Spring, Alief ISDs change 2020-21 calendars amid COVID-19 concerns

Spring and Alief ISDs have announced drastic changes to their academic calendars for the 2020-2021 school year in the wake of COVID-19 closures.

Spring ISD trustees approved a new calendar Thursday that will tack an extra month to the end of the coming academic year along with new week-long breaks. Most students there will start Aug. 17 and end the year on June 25, but seniors’ last day will be May 28.

In Alief, the district board’s newly revised academic calendar shows students will return on Aug. 6 rather than the original start date of Aug. 17. Likewise, teachers will report back to school for planning days beginning on July 30 instead of early August.

In a May 18 interview, Superintendent HD Chambers said changing the calendar would be necessary to help students catch up after missing two-and-a-half months of in-person instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said teachers will need time to plan how to address those deficits, test students to see how far they may have fallen behind and develop a plan to get them to the level they should be.

“We need to be able to give our teachers and campus leaders time to react,” Chambers said. “So, the earlier we can start, and everyone feels safe and secure with the protocols, the better off our students will be.”

Both districts embedded additional, longer breaks within their school years. In Alief, for example, the new calendar includes a week-long break in October and February, while also giving students and staff the week of Thanksgiving off. Chambers said additional breaks will give teachers time to “catch their breath” and adjust their lesson plans based on students’ needs.

Spring ISD officials said that district’s revised calendar will have four week-long “intersession breaks.” They are all scheduled around existing breaks such as spring and winter vacations, except for one in March. The breaks will give the district options to make up in-person instructional time in case there are more school closures related to COVID-19, officials wrote in a release.

“This proposed calendar will give us flexibility to deal with whatever scenarios we may have to face,” said Superintendent Dr. Rodney E. Watson ahead of the vote at a special work session. “Based on what the TEA is telling us, the upcoming school year could potentially be disrupted, and this calendar would give us a way to maximize instruction, even if we’re forced into another COVID-related closure.”

Alief, Spring and several hundred districts across Texas have the flexibility to change their start dates thanks to the District of Innovation designation, which can be granted to districts that meet the state’s academic standards and have a board-approved innovation plan. The status allows districts to waive certain state laws, including one that mandates the school year begin no earlier than the fourth week of August.

Houston ISD’s board of trustees voted earlier this month to begin the process to gain innovation status so it can move up its start date, too. Those changes would not take effect until 2021-2022, but the district is considering changing their calendar to meet an 11-month “year-round” designation proposed by the Texas Education Agency.

TEA Commissioner Mike Morath has encouraged districts of innovation to move their start days up in the wake of COVID-19 closures. However, districts without the status remain bound by state law to start their school years in late August , at least for now.

“That law currently remains in effect, although there’s some discussion as to whether that will change,” Morath said in April.