The 2012-2013 school calendar has been approved for the coming school year. The ISD has elected to move away from the Optional Flexible School Year calendar that we have used for the prior two years which meant the calendar was set on 180 student school days. For the coming school year we have adopted a 177 student day calendar which provides for professional development for teachers. Basically, students will be attending 177 days of instruction and teachers will have 10 days of professional development making the total of 187 mandated school days. One of the goals in setting a school calendar is to balance what is best for families and what is the best instructional arrangement. We also have to work hard to try to balance the fall semester and the spring semester regarding the number of days in each semester. The school start date is determined by state law. The state of Texas will not allow schools to begin the school year for students until the 4th Monday in August each year; therefore, our starting date will be 8/27/2012. The last day of school will be May 30, 2013 and high school graduation will be on May 31, 2013. The Thanksgiving Holiday is scheduled for 11/21 – 11/23 and Christmas break is scheduled for 12/24 – 1/4. Some additional changes that are different from prior calendars include, no staff and student holiday for Labor Day and no school holiday for the San Saba County Stock Show. Please take the time to go to the website to review the adopted 2012-2013 school calendar. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to give us a call. Parents, let us know how we can help you the first day of school all the way until the last day of school!! Please check the website at www.san-saba.net for school information and follow us on facebook, too! If you have any question about this article or any other question about school happenings please contact me at 325/372-3144 or email me at lglaze@san-saba.net .