Based on several considerations, a calendar with balanced semesters and an early-release Friday was recommended and approved at a recent meeting of the Keokuk Community School District Board of Education. The 2025-2026 school calendar, with Winter and Spring breaks was approved. The following dates are of note:
- Student Start Date: Monday, Aug. 25, 2025
- Winter Break: Dec. 22, 2025-Jan. 2, 2026
- End of First Semester: Friday, Jan. 16, 2026
- Spring Break: March 13-March 20, 2026
- Last Day of School: Friday, May 29, 2026
The proposed calendar contains an additional 24.64 student instructional hours (over the required 1,080) in case of weather-related cancellations. This year’s calendar contained an additional 22.47 hours. Feedback, review of student data, and good practice guides the annual school calendar process. Loss of instructional time was one consideration for the move from Wednesday early-release to a Friday early-release, with Superintendent, Kathy Dinger, sharing, “We experience significant absenteeism on Fridays and with an early-release that day, students who find it necessary to miss school will not experience as much loss of instructional time.” She also noted the interruption in the middle of the week that an early-release Wednesday creates. Friday early-releases also provide some transportation relief as buses will be able to complete after school transportation in time to return and support evening activities/athletics transportation. The current school calendar has 14 more school days in the second semester when compared to the first. The 2025-2026 school calendar, with more balanced semesters, supports a consistent pace of teaching and learning and is better aligned to the start date of the second semester at Southeastern Community College.
