Members of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education approved during their Monday night meeting districtwide calendars for the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 school years.
Among others, school start and end dates were moved by one week for the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 school years, during which the first day of school will now fall on a Wednesday. That decision was made in response to a 2018 staff and stakeholder survey, where Wednesday was preferred.
“(Starting Wednesday) allows a short week for an easier transition for young students and gives school staff two days at the beginning of the week to finalize start up,” documents provided to the board say.
The winter break inservice day will occur after the end of winter break during the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 school years to give staff better time to prepare for the second semester, finish grading and have a more relaxed break.
Board members also voted to make President’s Day, rather than Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a school holiday during the 2024-2025 school year. For the 2025-2026 school year, President’s Day — not Veterans Day — will be a holiday.
“I really like that Veterans Day and Martin Luther King Day are school days,” said Jason Tauriainen, who represents Nikiski. “There’s been lots of great honoring of veterans on Veterans Days within our schools and I’d like to see that continue and grow. For Martin Luther King Day, it’s an excellent opportunity to be able to talk about civil rights in our classrooms and just to really highlight the importance that that’s had in our country and throughout the world, and to continue to have those discussions.”
The board approved in 2020 the districtwide calendar for the 2023-2024 school year. That calendar was approved by the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development last November. Full academic calendars for the next three school years can be accessed on the district’s BoardDocs page at go.boarddocs.com/ak/kpbsd/Board.nsf/Public.
Reach reporter Ashlyn O’Hara at ashlyn.ohara@peninsulaclarion.com.
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