The Amarillo Independent School District will send students to school early again next summer, according to The Amarillo Globe-News.
On Monday evening, district officials agreed to make August 15 the first day of school for the 2018-2019 school year. The mid-month beginning is no different from 2017. The idea behind the early return is that students are given more vacation during the autumn, and the shortened summer allows the fall semester to end before Christmas.
With the early return, students will be given two extra four-day weekends during the fall semester. The calendar was carried over to next year after the district received positive feedback from the changes this year.
Amarillo ISD spokeswoman Holly Shelton told the Globe-News that the new calendar “keeps the two weeks at Christmas, three days at Thanksgiving, [and meets] the general expectations of how our community wants to see breaks throughout the year.”