MANKATO — The Mankato School Board approved adjustments to the 2025-2026 school year calendar Monday evening to add more time in the summer of 2026 for bond and HVAC construction projects.
Schools will start earlier this August, the week before Labor Day, and end earlier in May 2026.
Prior to approving the change, Supt. Paul Peterson, board member Patrick Baker and others addressed concerns from families that the new calendar would interfere with end of summer plans such as family vacations or 4-H commitments.
“Are we planning on penalizing students who are taking those family vacations, taking those school trips in any way?” Baker asked.
Peterson acknowledged that many activities take place towards the end of summer.
“No, and I think that as we mentioned, maybe it was at last month’s meeting, and we’ve communicated this with as many people as have reached out to us, especially those students and families who already, next August, whether it’s with family vacations, FFA, 4-H, the state fair, there’s a lot of things that happen right through Labor Day in the state of Minnesota,” he said.
“Not only are we allowing those, but we’re encouraging people to continue to keep those plans.”
Peterson said the district will work with every family and every student to make sure it’s a good school year.
The approved calendar starts the school year the week of Aug. 25, before Labor Day. It would also do the following:
Hold school on Nov. 25, Nov. 26, Jan. 2, March 13, March 23, April 1 and April 2.
Hold parent-teacher conferences during the evenings in November and March and move the ‘no school days’ associated with conference days (teacher comp days) to the end of the school year.
Set the last day of school as follows:
Elementary school: May 18, 2026
Middle school: May 20, 2026
12th Grade: May 20, 2026 (graduation)
9th-11th Grade: May 21, 2026
Several construction projects are planned over the next couple of years, including the last of the secure entrances for the construction project that voters approved with the district’s latest bond referendum and Mankato West High School’s remodeling.
“As we have worked through with our construction management firm and our architects and designers, it was clear as it was mentioned earlier in the meeting that there are several projects that will need what we’ve been referring to as a super summer in the summer of 2026,” said Peterson.
Director of Teaching and Learning Travis Olson previously told The Free Press that the delayed change is atypical.
“We tend to adopt a calendar for two years January-ish, and so the timeline isn’t that far off. What is very different though is our families were planning on a calendar that we adopted about a year ago,” Olson said last month.