• We are excited to share updates on the innovative changes being recommended for the 2025-2026 school year to enhance school experiences for students and staff. Now is the time to ensure we are preparing students for their future, not our past. 

    These recommendations, developed by the Innovative School Experience Design teams and our operational committee and consultant, include adjustments to school day hours and transportation schedules to better align with the changing needs of our youth and the future of the workforce. 


    Our Purpose

    • Increasing opportunities for interdisciplinary learning experiences that focus on developing real-world skills and promoting the skills in our Profile of a Learner.
    • Allowing for individualized supports and learning paths so every student has the chance to thrive.
    • Expanding work-based learning and career pathway opportunities to better prepare students for life after graduation.
    • Addressing the social-emotional wellbeing of students, ensuring they feel supported and ready to learn.
    • Increasing teacher collaboration and connection with students to foster meaningful relationships and deeper learning.
    • Enhancing professional collaboration so our educators have the time and tools to iterate, innovate, and build dynamic, authentic learning experiences.


    Our Rationale

    As we bring together all of the data, challenges, and opportunities we’ve discussed thus far, this slide highlights several key areas that represent the structural barriers we face in creating the innovative school experience our students and staff deserve. These are the challenges we are working to address with our proposed solutions.

    • Engagement: Our students are telling us they want something different, not just through their words but through their behaviors and performance. Purposeful, relevant learning experiences are key to improving attendance, reducing tardiness, and fostering deeper engagement.
    • Instructional Minutes and Mandates: Compared to other districts, we are not aligned in critical areas, such as math instructional time. Research and best practices recommend more minutes for math at the middle school level, and we must also consider how to better use our existing time, including transitions. State mandates continue to grow, requiring us to do more within the same amount of time.
    • Supports and Schedules: Our school day structure has remained largely unchanged for decades. Many of you see your children following schedules similar to what you experienced. How many of us can say our careers haven’t evolved in how we do business? Unstructured time, limited individualized supports, and nested school days are all barriers to progress.
    • Post-Secondary Readiness: We need to ensure students leave us with the skills they need to succeed, whether that’s in college, career, or life. This includes skills-based instruction, exposure to careers, mentorship opportunities, exploratory options at the middle school level, and college course options at the high school level.
    • Professional Collaboration: Our teachers are being asked to do more than ever—supporting academic, social-emotional, and wellness needs, all while delivering deeper, interdisciplinary learning experiences. Collaboration is foundational to this work, yet our current structures do not allow for the meaningful planning and teamwork that is critical for success.

    Finally, there’s an additional factor—our nested transportation and school day schedules. This means our school days fit within one another and are not staggered.  These schedules create inefficiencies that ripple through all levels, limiting how we can innovate time and space to meet the needs of students and staff.

    These categories summarize the structural challenges we are working to overcome. Addressing these barriers is essential to creating the kinds of learning environments that will prepare our students for their futures.


    We invite you to review the following resources to learn more about the WHY behind the proposed changes:

    1. Fall Focus 203 Presentation
    2. January Focus 203 Presentation 
    3. January 21st Board of Education Presentation