Just before the winter break, the Nashoba Regional School Committee voted to establish the academic calendar for the 2026-2027 school year. Next year’s academic calendar will look a little different than in the past for a few reasons.
To begin, we are on track to enter the new Nashoba Regional High School on September 1, 2027. To stay on schedule, our construction team needs an extended window during the summer of 2027 to safely handle the demolition of the old building and prepare the site for the opening of school. Because of this, students will head back to school a bit earlier than usual, on Wednesday, August 26, 2026. While this is one week earlier than our traditional start on the Wednesday before Labor Day, it is only one calendar day earlier than this year’s start date and provides the necessary time for contractors to meet critical project deadlines for our new facility.
In addition to considering the opening of the new NRHS high school, next year also requires us to be mindful of the upcoming election cycle. To ensure our schools remain accessible for voters, we plan to follow the successful model we used in 2024. This means designating the state primary on September 1, 2026, as a professional development day for staff and the federal election on November 3, 2026, as a day for remote parent conferences.
By aligning these election dates with professional development and remote conference days that would typically occur elsewhere in the calendar, we are able to avoid adding additional days off while still ensuring safe, accessible polling locations.
Finally, we are looking closely at how our schedule impacts student learning. In reviewing our attendance data from the past three years, we noticed a concerning trend of high absenteeism on early release days when they fall on Fridays. Since being in the classroom is so vital to student success, the committee has opted to try a hybrid early release schedule, which features four early releases on Wednesdays and three early releases on Fridays. The four dates on Wednesdays coincide with the weeks that we have documented the highest rate of absenteeism on early release Fridays. This model will give us insight into how we should schedule early releases in the future.
I would like to thank the Calendar Planning Committee and the School Committee for the time, care, and thoughtful feedback they devoted to the development of the 2026-2027 academic calendar. As we navigate the logistical challenges of the coming year, we are confident that this calendar prioritizes student learning.