The Fairfax County School Board recently voted to confirm calendars for the 2027-28 and 2028-29 school years that emphasize full five-day instructional weeks, while preserving a full week of spring break and two full weeks of winter break.
Superintendent Michelle Reid proposed calendars last Thursday (July 9) that maintain the 180 instructional days required by Virginia law and follow extensive parameters passed by the board earlier this summer. The school board adopted the proposal on a 10-1 vote.
Throughout the 2025-26 school year, many parents had expressed frustration over the number of shortened weeks due to teacher work days, special elections, and snow days.
The two new calendars increase the number of full five-day weeks to 27 in 2027-2028 and 26 in 2028-2029. They also maintain 15 professional workdays for staff, with some now designated for the end and beginning of the school years. The first day of school is set for Aug. 23 in 2027, and Aug. 21 in 2028.
School will end on June 14 in 2027, and June 15 in 2028.
“I believe these calendars strike a thoughtful balance that preserve the breaks that [families value], maintain the required 180 days instructional days and 15 professional work days, maximize five days instructional weeks where possible, balancing instructional quarters and complying with both board state requirements and board policy,” said Seema Dixit, the school board’s Sully District member. “For those reasons, I’ll be supporting these calendars.”
Mount Vernon District Representative Mateo Dunne called the calendars “a work in progress.”
“I think these calendars are an improvement over this year’s, but what I’ll be watching going forward is continued improvement. Because the historical norm was 70% five-day weeks … and I’d like us to be able to continue to move in that direction,” Dunne said.
Several members emphasized their continued frustration over the fact that during a June meeting, the board had adopted a new policy establishing a standard framework for future school year calendars — before Fairfax County Public Schools had finished collecting responses from a community survey on the subject.
That left the superintendent with what she and others called “a math problem,” allowing very little room for changes to the proposed calendars based on the public survey responses.
At-large member Ilryong Moon said that while he would vote for the calendars, it was with “great, great reservation.”
“Unfortunately, under our policy passed on June 11, which I didn’t support, we are pretty much constrained in what we can do,” Moon said.
Ricardy Anderson, who represents Mason District on the school board, provided the lone vote against the calendars.
“Similarly to Mr. Moon, I’m dismayed by the fact that we essentially shut down 47,000 comments,” she said. “There were some points that just landed where they landed, which is great, and that was fortuitous. But it wasn’t intentional to really use the feedback from the community … The board went ahead and created a policy that usurped some of the comments that we received.”
