Gadsden ISD presents three 2026–27 calendar options; stakeholder vote set Jan. 14–16

District staff presented three draft school calendars for 2026–27 at the Jan. 8 meeting and asked the board to direct the stakeholder voting timeline.

All three drafts comply with New Mexico Public Education Department instructional day and hour requirements. The similarities include a July 27 teacher start date, Aug. 3 student start date, professional development distributed across semesters to support the district’s transition to the Synergy student-information system, and early-release schedules for parent–teacher conferences.

The differences among calendars are mainly fall-break timing and the distribution of professional-development days. Option C reduces the traditional five-day Thanksgiving break to three days and creates two additional days in April (one staff professional-development day and one student day off) to balance breaks across semesters; the change responds to survey feedback from students and staff that requested more second-semester breaks.

District staff said stakeholder voting will occur Jan. 14–16; the final recommended calendar will be presented for board action Jan. 22 to meet budget and finance timeline constraints. Staff warned that missing the Jan. 22 deadline could push calendar action to Feb. 12 and delay related budget approvals.

Board members asked clarifying questions about early-out days and implementation details; staff noted one minor calendar correction (a Wednesday/Thursday placement on calendar A) and will update draft materials before stakeholder voting.