More than 1,000 stakeholder responses have been received by Hays CISD on the first draft of a proposed 2019-20 school calendar.
The new calendar incorporates several components that come with being a District of Innovation (DOI), which was unanimously approved by the HCISD board trustees in December 2018.
According to the Texas Education Agency, the DOI designation allows districts to be exempt from certain sections of the Texas Education Code for a five-year period. Hays CISD will obtain DOI status starting during the Fall semester 2019.
One of the primary changes included in the first draft is an earlier start and end date to the school year.
If approved, the 2019-20 school year will begin Aug. 15, 2019 and end May 27, 2020. Previously, Hays CISD followed state law which requires school to start the final week of August.
The new calendar would allow students taking college-credit courses to enroll in their summer classes without interference from the regular high school semester. The fall semester would last a week less than the spring, and would vary in daily hours from elementary, middle and high schools.
Tim Savoy, Hays CISD chief communication coordinator, said the survey has yielded a response from more than 1,000 parents and teachers.
“Overwhelmingly, everyone seems to approve of getting out of school before June,” Savoy said. “We may see the winter break change and the Memorial Day break change, as those two updates have been the biggest concerns.”
The calendar has not removed any holidays for students, but has added a break after Memorial Day, which determines graduation dates, and a break on and after Columbus Day, which may also be subject to change after survey results are in.
Board trustees are expected to discuss survey results and the calendar during the Jan. 22 workshop meeting. A final vote could be taken Jan. 28.
