Your trusted source for community news
Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District

Trustees approve 2025-2026 school calendar

Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District
Posted

Parents can start planning for next year. Students and teachers will have the opportunity to take a break in October.

After multiple surveys and committee discussions, the school district’s calendar for next year was approved at the Jan. 17 Board of Trustees meeting.

The process started in November with a survey of teachers and staff, said Assistant Superintendent of Leadership and Learning Kim Holcomb.

They preferred Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday start dates and provided other feedback, which the District Improvement Council considered, before presenting two calendar options to the CFBISD community for a vote.

The calendars did not vary by much.

The final survey, which was launched Dec. 20, received 1,787 votes by parents, students and staff, Holcomb said.

Superintendent Wendy Eldredge said that when she and the board have served meals to teachers and staff during staff development days have shown appreciation at having time to focus on preparing for their students.

“The number one thing they always wanted to talk to the board about was how nice it was to have a break,” she said.

Holcomb said that teachers said they do appreciate having time between quarters for grading, lesson planning and to dive into the lessons they will be teaching.

She said students said something similar about a fall break.

“We heard from some students out in the field when we were on campuses. They really enjoyed having that mid-fall time to reset, especially if they were involved in multiple activities and extracurriculars. It allowed them time to kind of take a break from school, do extracurricular activities and not have to run so fast from September and waiting until that November break,” she said.

The calendar that the survey-takers chose by 75 percent, which was unanimously approved by the board of trustees will add five minutes to the school day next year, which Holcomb said the District Improvement Council would consider before long.

In response to a trustee question, she said the state does not allow schools to reduce the lunch hour, so it would need to be added to the beginning or end of the school day.

She acquiesced to Eldredge’s opinion that mornings are already “very early” for elementary students, but said the district improvement council would also need to work with operations for bus routes before announcing school times for next year.