Belen Board of Education OKs 2025-26 calendar

BELEN — Belen Consolidated Schools students and parents can mark their calendars for Monday, Aug. 4, as the first day of school.

The Belen Board of Education unanimously approved the 2025-26 student calendar for BCS on Tuesday, April 8, with a start date of Monday, Aug. 4, a three-day Thanksgiving break and final day of classes on Thursday, May 21.

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BCS Superintendent Lawrence Sanchez told the board the calendar survey put out in February showed 73 percent of the 550 stakeholder responses preferred a start in early to mid August. There was also a strong desire to finish classes before Memorial Day, 84 percent, and 71 percent indicated a preference for a full week off for Thanksgiving.

“What was clear is that people want school to start in mid-August, but for us to do that and get out before Memorial Day is not possible,” Sanchez said. “We did pay attention to feedback and recognize we can’t please everybody.”

One key aspect playing into calendar creation for all districts is the recent court ruling striking down the New Mexico Public Education Department’s rule mandating at least 180 instructional days for public and charter schools.

Last year, the New Mexico School Superintendents Association filed a lawsuit against PED, arguing the state agency overstepped its authority by mandating a minimum number of instructional days. BCS joined the suit as a matter of supporting districts’ right to “local control,” since the board had already voiced its desire for a 180-day calendar, regardless.

The ruling in early February eliminated the 180-day requirement — which PED is appealing — but left the requirement for 1,140 instructional hours per school year for all grade levels intact.

“I appreciate the calendar committee, and while the student calendar is different from the employee calendar, they do effect each other,” Sanchez said. “In the first part of January, our teachers really appreciate having two days of professional learning before students come back from Christmas break. It’s valuable for our students and helps get them off to a good start.”

After the initial response to the February survey, the committee put together two calendar options for the upcoming school year. Those calendars included six holidays — Labor Day, Indigenous People’s Day, Election Day, Dr. Martin Luther King Day, Presidents Day and Good Friday — as well as a Thanksgiving break, winder holiday and spring break.

Option A put the first day of school on Thursday, July 31, had a full week off for Thanksgiving and ended classes on Thursday, May 21.

The reason for the July start in that option was tied to the end of the winter holiday break. With Jan. 1 and 2 being a Thursday and Friday, Sanchez said it would be difficult to get teachers and students back in the classroom on those days.

Putting the two professional learning days for teachers on Jan. 5 and 6, with students returning on Jan. 7, in addition to a full week off for Thanksgiving and getting out of school before Memorial Day, meant a July start date, an unpopular option with stakeholders.

By not taking the full week of Thanksgiving off in Option B, a start date could be set for Aug. 4 and still have classes wrapped up before Memorial Day.

Both calendar options include “half day Wednesdays,” an option favored by teachers, Sanchez said.

“Teachers told us it gives them a longer time for their (professional learning communities at the school sites) to work with each other on the instructional model and proficiency,” he said.

When asked to pick between the two calendars, 59 percent of the 621 respondents opted for Option B.

Board member Aubrey Tucker pointed out one of the reasons Option A contained a full week off for Thanksgiving was due to a “lack of integrity for instruction on Monday and Tuesday ... it would be upsetting to know some of the teaching staff took some kind of leave on those two days because the integrity of the instruction is not there.”

Sanchez said he didn’t disagree with Tucker’s concern, but noted it’s a bit of “six of one and half a dozen of the other. If we start earlier in the year, we are missing teachers there. Parents tell us, ‘That’s too early. My kid isn’t going to start until August.’ I don’t know which is better.”

Tucker said, in his opinion, “everything has evolved except time. We are trying to squeeze in everything in a certain amount of time. We have to look at quality. That might take 190 days. I don’t think that should be off the table in the future.”