Calendars

Each year a committee made up of district staff and Madison Teachers Inc. (MTI) representatives meet over a series of months to finalize the next year’s school calendar.

The committee takes into account state laws, Department of Public Instruction (DPI) regulations, board of education policies, provisions of the employee handbook and religious holidays, staff and family input. These various provisions impact such things as school start date, the number of contracted work days and the number of conferences and Professional Development (PD) days.

In addition, we consider professional learning needs of our school staff, time for staff to analyze data and time dedicated to implement each school’s School Improvement Plan (SIP).  We also consult with staff and family advisory groups about their preferences for length of breaks, the start and end of school year, scheduling conferences and so on.

Professional learning promotes a thriving workforce and continuous improvement across the district. High-quality teacher teams are the cornerstone of great teaching in our schools. Research links teacher collaboration with higher levels of student achievement. Our teacher teams pursue common instructional purposes and goals, examine student learning and share their unique expertise. Dedicating days for teacher teams to do this work supports the regular cycle of planning, teaching, reflecting and adjusting needed for professional growth and student learning.

Per Board of Education Policy (Policy 4039), schools shall avoid scheduling exams, athletic events/contests and other special events, such as assemblies, field trips and back-to-school nights, on days highlighted in yellow and identified as “Observances That May Impact Attendance.” Please note, while MMSD policy guides our planning of our district and school events, other districts may follow different policies when scheduling their athletic and/or competitive events.

We have snows day built into the calendar. If all allotted snow days are used, we will likely have school during a scheduled Staff Only Day.

MMSD's commitment to excellence by ensuring all student have the best educational experience is supported through our early release Monday's professional collaboration time for K-12. This time offers staff an opportunity to engage in professional learning to enhance their craft and support new learning as it relates to the shifts in best practices and our district priorities.   

Starting in the 2024-2025 school year, early release on Monday will only be applicable to elementary and middle schools.  High school students will have a standard daily schedule Monday-Friday.

This shift does not remove the critical importance of staff collaboration time. Instead, it allows an opportunity to think differently about using non-instructional time, including longer periods of collaborative time, for deeper planning and reflection. As such, three additional high school professional learning days will be added to next year's calendar, on September 16, 2024, March 10, and April 14, 2025.