The State College Area School Board on Monday approved an academic calendar for 2025-26 that starts after the end of the Grange Fair in August and concludes the first week in June.
Classes will begin on Tuesday, Aug. 26, and are scheduled to end on Friday, June 5. Commencement is scheduled for June 5, with rain dates of June 6 and 7.
A 26-member calendar committee developed a schedule that meets Pennsylvania Department of Education requirements and fulfill contractual obligations, according to the district.
The start of classes also comes a day after the beginning of Penn State’s fall semester, which “will allow the university’s international students time to enroll their children so that they can participate in the establishing foundational norms and routines that happen during the first few weeks of school,” according to the district.
In a quirk of scheduling, students will have off the entire week of Thanksgiving. In 2024, classes were in session the Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving week, but the timing of Act 80 and staff records days for 2025 will result in having those days off along with Wednesday through Friday.
“That’s not intended to change how we take a break at Thanksgiving,” Board President Amy Bader said. “It’s just coinciding with when we have some contractual records days and other days at that same time … There were several questions about whether we were suddenly giving a whole week for Thanksgiving and that’s not necessarily the plan.”
Additional Act 80 and records days with no school are scheduled for Oct. 2, 30 and 31; Jan. 19 and 20; March 20 and April 2
Winter break is scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 24 through Friday, Jan. 2. Spring break will be March 9-13, aligning with Penn State’s.
Students also will not have school or after-school activities on Sept. 2 for Labor Day, Oct. 2 for Yom Kippur, March 20 for Eid-al-Fitr, April 3 for Good Friday and May 25 for Memorial Day.
No snow make-up days are built into the calendar. The first three snow days will be made up by staff only as Act 80 days, and any beyond that would be made up by K-11 students and staff after June 5.
