Earlier this year, the District 156 board of education adopted a new calendar for 2023-24 that included several notable changes from the previous year.
One of the biggest changes is making each Wednesday an early release, rather than occasional Wednesdays.
The change is an effort to provide a consistent time for each course team to work together on curriculum and make improvements to student learning. It is also time for students to take advantage of extended learning time to meet with teachers to complete missing assignments, make test corrections or work on other educational projects.
Another big change is moving parent-teacher conferences from October to the week before Thanksgiving in November. This change aligns with District 15’s calendar and gives students the entire week off for Thanksgiving.
We hope our families find these changes helpful and convenient.
Another key difference in next year’s calendar is holding a teacher in-service day on the Monday following the New Year holiday. So that means Semester 2 will begin for students on Tuesday, Jan. 9.
This change will allow our curriculum teams time to collaborate before the start of Semester 2.
Here are some other important key dates in the calendar:
School year begins Aug. 16 for students
Homecoming is the week of Sept. 25-30
Semester 1 ends Dec. 21
One 10:30 a.m./10:40 a.m. early release day on April 28 for prom
School year ends May 23, with May 24-31 as emergency days
Graduation 2024 is Saturday, May 18
