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By Kendra Williams
At the Feb. 2 meeting of the Sanford School Committee, Superintendent Matt Nelson presented a proposed 2026/27 school calendar that would reduce the number of early release days for students while restructuring professional development time for teachers.
The proposed change is designed to limit the loss of instructional time for students while still providing staff with adequate professional development time, including enough uninterrupted time to work together.
The calendar as drafted would eliminate most weekly one-hour early releases and instead schedule five two-hour early-release days for students, along with two full staff in-service days when students would not attend school.
Nelson went on to review the calendar and its rationale for the next school year, including the holidays, breaks and professional development days. Because Labor Day is late in 2026, students will begin school during the prior week with the Friday before Labor Day off.
Sanford High School’s 2027 graduation is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, June 2. Without snow days, the last student day, excluding seniors, would be Wednesday, June 9. Six snow makeup days are included in the calendar, which would extend the school year to Thursday, June 17 if all are used. The calendar is structured to conclude before the Juneteenth holiday, which will be observed on Friday, June 18.
Also, because students from multiple school districts attend the Sanford Regional Technical Center, the calendar must align closely with partner schools. Administrators from those school districts have already begun to coordinate to ensure that there or no more than 5 dissimilar days in the individual districts’ calendars, which is a requirement of the Maine Department of Education.
After hearing the first reading, Committee members noted that fewer early-release days may reduce interruptions to the school day. They also acknowledged that longer, less frequent schedule changes can affect family childcare arrangements and families need clarity and predictability as early as possible.
One suggestion raised during discussion was to select a consistent two-hour early release on one Wednesday each month, when possible, while avoiding holiday-heavy periods such as December.
Final approval of the 2026/27 calendar by the School Committee is expected in March after consultation with the Sanford Federation of Teachers and additional feedback from School Committee members and families. If approved in March, the district plans to release the final calendar promptly so families can plan.
Go here to view the proposed draft of the 2026/27 school calendar https://tinyurl.com/59vejm62
The post Changes Proposed to Early Release Days appeared first on Sanford Springvale News.
