District Calendar 101
The school calendar is governed by state law (TN Code Annotated 49-6-3004. School term.)
Per the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), each year prior to the adoption of the school calendar, the district convenes a calendar committee comprised of all interested parties, including parents, teachers, and support staff. MNEA appoints a minimum of two teachers to the calendar committee.
The committee presents their calendar recommendations to the director of schools. The school board votes to approve the calendar. This usually happens at the first school board meeting in November. The calendar then goes to the state for final approval.
Per state law, each school year must be no less than two hundred (200) days, divided as follows:
1) 180 days for classroom instruction.
2) Ten (10) days for vacation with pay for 10-month employees (winter break).
3) Five (5) days for in-service.
4) One (1) day for teacher-parent conferences.
5) Four (4) other days as designated by the local board of education/director of schools.
6) In the event of a natural disaster or serious outbreak of illness, the commissioner of education can waive the 180-days of classroom instruction requirement. (This happened after the flood in 2010 and for COVID-19 in the spring 2020 semester.)
The teacher workday, as defined by the MOU, is seven and one-half (7 ½) hours each school day. This accounts for the seven-hour instructional day and arrival and departure based on the needs of the students.
State law requires students to have six and one-half (6 ½) hours instructional time each day. A local board of education can accumulate up to 13 “stockpiled” days by extending the instructional day by one-half (½) hour for the full academic year. Students in MNPS receive seven (7) hours of instruction per day so MNPS can accumulate stockpiled days.
The stockpiled days can be used for the following:
Meeting instructional time requirements missed due to dangerous or extreme weather conditions.
Natural disaster, serious outbreaks of illness, or dangerous structural or environmental conditions rendering a school unsafe for use.
Early student dismissal for faculty professional development.
Whole day increments for faculty professional development, individualized education program (IEP) team meetings, school-wide or system-wide instructional planning meetings, parent-teacher or other similar meetings.
Any unused accumulated days shall not carry over to the next school year.
Some school districts use all 13 stockpiled days for inclement weather. MNPS uses some for inclement weather and some for professional development, planning, parent-teacher conferences, and administrative duties.
Per the MOU, all non-instructional days shall be seven hours in length including a one-hour duty-fee lunch with the right to leave campus for lunch. All stockpiled professional development days will include three hours of individual planning time for teachers.
Per state law, any school system operating a virtual school or virtual education program shall make available the same length of time for learning opportunities per academic year as required for in-person students.
MNPS calendars can be found here: www.mnps.org/district-calendar
You can download a copy of the current MOU under “Get Involved” at mnea.com.