The weekend is going to start a little earlier next year for Clarke students and staff.
Monday night, the Clarke Community School Board held a special board meeting that included a public hearing regarding the 2026-27 school calendar, the work of several months of meetings, surveys and talks. The calendar, a hybrid between a traditional five-day school week and a four-day school week, will see students have a two-hour early dismissal on Fridays with one Friday a month off for teacher in-service, was approved unanimously.
“The goal of this hearing is to ensure transparency and gather feedback so that our final calendar reflects the needs and priorities of our school community,” Clarke School Board President Wendy Short said at the start of the meeting. “We appreciate your time and participation and look forward to a productive and respectful discussion.”
Clarke Superintendent Dr. Kurt DeVore touched on the calendar journey.
“It was a long process. We feel like we did get a lot of input from a lot of different shareholders, and at the end of the day, we’re not going to make everybody happy, unfortunately,” he said. “But I think what we have is the best that we can do right now.”
He said the calendar could be changed as time moves forward and improved, but for the time being it was the best option for the district.
Only one member of the public spoke, saying they hoped the main input on the calendar was from the faculty, as they are the ones who have to deal with the students. They also noted they didn’t feel a two-hour early out every Friday was necessary.
DeVore shared he had received just one response from a faculty member that they appreciated the calendar took into consideration a lot of requests that had been made, including the first semester ending before Christmas Break and the school year, pending no more than three weather-event days, will end before Memorial Day.
Board member Robin Galvez said she had received some feedback that Friday might not be the best choice of day, but that a Wednesday might be better as there are generally no athletics after school. DeVore said they had looked at a great many options involving early out and late starts and days of the week, settling on Fridays working best for now.
“This option was, okay, now if families want to go, if they want that ability to leave early, for whatever reason, they now have it versus it being in the middle of the day… there’s just a lot of different options,” he said.
Galvez said she liked the hybrid aspect of the calendar but worried about the effect there might be on athletics and having fans in the stands, noting that as something to consider for future years. She said she was pleased with the food insecurity aspect of still having a five-day school week, ensuring those kids who rely on school meals will still get them. Board member Dr. Ben Hicks noted that teachers will be able to get some daily planning time back in their schedules as well.
The 2026-27 school year is scheduled to start on Monday, Aug. 24 and end on Wednesday, May 26, 2027. School start and end times will remain the same on full days, with everyone starting at 8 a.m., elementary dismissed at 3:10 p.m. and high school 3:25. On Fridays, the dismissal time will be 1 p.m. for elementary and 1:15 for secondary. Class periods will run on their present early-out schedule.