2024-25 PWCS Calendar Approved With 2-Week Winter Break, Aug. 19 Start

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, VA — The 2024-25 school year will begin on Monday, Aug. 19 for Prince William County students. The county's school board approved calendar option "A" at Tuesday night's meeting.

Next school year will also include a full two-week winter break and a final day of school on June 12, 2025.

The approved calendar was the most popular of three offerings presented to teachers, parents, and community members in a survey this fall.

Here are six key dates for next school year's calendar:

Option A

• Teachers Report: Aug. 12
• First Day of School: Monday, Aug. 19
• Winter Break: Monday, Dec. 23 through Friday, Jan. 3
• Spring Break: Monday, April 14 through Monday, April 21
• Last Day of School: Thursday, June 12
• Last Day for Teachers: Friday, June 13

Though the school board approved the calendar on Tuesday, board members still had their qualms with the options.

"Personally, as a parent, I'd prefer a calendar that ends two weeks earlier to more align with SOL testing, AP testing, the fatigue that sets in the last few weeks of school and the difficulty for our staff to keep learning relevant," Jennifer Wall, who represents the Gainesville district, said.

None of the three options presented to the school board had an end date that would align with Wall's perspective.

"I understand the formula, it's almost like a calculus problem," Wall said. In Virginia, schools are required to have either 180 days of class or 990 instructional hours. The current offerings in Prince William County include more than 990 hours to account for up to 15 inclement weather days.

The approved calendar includes several holidays and student breaks throughout the year. Wall worries that this can make it harder for students to develop a routine.

"The flow of learning is a bit more interrupted if you have lots of days off, but on the other hand, we are honoring very significant cultural holidays," Wall said.

Ultimately, Wall supported option "A" to coincide with community preferences.

School Board member Loree Williams of the Woodbridge district also supported option "A," though she expressed her own concerns with the provided options.

"After SOLs, finals, there's still so much learning to be done. And I don't like the rhetoric that after SOLs we should just end our school year, because we're supposed to be learning all year long," Williams said. "I do think that we need to be more creative and flexible with our professional development days, [and] our parent-teacher conferences."

In a November meeting, school board member Justin Wilk of the Potomac District went on his self-described calendar rant, asking for more creativity in the future calendar options.

" We hear a lot of the common themes, not just from members of PWEA but from the general teaching population of the number of hours of PD [professional development], the number of required meetings, the gradings, the lesson planning, and in my opinion, we could be more creative and look at solutions to address these areas," Wilk said.

Wilks proposed more out-of-the-box calendar planning for the future regarding how teacher workdays and development days are scheduled.

"We look at half days, and I look at half days because maybe it's a half day of instruction but the other half of the day could be an opportunity for teachers to do grading. Teachers can do what they have to do in their classroom, maybe they have that team meeting that would otherwise take a planning period," Wilk said.

All members at Tuesday's school board meeting voted in favor of calendar option "A." Wilk and Neabsco district school board member Diane Raulston were not present for the meeting.

The full calendar will be posted to the school system's website in the coming days.