Park City School District approves 2026-27 calendar

Photo: TownLift // Rayne Moynahan

PARK CITY, UT — The Park City School District approved its 2026-27 calendar on Tuesday night, introducing significant changes, including embedded professional development days, extended breaks, and a firm preference against starting school after breaks on Mondays.

School will begin on Wednesday, August 19, 2027, marking a departure from the traditional Monday openings after receiving strong feedback from staff, parents, and students. Superintendent Lyndsay Huntsman stated, “It was clear across the board—whether you were support staff, a principal, teacher, parent, or student—that no one wanted to start on a Monday.”

The board chose to adopt a single-year calendar instead of the usual three-year plan, allowing flexibility to avoid scheduling conflicts with community events. “We can already see where we’re going to bump up against the marathon,” Huntsman noted. “We do not want to do that again. We want to be good community partners and not schedule a professional development day on the same day.”

New Professional Development Structure

The new calendar spreads professional development throughout the year instead of clustering it at the beginning. Teachers will return on August 12 for district and site-directed training, which will continue through August 14. August 17-18 will be set aside as protected classroom preparation time, with a potential back-to-school night on August 17. “Any dedicated professional development that needs to be district- or site-directed will occur on the 12th, 13th, and 14th,” Huntsman explained. “On the 17th and 18th, those are protected times for teachers to work in their classrooms to prepare for welcoming students.”

The calendar includes built-in snow days on March 26 and May 28. If these days are not needed for weather-related closures, they will be converted to professional development days for staff. The May 28 date would extend Memorial Day weekend for families while staff are still required to report.

Extended Winter Break

Students will enjoy an extra day during winter break. While teachers return on January 4 for professional development, students will return on January 5. “Parents said, ‘Our kids are just coming back to school on the fourth and then going to be out again on the eighth. Why not just extend the winter break?'” Huntsman said. Thus, teachers and staff will return on the fourth for a professional development day, while students will remain out until the fifth.

The calendar will continue to include traditional breaks: fall break on October 15-16, a whole week for Thanksgiving, two weeks for winter break, and a whole second week of April for spring break. September includes two Monday holidays: Labor Day and Yom Kippur, which falls on September 21. The last day of school is scheduled for June 4.

Friday Schedule Remains

The district will maintain early-release Fridays despite the calendar changes. Huntsman noted that Good Friday falls on March 26, 2027, meaning families observing the holiday will be out while staff work during the professional development day.

Semester System Under Consideration

The district is exploring transitioning from quarters to semesters for the 2027-28 school year, with a staff survey scheduled for early December. A decision must be made by January to allow the technology department time for necessary system changes. This shift would retain mid-year parent-teacher conferences and progress reports, but would lock grades at the semester level rather than at quarterly intervals.

“We are looking at moving to a semester-based system instead of a quarter or trimester system,” Huntsman stated. The change would also implement a consistent red-white schedule: Mondays and Wednesdays would always be red, Tuesdays would always be white, and Fridays would rotate to balance the number of red and white days throughout the year. One exception would be the College and Career Awareness class at Ecker Hill Middle School, which will continue its trimester rotation among three teachers.

Huntsman stressed the importance of obtaining staff feedback before making the change. “Obviously, we’ll get feedback from the people who are living it and breathing it day in and day out,” she said.

The district will reconvene its calendar committee to develop two- and three-year calendars for presentation in January or February, incorporating religious holidays, including considerations for Good Friday and Thursday observances.