School Calendar

The 2023-2024 school calendar has been approved by the Melcher-Dallas Board of Education. The new calendar has a few changes and is a little different than years past. But before I talk about the changes, here is some information on state requirements and our past practice.

School districts are required to schedule a minimum of 1080 hours of instruction (lunch time is not included). We typically schedule more hours than required. In fact, this year we have an extra 43 hours of instruction scheduled, for a total of 1123. In most years, we do not make up  hours missed due to weather or other issues because we have plenty of extra time built into the calendar. Only the school board can make the decision to forgive make-up hours provided we do not go under 1080. 

What is different about the 2023-24 calendar? 

The biggest change is the fact that we only scheduled 1080 hours. In doing so, we added additional days to winter break to extend it to two weeks for students. We will also observe the Federal Government Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday by not having school. Spring break will be five days in stead of the usual four.  Finally, Parent/Teacher conferences will be three days each semester from 2:30-6:00 PM instead of two days from 4:00-8:00 PM. Even with all of these added days off during the school year, we are still scheduled to be out of school on May 16th. 

However, since we are only scheduling the required 1080 hours, it does mean that we will have to make up all hours of school missed. In an average year, we miss three days of school, sometimes more and sometimes less, making it highly unlikely that we will end school on May 16th.

One benefit is that it allows parents to know when the last day of school will actually be. By keeping track of the days and hours missed throughout the year, parents can add them onto the end of the year and know the last day. In most years we wait until sometime in April (once we think we are past the point of missing days of school for weather) for the board to make the decision when the last day of school will be. Another benefit is that it provides students with a couple of additional breaks during the year so they can reset and be ready to learn. 

If we miss school next year due to weather or for some other reason, we will send out a reminder that the hours will be made up. You can access the 2023-2024 calendar by clicking here.

Scott Bridges

Superintendent

Melcher-Dallas CSD