NEWTON COUNTY – For the first time, the Newton County Board of Education will pick a calendar for two consecutive school years. The potential school year calendars for 2025-26 and 2026 -27, were discussed at the BOE’s work session on Tuesday.

A district wide survey will be provided to collect information for developing the calendar.  

Dr. Sheila Thomas, chief strategy and support services officer said September marks a crucial period for gathering information. 

“The development of these two school calendars is a collaborative effort,” Thomas said.

Emails will be sent to parents and employees and there will be a link on the district's website and on all social media platforms to access the survey. Students can also participate through the student advisory council. 

Several calendar considerations will be included during the creation process such as state requirements for instructional days, teacher workdays, testing windows, semester ends dates, independent learning days and inclement weather days. 

Thomas said the calendar will also account for breaks such as fall, Thanksgiving, mid winter, spring and Christmas to prevent burnout and support the wellbeing of both students and staff. 

“A balanced school calendar is offered, spreading school days more evenly across the year, including shorter summer breaks to minimize learning loss and regular breaks to reduce burnout, ultimately improving academic performance and well being,” Thomas said. 

After the general survey is given in September, the calendar options will be presented to principals in October to get the final three calendar considerations and given to stakeholders in a survey. 

In November the calendar options will be presented to the board and the board will have final votes at the Dec. 17 meeting. 

Vice-chair Shakila Henderson-Baker had concerns over how much input and feedback they get from surveys. In particular, Henderson-Baker wanted to know a baseline for what amount of data Thomas was looking for.

“I just feel like we don’t get a lot of input on those surveys. We don’t get a lot of participation,” Henderson-Baker said. “So we are 18,000 students and we only got like 20 people filling out the survey, then that’s bad data.

However, Thomas said that they should not have a problem because employees will be participating. While she does not know the baseline for participation, she said they would also like for more than half of parents to fill it out. 

“It’s really a replicable framework,” said superintendent Dr. Duke Bradley III.“If we have a successful calendar for the 2025-26 school year, if we get substantial feedback on that, we can begin with that framework and then make amendments. It's an opportunity for us to evaluate what we approve and then make changes as may be necessary.”