Next fall’s school calendar in Kodiak will be very similar to this fall’s. That’s after the Kodiak Island Borough School District’s Board of Education selected the final fiscal year 2028 calendar out of four possible versions on April 20.
Calendar A, the board’s adopted version, has the FY’28 school year starting on Aug. 30, 2027 and ending May 24, 2028 with a two-week winter break in-between.
"Calendar A had slightly more people voting for it and it seemed like the logical one for us to go with," said Kerry Irons, the president of the KIBSD school board.
The school district put out a community survey earlier this year asking Kodiak residents to weigh in on which school calendar they would prefer.
The only big difference between the FY’28 calendar and the FY’27 calendar is spring break. The Board decided to move spring break from the second week of March to the third week of March. Irons said they made the call to line up Kodiak schools’ spring break with the University of Alaska’s spring break.
“Whether we match our spring break with other major school districts in the state, and thinking about the impact on travel plans and on being able to make reservations for travel out of the state; all of those things are part of the big picture," she said.
Even though the board chose a calendar that is very similar to the previous year’s, they did still weigh some more unconventional options first. Calendar B would have started the school year on Sept. 7, and ended on June 1. And Calendar D would have started even earlier—on Aug. 23—but with a four-week winter break instead of two, and an end date on June 1.
According to the 141 calendar survey responses, this four-week break was a popular idea. But it was also controversial.
Calendar D had the most first choice votes in the ranked choice survey with 46 votes, but also 49 last choice votes, which was the most of the four options. Based on written input from the survey responders, opponents were against this calendar primarily because its earlier start date conflicted with the summer commercial fishing season.
Calendar A had less first choice votes with 36, but a high number of second choice votes: 45 second choice votes, and 37 third and 23 last choice votes respectively. Irons said this gave Calendar A the edge in the Board’s final decision.
“We won't find one solution that everybody will be happy with," she said. "But I think we do our best to meet the needs of as many people as we can.”
During the Board of Education meeting on April 20, board members emphasized that an extended winter break is still something Kodiak residents are interested in. The board said they would revisit the idea next year.
