The Union Public School System’s new calendar for the 2023-2024 school year should have a similar look to previous years, after the school district’s board of trustees adopted it unanimously Monday night.
School Superintendent Tyler Hansford said this calendar is not the same one that the district asked parents to give input. Several of the board members mentioned during their meeting Monday that they had heard complaints about the calendar.
Hansford said he just wanted to get input from the community about the calendar to gauge the interest of the community to see if it was something worth exploring in the future.
“This is a much more typical school calendar that everyone is used to,” Hansford said. “We sent out a modified school calendar just to get some input. If we were going to change something like this, we would need a good reason to do it. If we had about 70 or 80 percent of the parents that were in favor of it, it might be something worth considering, but I think we were about 50 percent at best case scenario. That’s nowhere near enough to even consider it.”
School will run from Aug. 3, 2023, to May, 24, 2024, with graduation set for May 16, 2024. The first semester will end on Dec. 19, 2023, and school will be out for the holidays until Jan. 9, 2024. The Thanksgiving break will continue to be a full week.
Hansford said the district will have its fall break on Oct. 5, 6 and 9, 2023, which is similar to the current year calendar. The homecoming football game will be Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, the week following fall break. And next year’s regional band competition will be Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023. They have also requested for Forest, the host team for the previous week’s football game, to move the contest to Thursday, Oct. 5, but that will not be determined until after a new Forest coach is hired.
If that happens, Hansford said it would allow all students and teachers to have a break from activities Friday through Monday.
In other business, the board also gave Hansford its annual evaluation. On a scale from 1 being unsatisfactory to 4 being exemplary, all of the items on the lengthy questionnaire had a board member average between 3.4 and 4.0.
“I am pleased with the evaluation,” Hansford said. “I look forward to working together with the school board for the best interests of our students.”
UPSD 2023-2024 calendar at a glance
July 19-20 – Professional Development (no school)
Aug. 1-2 – Professional Development (no school)
Aug. 1 – Open House (4-6 p.m.)
Aug. 3 – Students Return
Sep. 4 – Labor Day (offices closed)
Oct. 5-9 – Fall Break (no school)
Oct. 10 – End 1st 9 weeks
Nov. 20-24 – Thanksgiving
Dec. 19 – End 2nd 9 weeks (60% Day)
Dec. 20-Jan. 5 – Christmas Break
Jan. 8 – Professional Development (no school)
Jan. 9 – Students Return
Jan. 15 – MLK Day (no school)
March 11-15 – Spring Break
March 19 – End 3rd 9 weeks
March 29 – Good Friday (no school)
April 1 – Professional Development (no school)
April 26 – Professional Development (no school)
May 16 – Graduation
May 24 – End 4th 9 weeks (60% day)
