A recent survey regarding Conroe ISD’s 2024-2025 school calendar showed many community members favored four-day weekends for some holidays, including Thanksgiving, and fewer instructional days.
In January, the board approved the current school calendar that included the earlier start date and a focus on safety by having election days as staff development days since several schools serve as polling locations.
Hedith Sauceda-Upshaw, assistant superintendent for teaching and learning, presented the results to the board Nov. 14, showing 17,525 people responded. The largest responding group, 11,278, were parents whose children attend Conroe ISD schools.
Additionally, 251 students provided feedback through the survey, Sauceda-Upshaw said. The largest parent response was from schools in The Woodlands High School feeder zone.
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Sauceda-Upshaw said the most common feedback has been a desire to start later than Aug. 9. More than 55% of respondents favored starting the school year either Aug. 14 or Aug. 21.
“If we were to follow the same calendar as we did this year,” Sauceda-Upshaw said. “That would be Aug. 7 (for a start date.)”
The survey showed just over 86% of responses favored adding five minutes to the school day. The current calendar includes 174 days of instruction. Adding the extra time would mean 172 days of instruction.
“What we would be giving up is precious,” Superintendent Curtis Null said. “Because every school day is precious. To give up two of our most precious commodities is a big deal. We would have to work to make sure we don’t see a falling off of student performance because of that.”
Null said there are some impacts that could come from adding the extra time to the school day.
“Junior high, for example, we are running buses up and down I-45,” Null said. “Every minute you are later, the worse (traffic) gets.”
Lastly, Sauceda-Upshaw said about 60% of those who responded preferred Thanksgiving, winter and spring breaks change to four-day weekends instead of full weeks.
The district is allowing the community to provide scenarios, Sauceda-Upshaw said.
“It’s a lot of engagement so the community can really understand the rules we have to make the calendar happen,” Sauceda-Upshaw said. “We hope to get good response from that.”
