Hamilton County school board amends 2024-25 calendar, sets 2025-26 slate
After receiving pushback on their previous changes, members of the Hamilton County school board updated the district’s 2024-25 calendar to include two full days for teacher planning rather than four half-days.
In February, the school board amended the calendar to raise the number of half-days from three to seven in order to give teachers more planning time. With the update approved Thursday, two full planning days replace the four extra half-days.
The school board voted 10-1 for the amended calendar. School board member Rhonda Thurman, R-Hixson, voted no.
The first semester, with 89 days, will run from Aug. 7 to Dec. 20. The second semester, with 91 days, will run from Jan. 8 to May 22. The two added teacher planning days are Wednesdays — Sept. 18 and Feb. 26.
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Superintendent Justin Robertson told board members in January the intent is for this extra time to be used at a teacher’s discretion, not for professional development.
The change in how the stockpiled inclement weather days are used was a result of families’ and teachers’ clear preference, said Shannon Moody, the district’s chief strategy officer. Roughly half of respondents preferred having two teacher planning days, compared to the 20% who preferred the four half-days, according to an April survey about the proposed 2025-26 calendar. Those results were also used as guidance for the updated 2024-25 calendar.
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On Thursday, the school board also set the calendar for the 2025-26 school year, voting along the same lines. The first semester, with 89 days, will run from Aug. 6 to Dec. 19. The second semester, with 91 days, will run from Jan. 7 to May 21.
School-based in-service days will start July 31 to ensure the school year ends before Memorial Day, Moody said.
In Hamilton County, the typical school day is seven hours — 30 minutes more than the state’s required 6.5 hours — in order to create a stockpile of 13 days each year. Of those, five will be used for professional development, two will be used for teacher planning and the other six will be accumulated in case of inclement weather, for the next two school years.
This year’s calendar had eight inclement weather days stockpiled. Five have been used so far.
Contact Shannon Coan at [email protected] or 423-757-6396.
