By Shauna Lund, Iron County School District
The Board of Education of Iron County School District approved the traditional calendar for 2026-27. However, the board also agreed it would continue to discuss different options for future school years.
Board member Tyrel Eddy moved to approve the traditional calendar for 2026-27, but also to submit to the Utah State Board of Education (USBE) a request to implement a modified four-day calendar for 2027-28. His motion also suggested a freeze on Cost of Living Adjustments for one year and using the savings to build a new elementary school.
“This has been a very, very in-depth process,” Eddy said of the months the Board has discussed a modified calendar. “We’ve done two surveys to the community. We’ve done two surveys to the schools. We’ve held town halls. We’ve all received an enormous amount of email correspondence, phone calls. It’s been a lot.”
Eddy said that when surveys show more than 60% support from the community and higher than 70% support from staff, it cannot disregard that endorsement of a four-day school week.
Several board members spoke to the motion. They agreed that for this coming year, the traditional schedule was the best option and needed to be adopted to help families and teachers plan. However, they expressed that more discussion needed to take place before requesting approval of a modified schedule from the USBE.
Eddy’s motion died from lack of a second. Board Vice President Michelle Tullis introduced another motion to only approve the 2026-27 calendar. Board member Stephanie Hill said it was important for the Board to continue to get input and hammer out the details so they could get it right before asking for the approval from the USBE.
Tullis also apologized to teachers and parents for the length of time it had taken to adopt a school year calendar.
“I think we’re all feeling the same way, that it’s taken longer than it … should have,” she said. “We honestly don’t take that lightly, it’s just, it really just got away from us. We are committed to doing better. We want to make sure that we have this right.”
The Board plans to explore the four-day calendar for 2027-28 in its February meeting and possibly March. The deadline to apply for the variance from the state is April 10.
The motion passed with a vote of 6 to 1.