JACKSON, Wyo. — During the Teton County School District (TCSD) #1 Board of Trustees meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 15, Trustees will consider three new options for amending the 2025/2026 school year calendar. The three options that TCSD Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Dr. Scott Crisp presented to parents via Zoom on Dec. 12 were recently revised due to community input.
TCSD released the new calendar summary to parents on Jan. 13, in an email by TCSD Superintendent of Schools Dr. Gillian Chapman. According to Chapman, the district has made changes to the previously proposed schedule options after receiving feedback from parents/guardians, employees, community members and local community partners.
“We all recognize that there is not one solution that will meet the needs and preferences of each family and allow us to meet the critical goals or provide our educators the time they need to collaborate and respond to the needs of students in order to provide every TCSD student the best education possible,” Chapman said in an email to parents.
The option for late arrival on Mondays, which was presented to parents in December, received minimal community support and was removed as a schedule possibility.
Option A — Increase no-school/teacher in-service days
Option A would increase the number of no school/teacher in-service days to once a month, resulting in 10 days total. The school year would begin before Labor Day and end on June 15, 2026, to ensure that students receive 175 instructional days. If spring break were to be modified from two weeks to one week, then the school year would begin later on Sept. 2, 2025.
This option allows for the same amount of schools days as the 2024/2025 school year. The district would not offer K-5 programming during the no school/teacher in-service days.
Option B, C — Early release on Fridays
Both options B and C modified the district’s original proposal for early release on Fridays to allow for more instructional learning time for students. In both options, students would be released from school 80 minutes early instead of two and half hours early, which was initially proposed. Grades K-5 would be releases at 1:40 p.m. and grades 6-12 would be released at 2:40 p.m.
In option B, students would start the school year on Sept. 2, 2025 and end the school year on June 17, 2026. In option C, students would start the school year on Aug. 22, 2025, and end on June 12, 2026. If spring break was modified from two weeks to just one week, then the school year would end earlier; June 10, 2026 for option B and June 5, 2026 for option C.
In both options, the total amount of school days would be 179, compared to 175 in the 2024/2025 year. Student classroom hours would decrease by approximately 20 hours for K-5 (the original proposal called for an instructional decrease by 57 hours) and 15 hours for grades 6-8 (the original proposal called for an instructional decrease by 38 hours). For grades 9-12, classroom hours would remain the same as the 2024/2025 school year. After school K-5 programming would not be offered in either option.
To learn more about the updated proposals being presented, go here.
“There is a lot of information provided, which we hope will demonstrate the complexity of this issue and the work we have done to provide the best options for families and the educators who work with your students daily,” Chapman wrote via email.
The Board of Trustees will consider all three options during its Wednesday meeting at 6 p.m. at the TCSD #1 Board of Education Administration Building on 1235 Gregory Lane. Public comments will be received in-person or parents can register to attend virtually.
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story stated an incorrect ending time for the scheduling meeting. Buckrail regrets the error.
