At its regularly scheduled meeting October 22, 2015, the Littleton Public Schools Board of Education approved school year calendars for the next two school years.  Both calendars continue to reflect the Board’s values around school year calendars, which have been shaped by the community over time. 

Proposed calendars for 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 were brought by the district Calendar Committee to the Board for consideration at the October 8, 2015 Board of Education meeting.  The Calendar Committee includes parents, community members, teachers, and administrators.  The committee’s calendar recommendations were based on its review of the Board’s calendar values; state requirements for instructional time; requirements for state assessment testing days; Professional Learning Communities; and various factors that impact the calendar at elementary, middle, and high school levels. 

The two proposed calendars were based off of the Committee’s recommendations to:

• Continue to support the Board’s current calendar values;
• Continue to end the fall semester prior to winter break and end the spring semester prior to Memorial Day;
• Continue the practice of a full week break the week of Thanksgiving;
• Prioritize scheduling no more than one shortened day in any one week;
• Place six Professional Learning Community (PLC) days in the fall semester and four in the spring semester.  This model continues to provide teachers with frequent opportunities earlier in the year to meet and make data-driven decisions that help address the learning needs of individual students.  The Committee sought to strategically place PLC days to avoid multiple shortened days within one week and to keep them on Wednesdays to provide consistency to support families in planning for transportation and childcare. 

Highlights of the approved calendars are as follows:

• The first day of school will be on a Thursday instead of a Friday.   In the past 10 years, the first day of school has been on various days of the week.  The Board of Education’s value to end the fall semester prior to winter break is the determining factor for the first day of school.
• Moving the first day to Thursday allows the district to meet state requirements for instructional time and to continue to have a full week off at Thanksgiving, which has become an expectation in the community.
• The Monday after Winter Break will continue to be designated as a non-student day, which allows teachers a day to prepare for the spring semester.

Calendars, Board’s Calendar Values, and Calendar Q&A