No later than the end of the school year, the Arlington Community Schools Board will adopt, upon the recommendation of the Superintendent, an official school calendar for the succeeding school year.  The calendar will identify holidays, vacation days, summer sessions and other extensions of the school year.  The calendar may be revised by the Arlington Community Schools Board, upon the recommendation of the Superintendent, due to inclement weather or other factors.

The regular school year shall be 200 days and scheduled as follows:

• A minimum of one hundred eighty (180) days for classroom instruction, unless the Commissioner of Education waives the one hundred eighty (180) days due to a natural disaster or serious outbreak of illness affecting or endangering students or staff;
• A minimum of five (5) days in-service education for all certificated personnel;
• One (1) day for parent-teacher conferences;
• Ten (10) days paid vacation for all certified personnel; and
• Four (4) discretionary days.

The calendar shall be distributed to the school staff at the opening of the school term.

The minimum length of the school day for students shall be six and one-half (6-1/2) hours total for all grades.  However, teachers shall be on duty for at least seven (7) hours and as long as school administration requires.

Emergencies

When schools are closed due to emergencies or unforeseen circumstances such as epidemics or inclement weather, the time lost shall be made up to the required minimum unless otherwise approved by the State Department of Education.  The Superintendent shall determine the need for emergency closures of schools. 

In the event of dangerous or extreme weather conditions or of serious outbreaks of illness affecting or endangering students or staff, two (2) of the one hundred eighty (180) days of classroom instruction referenced above may be delivered by remote instruction.  The Superintendent may require a class, school, or all schools to utilize remote instruction during those circumstances.  The Superintendent may require a class, school, or all schools to utilize remote instruction on days that the school administers end-of-course assessments or post-secondary assessment exams; provided that the students who are administered the end-of-course assessment or post-secondary assessment exams take the assessments in person.  If remote instruction is required, students enrolled in Kindergarten shall have access to at least 4 hours of instruction each day and students enrolled in grades 1-12 shall have access to at least 6.5 hours of instruction each day.  During those remote instructional days, students may be counted as present as long as the student exhibits proof of attendance by daily periodic visual, verbal, and/or written confirmation of participation.  Students will be provided required methods of proof of attendance by their respective teachers.

During the remote instruction days, services required by a student’s IEP shall be made available to those students.

IN-SERVICE EDUCATION

Each day of in-service education included in the school calendar shall be equivalent to not less than six (6) hours of planned activities.

DISCRETIONARY DAYS

Four (4) discretionary days shall be included in the calendar and may be designated by the Arlington Community Schools Board as student attendance days, in-service days or administrative days, which may be used by administrators, faculty and staff for preparation for commencement of classes, record keeping, grading examinations, parent-teacher conferences and other classroom functions.