Board approves 2025-26 and 2026-27 MDUSD Academic Calendars

December 19, 2024 Update: The Board approved the calendars as presented.

As MDUSD has worked to plan the school year calendars for the next two years, our Human Resources Department has sought input from parents, staff, students and employee bargaining units to develop a schedule that best meets the needs of all.

The School Board expects to vote on the proposed 2025-26 and 2026-27 school year calendars on Wednesday, Dec. 18 after a presentation that will include the results of a calendar survey conducted in October. Of the 5,811 survey responses received, 69.2% were from parents, 20.8% were from staff members and 10% were from students. The complete results are here.

A majority of respondents said it was “very important” to complete final exams before winter break, were satisfied with the 2024-25 calendar, found the Fall Break to be helpful for their overall well-being, urged the District to keep the Fall Break in future years, and were pleased with the lengths of the Thanksgiving, Winter and Spring breaks. 

The best time to start and end the school year got mixed results, with nearly half of respondents preferring to start in late August, compared to 35% preferring mid-August and about 15% supporting early August. Nearly 43% preferred that the school year end in early June, compared to 24.1% preferring late May, 21.8% preferring mid-June, and 11.2% stating they were flexible.

Similarly, preferences for more 3- or 4-day weekends were also mixed, with 35.6% preferring more 3-day weekends, 22.1% preferring more 4-day weekends, 17.9% asking for fewer longer weekends, and 24.3% stating no preference.

Elementary parents and staff members were also surveyed about Parent-Teacher conferences. The majority of respondents were satisfied with the length of time they spent in the meetings, felt they should happen later in the year, and felt they were valuable in understanding children’s needs and progress. 

But elementary respondents were split on their satisfaction regarding the number of minimum days allocated for the conferences. Thirty-three percent were satisfied or very satisfied with the current number of 8 minimum days, 30.2% were neutral, and 35.8% were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied. Of the 3,238 responses, 641 were from elementary staff members. Among these staff, 32.7% were satisfied or very satisfied with the number of minimum days, 34.5% were neutral and 32.8% were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied.

Based on feedback from the surveys and meetings with employee bargaining groups, the Human Resources Department is proposing calendars that:

• Start August 6, 2025 (and 2026)
• End June 2, 2025 (and 2027)
• Include 6-day Fall Breaks that extend from the first full week of October through Indigenous People’s Day
• End the first semester/2nd quarter before Winter Break
• Include 6-day Spring Breaks that extend from the first full week of April through the following Monday  
• Do not yet include dates for Elementary Parent-Teacher Conferences

Update: You can watch the Board discussion of this item here.