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The Stanly County Board of Education on Tuesday unanimously passed the 2021-2022 traditional school calendar and the 2021-2021 Stanly Early College High School calendar, though changes could be made depending on what happens in the General Assembly.

For the traditional calendar, the first day for students will be on Aug. 23 while the last day will be on June 8, 2022.

Under state law, school districts can start no earlier than the Monday closest to Aug. 26.

The original plan was for exams to be administered for the high school students before Christmas break, but Vicki Calvert, assistant superintendent of personnel and student services, said that it meant the first and second quarters would be shorter than the third and fourth quarters.

After much consideration, including polling students to get their feedback, exams for high school students will be after Christmas break, which will begin Dec. 17.

Calvert sent draft calendars to principals and asked them to share it with their staff. Much of the feedback from school personnel was noted and integrated into the calendar, including having the last days before Christmas and summer break serve as early release days.

The calendar has a seven professional days, 11 school holidays, eight sheltered professional days and 10 vacation days. The calendar features roughly 1,080 hours of instructional times, which equates to 180 days.

For the SECHS calendar, the first day would be on Aug. 12 while the last day would be on May 23, 2022.

The calendar has 11 professional days, 11 school holidays, eight sheltered professional days and 10 vacation days.

Calvert said if the state allows school districts to start school earlier, which is a possibility as it happened this year, she has another traditional draft calendar she would bring to the board’s attention.

“That would be our hope that we would get to start earlier,” she said, adding that SCS could then build in several additional remote learning days into the calendar for students.

Superintendent Dr. Jarrod Dennis said there are several bills addressing early start times and calendar flexibility, “so a lot of this is up for change as these bills start to move through the House and Senate.”

Expecting the state to make some sort of decision regarding start times, Dennis said he expects the board to come back in the near future to address the school calendars.

“I hope that this calendar can change,” said board member Glenda Gibson, who noted teachers would likely appreciate having some remote learning days. “I hope we can start earlier and I hope that there’s a way that we can finish earlier.”