Calendar to allow end of semester before holidays

   A school calendar that accommodates two recurring requests was approved by the Monticello School Board during its Feb. 24 regular meeting.

   Those are:

   • To end the first semester before the holiday break.

   • To end the school year before Memorial Day weekend.

   Barring unusual circumstances, both of those will be accomplished in the new 2025-26 calendar.

   Because of Iowa state law requiring that classes begin no earlier than Aug. 23, the Monticello Community School District in recent years has had to pause its first semester during the holiday break, then complete it after the beginning of the new year.

   The district will get around that this time by scheduling unbalanced semesters.

   The first semester will cover 80 days, ending on Friday, Dec. 19, while the second semester will include 92 days.

   “The good thing with this is, when kids get done (with the semester), they can let it go over the break,” Superintendent Brian Jaeger said.

   “After you have shut your mind down for a couple of weeks, to come back and try to do some important things before the end of the semester, that’s very hard to be able to do. So we thought we would try this.”

   High school Principal Nick Schauf said the concept will be on a one-year, trial basis.

   Schauf said that because more delays and snow days tend to happen after that first of the year than before, and because so many students leave school early to participate in spring sports, the number of days lost in the second semester would likely bring the total classroom days closer to the 80 days scheduled in the first semester.

   “I think we’ll come close to even when it’s all said and done,” Schauf said.

   He added that it affects year-long classes less than it would single-semester classes, because year-long classes tend to end a unit before the holidays and start a new one afterward.

   Schauf added that a one-year trial will be helpful because, he said, “we want to gather that feedback, because if it’s a terrible idea, then let’s change it back and make (the semesters) equal.”

   Later, Jaeger spoke about the concept of finishing the school year before Memorial Day weekend, which he said he has heard as frequent requests from board members, community members and staff.

   To that end, in keeping with a law passed in 2023 by the Iowa State Legislature, the calendar includes the equivalent of three days (18 hours) of virtual learning time.

   In the event of school cancellations due to weather, the law enables students to make up school hours virtually over a period of weeks rather than tacking on additional days at the end of the school year. Teachers then put together virtual learning activities that students can choose from.

   So the district is covered in the event of three snow days (or multiple hours of late starts and early-outs), and has the option of adding two more days (12 more hours) of virtual learning time if needed.

   This will enable the last day of school to be May 22, and high school commencement to be Sunday, May 17, 2026. Memorial Day that year will be May 25.

   The board approved the calendar by a vote of 4-1, with Mark Rieken opposed.

   Other calendar notes:

   • The first day of school will actually be Aug. 25, since the law’s “earliest start date” of Aug. 23 falls on a Saturday.

   • Spring break in the 2025-26 calendar will be March 16-20.