District U-46 construction may push back start of 2026-27 school year
District U-46 could be starting the 2026-27 school year more than two weeks later than normal due to the school construction being planned for that summer.
The district school board was briefed this week on the proposed schedule change, which would have classes beginning closer to the start of September than they have for the last decade or more.
'That is because of the planned construction district-wide,' Mark Moore, assistant superintendent of human resources Mark Moore, told the board Monday night. 'Our informal thinking is we would get back to our typical calendar over two or three years.'
However, with construction and other variables to consider, it is impossible to say for certain what the calendar would look like beyond 2026-27, Moore said.
The district has undertaken an ambitious building project schedule over the next few years in which new schools will be built, some schools will be expanded and others will undergo renovations and improvements.
Plans call for work to be done at Kimball and Kenyon Woods middle schools and Century Oaks and Glenbrook elementary schools as the district moves sixth-grade classes into middle schools and adds early learning centers at elementary schools, among other changes.
If the proposed calendar outlined by Moore is adopted, the 2026-27 school year would start Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026, and end Friday, June 4, 2027, if no snow days are used.
By contrast, the current school year began on Aug. 11, 2024, and will end May 20.
Moore said high school graduation will likely remain on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, which is how it is currently scheduled for this year and next.
'We will be negotiating a new contract with NOW Arena for graduation dates,' Superintendent Suzanne Johnson told the board. 'So, as an aside, that's something the Board of Education can expect to see come forward (in the future).'
U-46 has been holding its high school graduation ceremonies at the Hoffman Estates venue for about 20 years.
As for the shift in the calendars, Johnson said, 'When we take a deep breath, everyone realizes that the calendar is being readjusted to be responsive to the construction that is occurring across the system to update learning spaces for our students. '
While appreciating the 'why' behind the proposed change, board member Dawn Martin said she was concerned about its impact, particularly on how high school schedules for testing and advanced placement courses align with other districts.
'If my kids were little, I would have no issue. Having bigger kids, it scares the heck of me,' Martin said.
The school board is tentatively expected to vote on the 2026-27 calendar at its June 2 meeting.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
2 Reasons AMC Stock Is Soaring in June
Memorial Day weekend set moviegoing records, and a lot of the sales went to AMC as the largest theater chain. With many expected hit movies slated for release, management thinks it's turned a corner. AMC stock is still down year to date and the company has a lot to prove. 10 stocks we like better than AMC Entertainment › AMC (NYSE: AMC) is the largest movie theater operator in the world, but being the leader in a troubled industry hasn't done much for the company over the past few years. With the advent of streaming and residual fears from the pandemic, moviegoing just isn't what it once was and AMC continues to struggle. However, Memorial Day weekend was a boon for the company and AMC stock has been climbing. Let's see why and what it means for the future. Streaming from home has taken a toll on the box office, but there is still life left in theaters. Four of the top 10 highest-grossing films ever were released since the pandemic started, including Avatar: The Way of Water in the No. 3 spot and last year's Inside Out 2. People are still going to the movies. That fact was reinforced with a record Memorial Day weekend in May. Disney's live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch had the highest-ever four-day Memorial Day opening, and it was buttressed by a strong showing for Paramount's Mission: Impossible -- The Final Reckoning. Altogether, these two topped a blowout weekend with $326.7 million in domestic ticket sales, and Lilo & Stitch is already the second-highest-grossing domestic film of the year. Of course, that success trickled down to generate incredible financial results for AMC. Management said it set an all-time record for admissions revenue, food and beverage revenue, and total revenue for a weekend Memorial Day opening, and that the five-day stretch was the third-highest revenue for any five-day slot in more than 10 years. As for attendance, this was the highest-attended weekend and highest-attended five-day period of the year, both domestically and globally. Management didn't provide specific financial metrics for the weekend, so investors aren't likely to hear the nitty-gritty details until the second-quarter earnings release sometime in July or August. But management's update and optimism are boosting investor confidence. It's nice for the company to have a solid, record-breaking opening, but can it last? Management thinks so, and the market may be pricing that in. CEO Adam Aron said that after this weekend, AMC has turned a corner. "With many more potentially huge movies coming in June all the way through the end of 2025, and beyond that deeply into 2026 as well," he said, "we firmly expect to be enjoying a robust theatrical box office as we look ahead." Here's what to be excited about. Disney has a full slate of films coming out over the next few years, including the third film in the Avatar series. The first two are the highest-grossing and third-highest-grossing films ever, and the next film is slated for release this coming December. It also has the next Frozen film and other top franchises coming out soon. Warner Bros. has its own expected hits coming out, including a new Superman, and Comcast's Universal Studios has the next installment of Wicked and a new Shrek. Sequels to popular franchises can be big business. But the company is still reporting revenue declines and losses as of the 2025 first quarter. It will take some time to see if AMC has indeed turned a corner. As the price has increased in June, so has the short interest in AMC, hitting almost 15% of all outstanding shares. These investors are betting on this being a short-term boost and that the price will fall from this surge. Even though AMC stock is up 29% over the past month, it's still down 15% year-to-date. Unless the company releases incredibly strong earnings for the second quarter and keeps up its performance, the price jump may not last. Part of what's frustrating about that for investors is that many variables are beyond the company's control. It's up to film producers to create hit movies that bring viewers into theaters and to make the decision to keep them there long enough before they hit streaming services. That can be quite lumpy. You need to have real confidence in the future of the film industry and the resilience of theaters as a beckoning call for die-hard fans to want to invest in AMC's future, and for most investors, that time isn't now. Before you buy stock in AMC Entertainment, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and AMC Entertainment wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $674,395!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $858,011!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 997% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 172% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 2, 2025 Jennifer Saibil has positions in Walt Disney. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Walt Disney. The Motley Fool recommends Comcast. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 2 Reasons AMC Stock Is Soaring in June was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Insider
