A new 'hybrid' calendar for Kirbyville CISD 2024-2025 school year

With the new school year about to start, some Kirbyville parents are questioning the new calendar. While the beginning of the school year starting about a week earlier than usual, it will end about the same time as it normally does. The big difference is time spent in the classroom.

In an interview, KCISD Superintendent Stephen Edwards said, "The idea of changing came up back in December of last year. We began gathering information from area School Districts to see what they were doing and to find out what worked and what didn't."

Edwards said they then held public meetings and tried to involve the staff and parents as much as possible to get a good feel for what the community wanted. Edwards added, "We surveyed the staff and public to see what would work best for everyone. We spoke to many area school districts who had tried different schedules and came up with more of a hybrid calendar than some."

The new 2024-2025 school calendar is not one of taking every Friday off however, many Fridays will be 'off' days. Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving breaks as well as winter and spring breaks remain about the same. But, school will begin 15 minutes earlier and will end 10 minutes later than before. Buses will run accordingly.

Edwards continued, "We know that this will be a dramatic difference for everyone, so we will have to be diligent in sending notifications home to parents each week to remind them what days their child will attend school."

Edwards said that the State requires a certain number of minutes per school calendar, but not days. As for those days when children will be out of school, Edwards said that local churches and organizations have plans to develop activities to keep the kids active while parents may be at work.