One fewer instructional day and an early start on the winter break are highlights of the School District of Lancaster’s 2025-2026 academic calendar, which the school board approved at its October meeting.
The first day of school will be Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025 for students in grades K-6 and McCaskey freshman, as well as seventh- and eighth-graders at ER Martin School. All other students return on August 20.
Barring snow days, the last day of school will be Friday, May 29, 2026.
The first day of school is the same date as the previous three years and falls nearly two weeks prior to Labor Day. Students will again have a four-day weekend around Labor Day. The calendar is designed to ease students and staff back into the school year with three consecutive four-day weeks.
Fall family-teacher conferences will be held November 24-25, which means students will not be in class the entire week of Thanksgiving. During conferences, teachers review student report cards and other academic and social development from the first marking period with families. Available hours for conferences will be 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. on November 24 and 8:30 a.m. to noon on November 25. Students will not report those days, and schools will develop their own schedules during those times. Winter family-teacher conferences will be held February 5 from 4 to 8 p.m. and February 6 from 8:30 a.m. to noon. Students will not report to school on February 6.
Students will attend school two days leading into the winter break, December 22 and 23, but they will be dismissed early on December 23. Because Christmas and New Year’s Day are on Thursdays, winter break will be slightly longer than usual, from December 24 to January 2, with district offices open just two days, December 29-30. Thanksgiving break will be November 26-28 and spring break will be April 3-6.
Additional early dismissals for staff meetings will be on the second Wednesday of every month. Full in-service days for teachers are October 24, January 16, February 17, and June 2 (pending snow days).
The schedule also includes a four-day weekend for students March 20-23. Teachers will have conference-style professional development on March 23. March 20 will be the only scheduled snow make-up day in the calendar. Any additional days can be counted as Flexible Instructional Days (FIDs), or made up by adding days after May 29.