Above: A look at the main differences between the calendar approved by the Southborough School Committee this month and the one that the Regional School Committee adopted in December and will reconsider next week.
Next week, the Regional School Committee is schedule to recast votes on the district calendar for the 2026-2027 school year. This time, they’ll consider a new option, supported by the teachers unions.
Earlier this month, the Southborough School Committee voted to change its position and support the newly proposed “Option 5” calendar.
Calendar Challenges
The calendar options and debates have centered around two issues:
- How to deal with the religious holidays observed by an increasingly diverse school population
- For three decades, the schools have observed the Jewish and Christian holidays of Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, and Good Friday.
- In recent year’s they’ve been debating the elimination of those vs addition of Diwali, Lunar New Year, and Eid al-Fitr.
- (Every year, at least one of the holidays falls on a weekend or school break. The full list typically adds 3-4 days to the calendar.)
- How to handle Professional Development Days and the start and end of the school year given constraints in teacher contracts and a Labor Day that falls on the latest day possible.
Last year, the committees had thought they were opting to adopt a framework that they would at least test out for a few years. They agreed to incorporate full day observances for the six holidays listed above.
In 2026-2027 only three of those holidays conflict with regular school days — Yom Kippur, Eid al-Fitr, and Good Friday.
But the complication of a clause in the contract with the Algonquin Regional Teachers Association (ARTA), forced them to rethink the approach this year. The contract prohibits teachers’ work from beginning earlier than the Monday prior to Labor Day without ARTA’s approval.
Most years, the teachers hold three Professional Development (PD) Days prior to school beginning in late August or September 1st. This summer, based on a September 7th Labor Day, the teachers won’t begin PD until August 31st unless the school follows a calendar approved by ARTA.
The late start meant that a large number of snow days could push the last day of school beyond the June 30th cap in all three district’s teacher contracts.
This month, Superintendent Gregory Martineau told the Southborough School Committee that won’t be an issue when planning for subsequent calendars (starting with 2027-2028). A newly negotiated agreement will remove the start date restriction. And the clause isn’t in the contracts for Northborough or Southborough teachers associations.
Calendar Options
Option 3, previously adopted by two committees, was based on a concept that students in the district would observe all of the same religious holidays incorporated into the current calendar. But that wasn’t true for teachers.
An Option 4 that the majority of the Regional School Committee rejected had proposed that the district would use one religious holiday as a PD day, rotating which holiday was impacted each year. (Next year would have been Eid al-Fitr.)
Instead, the Regional School Committee voted 7-2 for Option 3 which used Yom Kippur and Eid al-Fitr as PD days. Good Friday would be observed as a holiday.
Some members of committees argued for Option 3 it as more secular and therefore fair, but neither they nor the administration addressed the Good Friday exception. And there was no clear explanation for how other holidays would be treated in future years.
The newly proposed Option 5 observes all six holidays for both teachers and students as the current calendar. But unlike an earlier version of that was rejected by the administration and committees, it doesn’t increase the risk of snow days pushing the last day of school past June.
The calendar worked out with ARTA would begin PD days on August 27th and start school on September 1st.
Southborough Teachers Push for Option 5
In a letter advocating for Option 5, the Southborough Teachers Association didn’t mention the holidays. It instead focused on the revised schedule for the transition phase at the start of the school year:
The revised calendar, number 5, presents a meaningful opportunity to better support both students and teachers at the start of the school year.
The additional days at the beginning of the year allow teachers valuable time to intentionally build classroom communities, establish routines, and get to know their students before the full academic curriculum begins. This time is critical, especially in the early weeks of school, as strong relationships and a sense of belonging lay the foundation for student engagement, behavior, and academic success throughout the year.
When teachers are given the space to focus on community-building and social-emotional needs at the outset, students are better prepared to access rigorous instruction once it begins. These early days are not a loss of instructional time but rather an investment that strengthens learning throughout the school year.
In December, the Southborough School Committee had debated options with split opinions. But the 4-1 vote for Option 3 was also influenced by a desire to follow the same calendar as used for Algonquin. And the Regional School Committee had voted first.
Northborough’s vote was a tie at that time. By the time the full five-member committee convened in January to consider the calendar, the NSBORO administration received pushback from the Algonquin Regional Teachers Association (ARTA).
The Northborough committee opted to hold off on voting for a new calendar. According to Martineau, they charged him with coming up with the alternate version. He worked with ARTA to come up with Option 5.
In early February, the Northborough Committee opted to hold off on voting on an option. In a straw poll, they supported Option 5. But instead of adopting it, they wanted to give the other school committees a chance to reconsider their votes.
This time, Southborough’s committee was up first. On February 11th, the committee discussed Option 5 and the teachers’ feedback. Member Denise Eddy called the option a good compromise. And Chair Chelsea Malinowski stated:
understanding what’s going to support the teachers in order to be ready for the beginning of school is valuable
The committee voted unanimously to approve Option 5. Members acknowledged that they’ll have to revisit the issue if the Regional School Committee rejects the option.
The Regional Committee is scheduled to address the topic at their February 25th meeting. (It’s on their agenda under “Old Business”.) The agenda packet includes Option 5. To look at Option 3 (and the other options), see the December Combined meeting packet here.
