The Coronado Unified School District announced a new school calendar last week, bumping up the start date and ending the school year earlier. Agreements were reached after weeks of negotiations between the district and the Association of Coronado Teachers (ACT), a process one committee member called “not easy.”
Trustees voted 5-0 to adopt the new calendars recommended by the Joint Calendar Committee at the last school board meeting on Thursday, March 13.
“The Joint Calendar Committee decided we would do a two-year roll out to get to our goal of ending our first term by Winter Break,” said Donna Tripi, Director of Human Resources for CUSD.
The start date for the 2025-2026 school year will Monday, August 18, 2025 and the last day will fall on Thursday, June 4, 2026. The 2026-2027 school year will begin on Monday, August 10, 2026 and end on Friday, May 28, 2027.
In addition, the first three days of the school year will be minimum days for students in grades K-5.
One of the catalysts driving the committee, according to presenters at the February 20 school board meeting, was to present two new calendars that would eventually allow high schoolers to take their first semester finals before winter break, while offering balanced terms.
The committee — which is made up of four Association of Coronado Teachers members, two students, four CUSD administrators and four parents — conducted weeks of surveys and collected data. Committee members said the advantages of a new calendar would allow high school students to complete Term 1 finals before winter break, and allow for more instruction in spring AP courses. The calendar would also better align with neighboring school districts.
But some community members aren’t excited about the changes and felt their concerns weren’t taken into consideration. Parent Jacqueline Hardt said that most parents were unaware the first day of school would be moved forward ten days, conflicting with pre-existing vacation plans. She also noted that most important dates for registration usually take place a week before school starts, which could cause undue stress on families as kids scramble to get registered and transition to a new grade.
“As a parent of fifth grade twins transitioning to CMS in August, I’m deeply concerned about the lack of communication and awareness surrounding this decision…” said Hardt. “Parents as key stakeholders were not adequately consulted…families deserve to be informed about the decisions that impact them.”
Hardt said having just four parents on the Joint Calendar Committee was not sufficient in representing a district of more than 2000 families. She said it would have been helpful if the district had sent out a parent survey. Not only would this have gathered more feedback, but it would have given families the heads up on the change.
Another challenge of an earlier start date is high temperatures inside classrooms. At the February 20 school board meeting, ACT members shared worries about teaching in hot August conditions. Parent Roger Roman echoed this, saying he would trade any school day in August for a day in “June Gloom.”
Trustee Mal Sandie said he’d heard some complaints about lack of transparency from the district, but he didn’t agree. He said the school board agendas are packed with information and line items with dollar amounts, and issues relevant to the district to be discussed at future school board meetings.
“I think with the calendar issue, I think we’ve been advertising that for almost two years,” said Sandie.
