Cherokee Public Schools board adopts 2026'027 calendar and hour method

The Cherokee Public Schools Board of Education adopted the district's proposed 2026'027 school calendar and approved using the 1,086-hour method to meet state instructional-time requirements.

According to the superintendent's presentation, the calendar is largely the same as the current year with key changes intended to push the start date back from an earlier August start to Aug. 13. Officials said removing an August professional development day (formerly a county teachers meeting) provided room to shift the start date later. The plan keeps the last Friday of August as an instructional day, preserves a full week for Thanksgiving and two weeks for Christmas, and maintains tournament-related Fridays off. The superintendent said the calendar lists 161 instructional days on its face plus the seven PD/parent-teacher conference days that can be counted toward the state's 166-day instructional requirement.

On instructional time, the superintendent said the district would adopt the "10 86 method" (transcript: "the 10 86 method" / 1,086 hours) to satisfy state requirements tied to instructional hours and stated the calendar builds in two weather days without requiring make-up days unless more time is lost.

A motion to approve items 4 and 5 (the calendar and the hour method) was made and carried by roll call. Recorded vote responses in the transcript were: Michael (yes), Poe (yes), Gibson (yes), Tom Hensburg (yes).