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APS Board Approves Modified Calendar for the 2023-2024 School Year

Posted April 5, 2023, 11:20 AM. Updated April 26, 2023, 10:58 AM.

In response to public comment, district drops proposed early release Wednesdays, adds seven professional development days for most K-8 teachers.

The Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education approved a calendar for the upcoming school year, but it’s not quite the calendar proposed in March.

In response to public comment received on the proposed calendar, APS administrators gave the board a second option to consider. The alternative calendar eliminates early release Wednesdays for K-8 students, which would have been used to provide professional development/collaboration time for teachers.

In the survey, many said early release Wednesdays would create a hardship for them as working parents. In place of the early release Wednesdays, district officials added seven full professional development days to the calendar for most K-8 teachers.

The 2023-2024 calendar the board approved satisfies the 1,140 instructional hours per school year requirement passed by the Legislature and signed into law by the governor this year. It adds four instructional days and has students returning to class on Thursday, Aug. 3, a week earlier than the current school year. Teachers and school staff will return that Monday, July 31.

The board approved the calendar by a vote of 5 to 1. Board member Peggy Muller-Aragón voted against the motion, and board member Danielle Gonzales was not present.

The main difference between the traditional and the Transformational Opportunity Pilot Schools, or TOPs, calendar is the end date. Students on the traditional calendar will wrap up their school year on Friday, May 31, 2024. Students attending a TOPs school will remain in class until Monday, June 10, 2024. TOPs teachers, like those at high schools, would not get the additional seven professional development days because they already have professional development time built into their schedule.

APS has 21 elementary schools on the TOPs calendar: Alamosa, Atrisco, Bel-Air, Bellhaven, Carlos Rey, East San Jose, Emerson, Hawthorne, Inez, Kirtland, Lavaland, Lew Wallace, Longfellow, Los Padillas, Los Ranchos, Lowell, Mary Ann Binford, Matheson Park, Pajarito, Reginald Chavez, and Whittier.

College and Career High School will also operate under a different calendar.

The additional professional development days were partly driven by the legislation the House and Senate approved on additional instructional time.

Under the calendar that was approved, summer and fall breaks will be shorter. Students will, however, have longer winter and spring breaks – close to three weeks off for the former and just shy of two weeks off for the latter. The extended breaks are aimed at addressing mental fatigue. Holidays and breaks in the proposed 2023-2024 traditional and TOPs calendars would be the same.

APS leaders are also considering a joint APS/Albuquerque Teachers Federation task force recommendation to revamp school start times to give high school students a later start. APS officials are still working on that plan.

APS typically adopts a calendar in the fall but postponed that decision after learning that state lawmakers were considering extending instructional hours or days for public schools across the state. The legislation requires all schools to provide 1,140 instructional hours per year, an increase from the current minimums of 990 hours for elementary schools and 1,080 hours for secondary schools.

The proposed calendar was released for public comment on March 16. More than 7,000 people provided feedback through the survey.

The calendar was developed by a committee of principals, union representatives, and district administrators.

Parent/Teacher Conferences

There would be parent/teacher conferences in October and March. Elementary students would be off on Thursday, Oct. 19, and Friday, Oct. 20 for those conferences. Middle school students would be off Oct. 19, but in school on Oct 20. High school students would attend school on Oct. 19 but be off on Oct 20. As for the March parent/teacher conferences, elementary students would be off Monday, March 25 and Tuesday, March 26. Middle school students would be off March 25 but in school on March 26. And high school students would attend school on March 25 but be off on March 26.

2023-2024 Calendar At-A-Glance
DateDescription

July 31, 2023

First day back for teachers and staff

Aug. 3, 2023

First day of school for grades 1 - 12

Aug. 7, 2023

First day of school for Pre-K and Kindergarten

Sept. 1-4, 2023

Labor Day weekend (schools closed; offices closed Sept. 4)

*Sept. 5, 2023

Professional development day for K-8 teachers (No school for K-8 students)

Oct. 6, 2023

End of the first grading period

Oct. 9, 2023

Indigenous Peoples Day (schools and offices closed)

*Oct. 12, 2023

Professional development day for K-8 teachers (No school for K-8 students)

Oct. 13, 2023

Fall break (schools closed)

Oct. 19-20, 2023

Parent/Teacher Conferences (elementary and middle school students off Oct. 19; elementary and high school students off Oct. 20)

*Nov. 6, 2023

Professional development day for K-8 teachers (No school for K-8 students)

Nov. 7, 2023

Election Day (students off; teacher training day)

Nov. 10, 2023

Veterans Day observed (schools and offices closed)
Nov. 20-24, 2023 Thanksgiving Break (schools closed; offices closed Nov. 23-24)

Dec. 21, 2023

End of the second grading period

Dec. 22, 2023-Jan. 5, 2024

Winter Break (schools closed; offices TBD)

Jan. 8-9, 2024

Teacher training days (students off)

Jan. 10, 2024

First Day of Second Semester (all schools)

Jan. 15, 2024

Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday (schools and offices closed)

*Feb. 16, 2023

Professional development day for K-8 teachers (No school for K-8 students)

Feb. 19, 2024

Presidents Day (schools and offices closed)

March 15, 2024

End of the third grading period

*March 22, 2023

Professional development day for K-8 teachers (No school for K-8 students)

March 25-26, 2024

Parent/Teacher Conferences (elementary and middle school students off March 25; elementary and high school students off March 26)

March 27-April 5, 2024

Spring Break/Vernal Holiday (schools closed; offices closed March 29 for the Vernal holiday)

*April 26, 2023

Professional development day for K-8 teachers (No school for K-8 students)

*May 24, 2023

Professional development day for K-8 teachers (No school for K-8 students)

May 27, 2024

Memorial Day (schools and offices closed)

May 31, 2024

Last day of school for students at schools with a traditional calendar

June 10, 2024

Last day of school for students attending a TOPs school

June 19, 2024

Juneteenth Day (schools and offices closed)
*Additional professional development days