New calendar extends Thanksgiving break

Dates approved but subject to change

DeSoto County public school students and teachers will have a week to celebrate Thanksgiving under a tentative calendar approved by board members for the 2016-17 academic year that starts in August.

The Thanksgiving break will run from Nov. 21-25. Christmas break will begin Dec. 19 and end Jan. 2, and spring break will be March 13-17.

Teachers wil l begin the school year on Aug. 1, with students returning Aug. 3. The last day of classes for students is May 22, and teachers will end the school year on May 25 of next year.

Board members approved the calendar Monday, but it could be modified if classes are required to be in session on certain dates for state testing. The Mississippi Department of Education hasn’t released its calendar of testing dates.

Superintendent Cory Uselton said Wednesday that the extended Thanksgiving break was favored in a survey of all 42 of the district’s schools. He said it gives students and teachers time to travel if they want for the holiday.

The ca lenda r a lso designates four scheduled holidays as makeup days if classes are needed to offset days canceled because of winter weather. State law requires 180 days of student attendance.

The four dates are Dec. 19 (the first day of Christmas break), Feb. 17 (a professional development day for teachers and a student holiday), Feb. 20 (Washington’s Birthday) and April 17 (part of the two-day Easter break).

Additiona lly, days ca n be made up if needed on May 2324, the two days between the scheduled last day of classes for students and the last day for teachers.

Class cancellations are most likely to come after the first of the year, but Uselton said the Dec. 19 makeup day provides a makeup option in case something causes a class cancellation early in the school year. “During (Hurricane) Katrina, for example, a day was missed in August,” he said.

To see the tentative calendar, go to desotocountyschools.org.