In December, the board released the 2024-25 student calendar, which makes Thanksgiving break a full week and moves the first day of school back two days.
Next year, students will return to campus on Aug. 13, a Tuesday, several days earlier than this year’s start date of Aug. 17, a Thursday. This calendar change creates many challenges for the school, from teachers having to adjust their classroom schedules to complication in planning for Falcon Fest.
The expansion of Thanksgiving break followed a nearly evenly divided vote among teachers and staff at both high schools, with a slight majority favoring the new schedule.
The change addresses a common complaint from students wondering why the district only had Wednesday through Friday off for Thanksgiving, while most other local schools have a full week off. The Los Gatos Union School District (comprising the elementary and middle schools) has the full week off, which potentially disrupts holiday planning for families with students in both districts.
For staff members, this new schedule expands the length of the school year and potentially minimizes the time they have to set up their classrooms.
According to assistant principal Kristen Cunningham, district leadership and the District Teachers Association (DTA) are discussing a possible adjustment to the teachers’ working days, which are now 187 (students go to school for 180 days). In the new schedule, teachers return to work on Aug. 8.
The SHS administration will meet in February to discuss plans to adjust beginning-of-the-year activities to be compatible with the new calendar, Cunningham said.
ASB Secretary Anisa Taymuree thinks the new calendar can accommodate traditional activities, saying, “The impact will be very minimal [on student leadership] as we currently start later in the same week anyways, so Falcon Fest will most likely be held that Monday before school starts.”
Cunningham noted the changes may impact the timing of events such as Falcon Fest, Food Truck Fest, the Homecoming theme reveal and orientation for incoming freshmen. Since the new calendar was finalized relatively recently, both the administration and faculty members are working their way through various issues. The DTA has participated in negotiations with the district leadership regarding the calendar throughout the end of 2023.
The new calendar remains controversial. Many teachers hope to achieve a compromise with the district that will push forward the beginning of the school year, at least slightly. The coming months will tell whether those negotiations are successful.
