About the APS Calendar Committee
Purpose and Process
The Aurora Public Schools Calendar Committee brings together representatives from across our district including teachers, staff, families and community members to guide the development of our academic calendars each year. The committee meets monthly during the fall semester each school year to study data, review feedback and make a recommendation to the Board of Education by January for the following school year.
Our goal is to ensure that the APS calendar supports high-quality instruction, staff collaboration and the well-being of our students, families and employees.
Recent Calendar Committee Work
- 2023–24 School Year: The committee recommended a “no change” calendar, maintaining the same start date, end date and break structure. During this year, members began exploring the concept of a transformative calendar, one that would provide teachers with weekly time to collaborate in Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). Adopting weekly PLCs would be a strategy to help increase student achievement across the district.
- 2024–25 School Year: The committee continued exploring the idea of a transformative calendar by considering a late start model. The proposed pilot would delay the school start time one morning each week to allow dedicated PLC time for teachers. Ultimately, the committee recommended another “no change” calendar for the 2025–26 school year, while encouraging continued study of the late start option.
- 2025–26 School Year: Four APS schools are currently piloting the weekly late start schedule, beginning 75 minutes later than usual one morning each week to provide PLC time for teachers. The committee will use feedback from these pilot schools, survey results from staff, students and families plus other districtwide data to inform its recommendation to the Board of Education in January 2026. That recommendation will cover academic calendars for the next two to three school years.
Transparency and Engagement
The calendar planning process is rooted in community feedback and transparency. Each fall, APS gathers input from staff, families and secondary students through an engagement survey to better understand priorities and preferences.
2025-26 Calendar Survey
Below are the survey questions currently being used to gather input for the next calendar recommendation:
Aurora Public Schools is planning its academic calendar for the upcoming school years. As part of this planning effort, we would like your feedback on what the most important elements of our calendar are to you. Please take a moment to answer the questions below.
Q1. Calendar Priorities:
We want to understand what matters most to you when determining the school calendar for future years.
Rank the following items in order of importance (1 = most important, 6 = least important):
- Starting the school year the first week of August
- Ending the school year before Memorial Day
- Begin the school year later but maintain end date
- Align to other metro area school districts
- Extend the year to accommodate longer breaks
- Shorten the year with fewer or shorter breaks
Q2. Break Preferences:
The school calendar includes several scheduled breaks throughout the year. We want your feedback on whether the current approach meets your needs.
Are you satisfied with the current schedule and length of breaks or would you prefer an alternative approach?
- Satisfied with current breaks; keep breaks as is
- Want more frequent, shorter breaks
- Want fewer, longer breaks
- No Opinion / Not Sure
Q3. Weekly Late Starts vs. Professional Release Days:
APS is exploring the possibility of starting school 60-75 minutes later one day each week to give teachers dedicated time for professional learning that supports student success. This means that there would be fewer or no professional release days (full days of no classes for students) throughout the school year.
What do you prefer when it comes to weekly late starts or professional release days (full days of no classes for students)?
- I prefer Professional Release Days - full days of no classes for students - throughout the year.
- I prefer weekly consistent late starts one day per week.
- I prefer a combination of both weekly late starts and professional release days.
- I'm not sure about these options.
- I don't have an opinion about these options.
Next Steps
Throughout the fall semester, the Calendar Committee will:
- Review engagement survey results from staff, families and students
- Analyze feedback and data from pilot schools
- Consider additional variables such as instructional minutes, transportation and family impact
- Develop one or more calendar options for consideration
- Make a recommendation to the Board of Education in January 2026
Final approved calendars will be published on the APS website following the Board’s decision.
Staying Involved
APS encourages all community members to share their input and stay engaged throughout the process. Your feedback helps ensure that our calendars reflect the needs of our diverse community while supporting our shared commitment to student success.
What are Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)?
PLCs provide a dedicated time and space for teachers to discuss what's most important for student learning. Investing in more frequent PLCs is a strategy to help increase student achievement across the district. This time allows teachers to address the four critical questions of a PLC (popularized by Rick DuFour):
- What do we want students to know?
- How will we know they have learned?
- How do we respond when they have not yet learned?
- What do we do when students have already mastered the intended learning outcomes?