Seeking Input on Proposed 2023-2024 Calendar

APS is considering an Aug. 3 start date, plans to add four instructional days

With the state on the verge of requiring additional classroom time for students, APS has come up with a calendar for the upcoming school year that satisfies the likely requirement of 1,140 instructional hours per school year. District officials are also considering a proposal by a joint high school task force to give high school students a later start time.

The proposed 2023-2024 calendar adds four instructional days. Public comment on the calendar is being accepted through March 29, 2023.

Under the proposal, students would return to class on Thursday, Aug. 3, a week earlier than the current school year. Teachers and school staff would return that Monday, July 31.

The main difference between the proposed traditional and the Transformational Opportunity Pilot Schools, or TOPs, calendar is the end date. Students on the traditional calendar would wrap up their school year on Friday, May 31, 2024. Students attending a TOPs school would remain in class until Monday, June 10, 2024.

The proposed calendar would also have most elementary and all middle school students released early on Wednesdays to allow their teachers two hours of collaboration time. TOPs students would not have the early release Wednesdays. The early release is partly driven by the legislation the House and Senate approved on additional instructional time.

Under the calendar being proposed, summer and fall breaks would be shorter. Students would, 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 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.

In addition to the proposed calendar, APS leaders are giving serious consideration to 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 working on a plan, which will be released when its finalized.

The task force has been studying best practices for high schools and is recommending a later start time for those students, who now begin class at around 7:25 a.m. The recommendation is due, in part, to research that shows that early start times contribute to absences, tardies, and lower test scores and graduation rates and that students with the lowest scores tend to show the biggest gains with later start times. Early start times can also lead to negative health outcomes for high school students.

Santa Fe and Las Cruces public schools have already instituted later start times for their high school students. And California has enacted a state law requiring that most of its public high schools begin classes no earlier than 8:30 a.m.

Instituting later start times for APS’s high schools would, however, impact start times for elementary and middle school students. Staggered start times are needed due to busing capacity.

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 developed by a committee of principals, union representatives, and district administrators. Now it’s time for students, families, and the community to comment on the proposal, which will go back to the committee and then to the Board of Education for final approval in April.

Proposed Breaks in the 2023-2024 School Year

• Labor Day Weekend: Schools would be closed from Friday, Sept. 1 through Monday, Sept. 4.
• Indigenous Peoples’ Day: Schools would be closed Monday, Oct. 9.
• Fall Break: Schools would be closed Friday, Oct. 13, which coincides with the Balloon Fiesta.
• Election Day: Students would be off on Tuesday, Nov. 7. Teachers would report that day for training.
• Veterans Day: Schools would be closed on Friday, Nov. 10 in observance of Veterans Day.
• Thanksgiving Break: Schools would be closed a full week for Thanksgiving, from Monday, Nov. 20 through Friday, Nov. 24.
• Winter Break: Schools would be closed from Friday, Dec. 22 through Friday, Jan. 5, with teachers returning on Jan. 8 for training and students returning on Jan. 10 for the start of the second semester.
• Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday: Schools would be closed on Monday, Jan. 15.
• Presidents Day: Schools would be closed on Monday, Feb. 19.
• Spring Break/Vernal Holiday: Schools would be closed from Wednesday, March 27 through Friday, April 5.
• Memorial Day: Schools would be closed on Monday, May 27.

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.