LIBERTY LAKE, Wash. — The Central Valley School Board approved a new balanced calendar for the 2025-26 school year.
This calendar will shorted the summer break by about a week and give students more days off during the school year.
The school district said it hopes the changes will boost attendance numbers, especially in the middle of the year for students and staff.
Students will have a new mid-winter break after Presidents’ Day and a few more three-day weekends once the balance calendar starts next school year.
“Strategically placing single days on some three-day weekends will kind of address some of the issues with attendance we’ve experienced when we have a holiday on a Tuesday and Monday and there’s very, very low attendance from students and sometimes, our staff,” said John Parker, the superintendent of Central Valley School District.
Central Valley said the summer break will be a full week shorter. The district hopes that will help address the summer learning loss students usually experience.
The district also hopes adding more breaks during the school year will reduce burnout for students and staff.
“We learned a lot from the pandemic. We learned the impact the COVID had on our kids and our families. We knew we needed to try some things that were going to be different and the balanced calendar was one of those,” said Parker.
Superintendent Parker led the balanced calendar committee that included district staff, administration, students, parents and local business leaders.
The committee met eight times over the past year. It made the final recommendation to the school board to adopt the balanced calendar.
For more information and to view the full Central Valley balanced calendar, click here.
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