Changes to Glenbrook High School District #225’s academic calendar for the 2025-2026 school year were the result of a multiyear effort centered around moving first semester finals to before winter break.
“I think the most significant change that you experienced this year was having final exams before winter break, and that was the crux of a lot of the work over the past four years or so to really understand, ‘What are we looking at? What are other school districts doing? Where do we sit in that mix?’” said Ryan Bretag, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning.
Many components of the calendar had to be adjusted to facilitate moving finals.
In moving first semester finals, the start and end times of the school year were adjusted based on natural significant breaks, Bretag said.
“And then last, but not really least, we had what goes into looking at where do we land our institute days,” said Bretag. “Where do we position our late arrivals and how many?”
Additional considerations in designing the academic calendar include requirements for public schools issued by the State of Illinois.
“So you have what we call our calendar guidelines,” said Bretag. “Those are things like our non-negotiables.”
The district has to ensure that there are 176 student learning days scheduled, as well as observance of state required holidays, Bretag said.
“We have a core group of folks that utilize those guidelines to develop drafts [of the calendar],” said Bretag. “So for example, our district leadership team, which also consists of your building principals, are part of that. Then we have other stakeholders that provide feedback.”
Activities and athletic directors, and staff feedback groups, union groups in particular, all weigh in on the calendar draft process, Bretag said.
The calendar is then brought to the Board of Education for approval and adoption.
“We have already started roughly shelling out the ’27-’28 calendar,” said Bretag. “That allows us to go through this process and ensure we’re meeting all the state requirements, our local requirements and then the feedback that comes from the things that are kind of flexible in that process.”
The district also created a final exam committee with staff and student representatives that provided feedback and helped craft a schedule for this year’s first semester final exams.
“From the student standpoint, it was nice to give my input and explain what it’s like actually being the taker of these finals and how each of these schedules could possibly impact me,” said junior Sophia Jo, a member of the final exam committee.
The district continues to consider feedback when making calendar decisions.
Following the last class day of the first semester, during which all green and gold blocks met on an 8-period day, surveys were emailed to staff and students seeking input about the alternate schedule.
“So the intention behind the [8-period] day was it gave students and staff a chance to have one final day that was shortened, to have questions answered, to get final conversations, and you had a chance to see all of your teachers before you went into your final exams,” said Bretag. “Intention: good. Results: People just, quite honestly, just didn’t find it valuable. And that’s the feedback, and that’s great. We will model that.”