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(THOMAS WALLNER | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Following meetings of the district calendar committee and parent and staff surveys, the GISD School Board approved a calendar for the 2025-2026 school year.
Following meetings of the district calendar committee and parent and staff surveys, the GISD School Board approved a calendar for the 2025-2026 school year.
The district’s calendars are created by its committee, made up of staff, parents and community members, who establish several drafts which are narrowed down to two for school board approval.
“There are 23 people that serve on the calendar committee. There’s five people from the DIT (District Improvement Team) committee from each campus, and five teachers... that are recommended from the DIT committee,” Assistant Superintendent Robert Loomis said in January. “There’s a secondary principal, a primary principal, the superintendent, myself, (the) curriculum person, community members, some business members and five parents, one from each campus.”
The committee examined five draft calendars which were narrowed down to three. The committee researches large campuses like Athens ISD and surrounding districts like Breckenridge ISD and Graford ISD to collect data.
The district provided the three calendar options for staff and parents and guardians to vote on which were labeled Calendar A, Calendar B and Calendar E.
A total of 210 of 375 staff members voted in the survey distributed to GISD staff, with 54.3% voting for Calendar A, 34.3% voting for Calendar B and 11.4% voting for Calendar E.
A total of 340 of 2,000 parents and guardians voted in the survey distributed via email and ParentSquare, with 34.7% voting for Calendar A, 49.4% voting for Calendar B and 15.9% voting for Calendar E.
Due to the similarities between Calendar A and Calendar E, the district combined the two results to compare to results from Calendar B for both groups. For staff, the combined number was 65.7%, while for parents and guardians it was 50.6%.
Calendar E was similar to Calendar A with the exception of having a 10 minute shorter day along with the addition of four student days and three teacher days. Instead of a 480 minute day under Calendar A, Calendar E had 470 minute days.
“Calendar A is 480 minutes. It's similar to what we have right now. It's a mirror of what we have right now, except the days changed in the upcoming year so that changes a little bit,” Loomis said during the Wednesday, Feb.12 board meeting. “Calendar B is a true four day week, as much as we can get it to within 480 minutes. Calendar E is a mirror of Calendar A, but it's 10 minutes less than a day, it's 470 minutes.”
A similarity between the calendars is that in August, September, October and November, every away football game will be a Friday off along with Friday, Aug. 22, which will be the annual Lu Allen Tournament.
The school board adopted Calendar A after a recommendation from the district. Under the approved calendar, the school year will run from Wednesday, Aug. 13 through May 21, 2026.
The nine-week grading periods run from Wednesday, Aug. 13 through Thursday, Oct. 9, Monday, Oct. 13 through Friday, Dec. 19, Jan. 6, 2026 through March 13, 2026 and March 23, 2026 through May 21, 2026.
There are a total of 157 student days and 170 teacher days under the approved calendar with a total of 12 professional development/teacher work days.
Important Calendar Dates
July 28-31 – New student registration
Aug. 4-7 – Returning student schedule pick up
Aug. 13 – First day of school
Sept. 1 – Labor Day
Nov. 24-28 – Thanksgiving Holiday
Dec. 22-Jan. 2 – Christmas Holiday
Jan. 19 – Martin Luther King Jr. Day
March 16-20 – Spring Break
April 3 – Good Friday
May 21 – Last day of school
May 22 – GHS Graduation
May 25 – Memorial Day
School Times
Pioneer - 7:45 a.m. - 3:45 p.m.
Crestview - 7:50 a.m. - 3:50 p.m.
Woodland - 7:50 a.m. - 3:50 p.m.
GJHS - 7:55 a.m. - 3:55 p.m.
GHS - 7:55 a.m. - 3:55 p.m.
