The Jeff Davis Parish School Board has approved changes to the 2025-2026 school calendar to incorporate more local professional development and planning days for teachers.

“One good thing about the calendar is we have four days built in after each 12-week grading period where teachers come to schools, but students don’t,” Superintendent John Hall said.

The days will allow teachers to engage in professional development activities without students present. Teachers requested these additional days for collaboration, training and lesson planning, he said.

The calendar also includes four state and local professional development days from Aug.4-7, before the start of the new school year. Professional development days and teacher planning days are also scheduled for Oct. 2, Oct. 13, Jan. 5 and March 13.

New teacher induction will take place on July 31 and Aug. 1.

Students in grades 1-12 will return to school on Friday, Aug. 8, with pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students starting on Friday, Aug. 12.

“We always start on Friday,” Hall said. “We love having Friday because if there are any issues with scheduling, equipment or air conditioning, it can be fixed over the weekend.”

The first holiday will be Labor Day on Sept. 1, followed by Fair Day on Oct. 3.

The Thanksgiving holiday will be from Nov. 24-28 and the Christmas/New Year break will be from Dec. 22, 2025 – Jan.2, 2026.

Other 2026 holidays include MLK Day on Jan. 19, American Heritage Day on Feb. 16 and Mardi Gras Feb. 17-18. Easter and spring break will be from April 3-10.

The school year will end before Memorial Day, with the last for students on May 21, 2026. Teachers will end the year on May 22.