5 hours ago
- Business Insider
DOGE caucus leader says Elon Musk made a 'massive exaggeration' about spending cuts
Shortly after the feud between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk hit its apex on Thursday, a key DOGE-minded lawmaker in Congress had some pointed words about the world's richest man. "Most everybody knew Elon was exaggerating to what he could do," Republican Rep. Blake Moore of Utah told reporters outside the Capitol. "He was claiming finding $4 billion a day in cuts he was going to get. One time, he said $2 trillion, he was going to find." "It's a massive exaggeration, and I think people are recognizing that now," Moore said. The Utah Republican is one of the three co-leaders of the House DOGE caucus, a bipartisan group of lawmakers who had hoped to support Musk's cost-cutting efforts. The caucus met a handful of times at the beginning of the year, and leaders previously told BI that they intended to compile a report of potential cost-saving measures for DOGE at the end of the first quarter of this year. That didn't end up happening, in part because the White House DOGE Office ultimately had little interaction with the caucus. One Democratic member declared the group to be "dead" last month. "We've always been a little frustrated that there was such limited interaction," Moore said on Thursday. "We couldn't really identify where we were to lean in, and we had a ton of folks ready to support it, but there just wasn't that interaction." Musk did not respond to a request for comment. Moore said that he wanted to pursue cuts to federal spending through the bipartisan government funding process, saying that there are "plenty of Democrats that recognize there's waste in our government." GOP leaders have said they'll pursue DOGE cuts both through that process and through "rescission" packages, the first of which is set to be voted on in the House next week. The first package, which includes cuts to public broadcasting and foreign aid, is $9.4 billion, just a fraction of the cost savings that Musk once predicted. "It's definitely kind of over-promising, under-delivering," Moore said. Musk's public feud with Trump began last week, when the tech titan began criticizing the "Big Beautiful Bill" that Republicans are trying to muscle through Congress. The bill is projected to increase the deficit by trillions of dollars, though Republicans have argued that those forecasts do not account for the economic growth that might be spurred by the bill. That feud boiled over on Tuesday, with the two men engaging in a war of words on their respective social media platforms. "When I saw Musk start posting, just parroting false claims about the tax reconciliation bill, it was clear something's amiss," Moore said. "And so it escalated, yeah. It escalated very quickly."
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Yahoo
School board chair defends controversial tax vote that could trigger state audit
Fayette school board chairman Tyler Murphy on Friday defended the school district in the face of a threatened state audit, lawmakers' criticism and a Kentucky attorney general's opinion of unlawfulness. 'FCPS is not the problem. In fact, we've stepped up time and again to fill the gap left by misplaced priorities at the state and federal levels, recognizing that our public schools remain the bedrock of our community and our local economy,' Murphy said in a Facebook post. Republican Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman ruled Wednesday the school board failed to provide the legally required notice to the public before its May 27 meeting and vote to ask the fiscal court to raise the occupational license tax for schools. On Friday, Fayette Superintendent Demetrus Liggins said the school board will hold a second vote on June 23. The school board will also a public hearing on a yet to be announced day on raising the tax. Parents and other people in the community, Democrats and Republicans, have expressed concerns about a lack of transparency in how the school board handled the vote. Notice of a May 27 vote was made known to the public only when it was attached to an online meeting agenda on the Memorial Day weekend before. Some have raised concerns about the school board's process, others about the possibility of a tax rate increase, and many others about the district's budget shortfall. Republican Kentucky Auditor Allison Ball said Thursday she is considering a financial examination or audit of the school district. Sen. Amanda Mays Bledsoe, R-Lexington, and Rep. Matt Lockett, R-Nicholasville are among those criticizing the district for a lack of transparency. Bledsoe asked for the AG opinion and talked to Ball about conducting a state audit. That drew a rebuke from Murphy. 'We don't need lectures from those pushing policies that harm working families and children,' he said. 'Our community rejected voucher schemes at the ballot box, and our community will continue to defend public education from political theatrics designed to distract and divide,' he said. 'While we always welcome dialogue and feedback that help us improve, it's important that the conversation begins with facts and reflects the reality of the work happening in our schools each day.' According to the attorney general's opinion, the school board's 3-2 vote to ask the Fayette Fiscal Court to increase school tax rates on residents and businesses' net income from 0.5% to 0.75% was improper. That's because, under state law, school boards must notify the public and hold a formal hearing before voting on new or increased taxes. Fayette school district officials argue the vote was legal and the tax increase was needed to cover a $16 million budget shortfall. The district recently approved an $848 million tentative budget for 2025-2026. The reality is that FCPS is a district with real momentum, he said: ▪ The district has received five consecutive perfect financial audits from independent, outside auditors, demonstrating responsible fiscal stewardship. ▪ Not a single FCPS school is labeled 'underperforming.' ▪ Though FCPS educates 6% of Kentucky's students, Fayette students account for 34% of the state's highest academic performers. ▪ The district continues to narrow opportunity gaps for student groups who have historically been underserved, improving outcomes in academic achievement, access to advanced coursework and readiness for college, careers, and life. ▪ FCPS maintains a financial transparency dashboard where anyone can track the district's expenses and budget. He said FCPS is on budget and in the black for FY2025. 'While we are proud of the progress being made, we are equally committed to transparency and continuous improvement. We know we must keep raising the bar for ourselves, in how we communicate, how we govern, and how we deliver on the promise of public education,' Murphy said 'That said, it's hard to ignore the broader political landscape. At a time when Washington and Frankfort are plagued by division, and decisions are too often made to benefit the powerful few, public schools have become a convenient target.'
