SPOKANE, Wash. — The Spokane Public School District met on Wednesday to discuss changing their school schedule. The change would be from a traditional schedule to a ‘Balanced” schedule that would shorten summer break and make other breaks longer throughout the year.
The balanced calendar would be a mix of a traditional calendar and a year-round calendar. Both would have 180 days of student instruction, but the length and timing of school breaks vary depending on the option.
Traditional School Calendar
This is the model currently used by Spokane Public Schools which includes a long summer break.
The traditional calendar features a summer vacation of 11 weeks followed by an extended period of instructional days, with the first break coming at Thanksgiving. The winter holidays are followed by 55 instructional days before a short spring break. Spring break is followed by 40 instructional days before the end of the school year (Description provided by SPS)
School breaks
- Fall break: 0 days
- Winter break: 10 days
- Spring break: 5 days
- Summer break: 11 weeks
Year-Round Calendar
A year-round calendar looks to divide the school year into 4 equal sections, each with 45 days instruction, followed by a 3-week break. (Summer break = 5 weeks) (Description provided by SPS)
School breaks
- Fall break: 15 days
- Winter break: 15 days
- Spring break: 15 days
- Summer break: 5 weeks
Balanced Calendar
With a balanced calendar, students attend class the same number of days and receive the same instructional hours driven by the same curricula as students at traditional calendar schools. A balanced calendar modifies the traditional 180-day calendar to keep the learning process continuous. Students have periodic, shorter breaks rather than one long summer break. All students attend school at the same time and go on vacation at the same time. (Description provided by SPS)
School breaks
- Fall break: 10 days
- Winter break: 15 days
- Spring break: 10 days
- Summer break: 7-8 weeks
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