HOUSTON – Jan. 17, 2020 – The Spring ISD Board of Trustees approved the 2020-21 Instructional Calendar on Tuesday that will have students starting school on Monday, Aug. 17 and ending the school year on Friday, May 28 ahead of the Memorial Day holiday.
The approved calendar, known as Option 1, was one of two innovative options presented to staff and the community for input in a survey that drew feedback from nearly 3,000 people. Both options included calendar breaks throughout the year for students and staff, as well as designated professional development days for teachers.
Chief of Staff Julie Hill presented the calendar options to the board, noting that they were done in consultation with the district’s Advisory Committee on Education, which provided guidance.
“We work with them to format them and get them to a place where we can submit them to our community for a vote,” she said.
She noted that there were some key items that the ACE wanted the calendar options to reflect, including no early dismissal days and one option that included a day off for Veteran’s Day, as some trustees and community members had requested last year. In addition, the ACE group also wanted to leverage Election Day (Nov. 3) as Parent Involvement Day since parents would already be out voting, HIll said.
The calendar approved by the trustees on Tuesday was the one that received the most votes from the community and staff by a margin of three to one. It includes two Parent Involvement Days, one on Nov. 3 and the other on Feb. 15. Students and staff will have a full week off for Thanksgiving (Nov. 23 – 27), and Winter Break will start on Dec. 21 with students returning to class on Tuesday, Jan. 5.
Spring break will be the third week in March for students, from March 12 through March 19. The calendar meets all state requirements.
To see the 2020-21 approved instructional calendar, please visit www.springisd.org/calendars. Spring ISD employees should note that their duty calendars for the upcoming school year will be released later this year.