HISD’s School Board modified the 2024-25 school year to begin two weeks earlier than previously anticipated, causing students to cut their summer plans short and teachers to voice their concerns regarding diminished preparation time.
HISD enacted this change with the goal of moving professional development days for teachers and administrators from the start of the year to scattered throughout the year. During an HISD School Board meeting, Superintendent Mike Miles said, “Our kids, who are behind on the whole, need more time.”
In previous years, the school year began for students in late August, giving teachers a two-week period during August to meet on campus, go through obligatory teacher training provided by the school and district, and prepare for the new year.
“We discuss school policies and we also get training for particular courses. We’re also, at the same time, trying to get ready for the students’ arrival, doing mandatory trainings,” teacher Charlotte Haney explains.
However, this year, administrators and teachers were required to report to duty much earlier than in prior years. According to Assistant Principal Melissa Matsu, teachers had only one week on campus before school as opposed to the usual two. Administrators were required to be on campus by late July – the first year this was a requirement.
Reduced summer time led to some teachers feeling less prepared than they could have been, especially those like Haney who would be teaching a course for the first time. This year is Haney’s first to teach AP Psychology.
“Learning a new prep is pretty hard – especially a new AP course. I found myself about a day and a half ahead [of the students], which is really not sufficient. I feel like I’m under-serving my students,” Haney said.
Some teachers and administrators seem to prefer an early start to the school year since it leaves more time for teaching content before the AP exams.
“For us here at Carnegie, we have more school days before the AP exam. So that’s a plus, because every year, our AP teachers struggle with the number of days that they have before the AP exam, and the AP exam didn’t move, but our number of days before it expanded,” Matsu said.
In a survey conducted by Upstream News among 75 CVHS students, nearly 80% of students disagreed or strongly disagreed with the notion that starting school two weeks early benefited their learning. For seniors, whose fall semester is dominated by college applications, starting school two weeks early simply added to the stress that was already there.
“My college counselors were planning for, ‘Okay, I’m gonna get back, finish this summer program, and then I’m gonna have two weeks to work on college before school starts.’ I got back the Friday before school started, so I did not do enough time to make myself feel like I’m confident,” senior Micah Harris said.
Additionally, student extracurriculars such as sports and clubs were impacted by the change. Around 50% of students reported that their extracurriculars, such as sports, were affected by the lengthened school year, some positively and some negatively.
In the survey, one student on the dance team explained how they “had more time for dance to start practicing as a team,” effectively benefitting the team overall.
However, some students said that sports starting earlier this year took up time that could be used to rest and prepare academically for the new year.
“Cross country didn’t have as much summer prep time because school started so early,” a surveyed student reported. “We had to have at least some time before school doing team bonding and warming up for the season, so our summer was cut down even more, and I didn’t feel as prepared this season.”
Ultimately, the change impacted a variety of communities within CVHS. However, administrators viewed the decision-making process as one that did not include teachers, as students and teachers alike adjust to the new normal.
“I think if they had been significantly compensated for that loss of time, then maybe it would have been better, but it didn’t feel like they were really consulted on that,” Matsu said. “It was just, you’re losing weeks of summer, right?”
