development days for staff before the start of the new school year, while adding two new virtual days for students to allow for parent conferences.

“The biggest push this year was how do we prepare teachers – new teachers coming in and teachers that need support with changes from the state department and our district – to make sure on day one they are ready to provide for our students,” Personnel Supervisor Stephanie Perry said. “The second thing was at what points do we need to have virtual days, but have them in place to inform parents about their student’s progress and support them in supporting their student.”

The calendar, as adopted by the School Board on Monday, includes more professional development days prior to the start of the school year to give support and prepare all employees, including new teachers, for the new school year, Perry said.

Having the professional development days prior to the start of school will also mean schools will not have to find substitutes so that employees can attend the training, she said.

Under the calendar, the school district will provide professional training for all employees before the start of school on Aug. 15.The training will include a mini teachers leaders summit.

Administrators will meet July 24-25 and July 29-30 with new teacher training set for July 31-Aug. 1.

Staff will also have six school and district professional development days scheduled for Aug. 7-14.

Another new addition to the calendar will be two virtual learning days on Oct. 25 and Feb. 10, 2025. Students will learn virtually off campus while schools host parent-teacher conferences to discuss student progress.

The first planned holiday will be Sept. 2 for Labor Day. Students will also get Oct. 10-11 off for fall break.

Election day has also been added as a holiday has on Nov. 5 which is a presidential election. Many schools are used as voting precincts.

Students will get Thanksgiving holidays Nov. 25-29 with Christmas break following on Dec. 23-Jan. 3, 2025. Fair Day will also be a school holiday, though no date has been set, Perry said.

Holidays for 2025 will include Martin Luther King Day on Jan. 20; American Heritage Day on March 3; Mardi Gras on March 4 with Easter/spring break extending from April 14-21.

The last day for seniors will be May 7, 2025 with graduations being held May 12-16. The school year will end on May 22, 2025 for all other students with teachers ending the school year on May 23.

Central office and summer employees will observe Juneteenth on June 19,2025.