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The Chicago school board has sent district officials back to the drawing board on the 2026-27 and 2027-28 school calendars members were poised to approve this week.
Some board members questioned earlier this month whether the district could wrap up the first semester before winter break, so high school students would not have to do end-of-semester testing after the holidays. They argued that worrying about tests during the break and taking them after two weeks away from the classroom isn’t great for students’ mental well-being or academic achievement.
“The No. 1 concern I hear from students is about mental health, and having a break as an opportunity for resetting, recovering, and spending time with their families is really important,” said board member Anusha Thotakura at a recent meeting to review the board’s January agenda. “If you have testing for second quarter after winter break, students won’t have that opportunity to reset, relax, and come into the new year energized.”
District officials said at the time that ending the school year’s second quarter before winter break would be impossible without an unusually early start to the year. But they agreed to conduct a follow-up survey of students, parents, and staff to gather feedback about potentially revising the calendar. The deadline to complete that survey was Tuesday at noon, roughly two days before this week’s meeting.
“Given how close the survey deadline was to the Thursday Board meeting, it is not on the agenda for January 29th to account for the District to have a reasonable period to process results, and then for the Board to consider those results before casting a vote,” the school board office said in a statement Tuesday.
Under the calendar unveiled earlier this month, the 2026-27 school year would start on Aug. 24 and end June 11. CPS parents have perennially called on the district to firm up the calendar well in advance, and officials at the agenda review meeting two weeks ago had celebrated bringing it to a vote earlier than in previous years.
The district had surveyed students, parents, and employees during the fall, garnering more than 14,000 responses. Significant majorities told the district that they wanted calendars for the next two years this winter as well as fairly consistent summer breaks. Only 10% said they wanted the school year to start more than two weeks before Labor Day.
Nicole Milberg, the district’s chief of teaching and learning, told members that the district was able to wrap up the first semester before winter break this school year because Labor Day fell relatively early on the calendar and because CPS leaders opted for a second semester significantly longer than the first one. But this coming school year, because of a later Sept. 7 Labor Day, starting two weeks before the holiday means students will have three additional weeks after winter break to wrap up the semester.
The district looked into eliminating the full week off for Thanksgiving and moving more professional development days for educators to the second semester, said Milberg, who is herself a CPS high school parent. But a pre-winter break end to a semester that meets state seat time requirements still wasn’t possible without starting school well before Labor Day.
“We do absolutely know and understand the challenges we are presenting,” Milberg said. “There is no perfect calendar.”
But a number of school members nevertheless pressed the district on the timing. Some said a semester end before winter break could help get seniors’ grades to colleges where they apply sooner — and would align with the City Colleges of Chicago semester for those who take dual enrollment classes there.
And when it came to end-of-semester testing, board member Ellen Rosenfeld said, “Quite frankly, the retention they might have after two weeks of break is not the same.”
Thotakura asked the district to conduct a follow-up survey, clearly asking respondents if they would be OK with starting school more than two weeks before Labor Day if it means ending the semester before winter break.
“I don’t think that 10% reflects how many people would be happy to cut their summer a little short if that means the second quarter can end before break,” she said.
Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.
