Lake Forest considers moving school start date as calendar committee reports community split

Doctor Cooper presented two draft 2026–27 calendars to the Lake Forest Board on Feb. 12, explaining the district created one draft that mirrors recent after-Labor Day starts and another that starts before Labor Day to test impacts on winter and spring breaks. “We are almost split 50 50 with, you know, a preference on starting before Labor Day versus after Labor Day,” Cooper said.

Why it matters: The school-year start date influences family travel, childcare planning, instructional time distribution and contractually required staff work days. Cooper said staff feedback favors a before-Labor Day start (about 70% of staff respondents), while community responses were nearly even.

Discussion points: Board members questioned whether the state had ever mandated after-Labor Day starts, discussed the merits of a fuller winter break versus an earlier end to the school year, and raised concerns about report-card timing and parent-teacher conferences. Cooper said drafts were intentionally designed to reduce scattered days off and to cluster staff work time after marking periods where possible. The calendar committee plans a second meeting on Feb. 17 and expects to return a draft to the board in March for a final recommendation.

Next steps: The committee will review ongoing community comments (survey period closing the week after the meeting) and staff input, weigh the trade-offs on winter break length and in-service days, and prepare a revised draft to present to the board in March.