Pender County school board approves 2027-28 calendar

PENDER COUNTY, N.C. (WECT) - The Pender County Board of Education voted Monday to determine the 2027-2028 school year calendar.

During the Nov. 9 meeting, the board discussed several different drafts for the school year calendar:

• DRAFT 1: 173 instructional days
  • December exams
  • Fewest instructional days
  • Spring break does not align with CFCC
  • 21 total Teacher Work Days, with 7 during the school year
  • May 26 as students’ last day
  • 8 banked weather days
• DRAFT 4: 175 instructional days
  • December exams
  • CFCC-aligned spring break
  • 19 total Teacher Work Days, with 9 during the school year
  • June 2 as students’ last day
  • Largest semester imbalance
• DRAFT 5: 179 instructional days
  • January exams
  • Most instructional days and hours
  • CFCC-aligned spring break
  • 15 total Teacher Work Days, with 8 during the school year
  • June 9 as students’ last day
  • Most balanced semesters

The district developed the three calendar options following state calendar law and sought feedback from parents, staff and students through a survey sent out in October. Participants were asked to rank the drafts as their first, second and third choices.

The survey gathered the following results from 1,132 participants:

• Draft 1 was the top pick for the majority of the survey participants
• Draft 4 was the second pick for the majority of the survey participants
• Draft 5 was the last pick for the majority of the survey participants

Despite Draft 1 being the overall community choice, the board unanimously voted to move forward with Draft 5, with an extra teacher work day added to the plan.

In the meeting, the board agreed that instructional time and balanced semesters were the biggest priorities when voting.

Click here to watch the full meeting.