Los Alamos School Board Members, from left, Sondra Wyman, Melanie Colgan, Secretary Christine Bernstein, Vice President Ellen Specter and President Antonio Jaurigue discuss options for the new school calendar during Thursday night’s school board meeting. Screenshot/LADP

SCHOOL BOARD News: 

In response to the newly passed HB 130, which requires New Mexico public schools to provide 1,140 hours of instruction and at least 180 days of school, Los Alamos Public Schools passed 4-1 with Board Member Sondra Wyman opposed a new calendar for the 2023-2024 school year during Thursday night’s  school board meeting.

Calendar C passed and includes:

• The first day of school for students would be Aug. 9;
• The last day of  school would be June 7;
• There will be 190 instructional days for students;
• There will be 196 teacher/staff days;
• The first day for staff will be July 31 and there will be five planning, preparation and professional development days before the start of school as well as three planning and preparation days Oct. 4, Jan. 9 and March 20;
• There will be one week off after the first quarter, to be known as Fall Break;
• There will be one week off for Thanksgiving;
• There will be two weeks off for Winter Break;
• There will be one week off after the third quarter, known as Spring Break; and
• Staff will be off seven weeks in the summer and students will have eight weeks off.

Currently, LAPS has 180 days of school with 1,080 hours of instruction for secondary grades and 990 hours of instruction for elementary grades.

Specter made the motion to approve Calendar C. However, she and other board members stated that nothing is set in stone. The calendar can be modified. The committee that was formed to address the school calendar will continue to operate.

“I am leaning towards Calendar C,” Specter said. “Giving a trial of fall break and seeing if we like it … giving something new a try …  dipping our toes in the water with a fall break between quarter one and quarter two – it seems to address a lot of the issues that we heard and it is a worthwhile experiment…”

Wyman opposed this calendar; she spoke in favor earlier in the meeting for Calendar A, which received top marks from surveys that were conducted with different stakeholders.