Early feedback on new school calendar has parents asking for more classroom time
February 13, 2026 | By Lisa ScagliottiThe current school year is now in its second half and Harwood school officials are asking for feedback on the proposed calendar for the 2026-27 school year that includes multiple half-days for students to build in teacher and staff training time.
Superintendent Mike Leichliter in a district newsletter last week shared the draft calendar, noting that he will present it to the Harwood Unified Union School District School Board at its meeting on Feb. 18. The draft calendar includes eight student half-days to allow for teacher training time, in addition to several full days off for that purpose. The district sent a survey to parents in late 2025 that proposed the early-release day idea for next school year.
As drafted, the schedule calls for students to be dismissed early on one Wednesday per month from September through May, excluding January. On those eight days, elementary school students would end their school day at 11:30 a.m., and middle and high school students would be dismissed at 12:30 p.m., Leichliter explained.
Proposed and current school calendars | click to enlarge
His message asks parents and staff for input by the end of the day today, Feb. 13, for him to consider before next week’s board meeting. “Your input matters, and we want to ensure the calendar reflects both state requirements and family feedback,” he wrote.
The school board has yet to take up the calendar topic, but it heard some early reaction asking school leaders to rethink the plan at its meeting this week.
Former school board chair Caitlin Hollister from Waterbury attended to share comments at the start of the Feb. 11 meeting.
“I'm asking you to vote against the calendar as proposed,” Hollister told the board, noting that she works in training school teachers and values the school building in time for staff and teacher professional development. “I have a deep commitment to training our educators and seeing that they get excellent, robust professional development and time to collaborate.”
But Hollister pointed out that the proposed calendar includes both full days that students would be off from school for teacher training, along with the eight new half days spread across the academic year.
“It’s time in our district to really prioritize student time in our buildings with our educators and not reduce any of that time more than we already have to with things like snow days and flood days,” she said. “I noticed that in this calendar we have pretty much a similar schedule to this year, where we have some full days for professional development scheduled for next year, and the addition is eight half days. I'm just deeply concerned that this continues to interrupt student learning.”
The proposed calendar calls for 178 student days for the 2026-27 school year, the same number as the current school year. The early-release days in the proposed schedule still count toward the total number of student days.
The result, Hollister pointed out, is overall less student time in the classroom. “I think that the district could stand to have more of a focus on instructional time and really prioritizing that for all of our students,” she said. “We know that interruptions are inevitable … I've been deeply saddened to see that when we have an interruption, that there isn't more of an effort to recapture some student time.”
Hollister pointed to an example from last year when Crossett Brook Middle School was closed due to flooding and students missed three days on the heels of February break. The district applied for and received a waiver from the state to exempt it from having to make up those days for the Crossett Brook students.
David Rye also addressed the board on Wednesday, saying he was sending a letter signed by more than 50 parents who are disappointed in the proposed calendar and the reduction in classroom time. He said many parents presumed the half-days added into the schedule would substitute for the full days off.
“We wish to express our disappointment in this proposal. At a time when our students need stability and academic focus, reducing in-person instructional time is a step in the wrong direction,” said Rye, who is Hollister’s spouse. “We strongly urge the board to reconsider this plan and prioritize more instructional time.”
Rye said parents he’s talked with oppose the new calendar due to “cumulative loss of instructional time” over the past six years, since the pandemic and through flooding episodes. He added that many students already have half days for instruction in the winter to make time for the school’s ski and snowboarding program that takes place during the school day.
“Turning eight full days into half days is going in the wrong direction,” he said, adding that parents would prefer to see a calendar with more than 178 student days in the classroom. The state of Vermont’s minimum number of student days is 175, with at least five days of teacher training built into school schedules.
In presenting the draft calendar in the school newsletter, the superintendent explained that holding half-day trainings is a standard practice in many schools across Vermont. He said it’s efficient and would save money because it would eliminate contractual hours for teachers in addition to their regular school days.
To ease the transition for families, Leichliter said that the district is contacting local childcare and after-school activity providers to alert them of the schedule, with the hope of them being able to offer opportunities for young children on the early-release days.
Following the public comments on the topic at Wednesday’s meeting, board Chair Ashley Woods thanked Hollister and Rye for their feedback. “We appreciate your input, really, and we will talk it through without a doubt,” she said.
The school district newsletter with the proposed calendar and form to offer comments is posted online here. The school board meets on Feb. 18 at 6 p.m. in the Harwood library and via Zoom. Details on the agenda posted here.