Could School Start in Mid-August? District Exploring Calendar Changes

Editor's note: The school district will host three public meetings to discuss the proposed calendar changes with the community.

UPDATED: Friday, Jan. 11: The district has released more information about the proposed calendar, including start and end dates of the school year.

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In this week's video, Superintendent Chris Richardson talks about the district's exploration of a "balanced calendar," which could see next school year start in mid-August and end around Memorial Day.

The focus of the balanced calendar, according to Richardson, would be to "align instructional periods, reduce shortened weeks and holiday interruptions, and increase instructional days prior to high stakes assessments to aid retention of learning and reduce re-teaching and review."

Richardson and the Northfield School Board are in early discussions about next year's calendar and will have one finalized in the spring. Before a calendar is finalized, there needs to be three public hearings and it has to be approved by the Minnesota Department of Education.

Should the district settle on this type of calendar, Richardson said students will have the same amount of days in school as they do now.

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