During the September 21st meeting of the Colonial School District’s Board of Directors, the board voted 7-2 to begin the 2024-25 school year on August 27th. The district has historically began school after Labor Day. Based on the discussion (watch the video below), the district seems poised to make the start date prior to Labor Day going forward.

In the announcement, the need to change the start of the year to prior to Labor Day was attributed to the recent addition of holidays to the school calendar (Diwali and Eid Al-Fitr), which when combined with the existing school holidays and breaks and a post-Labor Day start, would have meant the district would end later in June to meet state requirements for student days and hours. Also a concern was the potential for inclement weather days pushing the end of the school year further into June. It was mentioned that a pre-Labor Day start also aligns Colonial School District with the schedule of nearby districts and Central Montco Technical High School. Having additional instructional days before mandated state testing was another benefit attributed to an earlier start.

Superintendent Dr. Michael Christian noted during the board meeting that the district would work to accommodate families if they have already made vacation plans conflicting with the August 27th start date. 

Prior to the vote, the calendar start date had been discussed and reviewed at the Community Relations/Student Life/Student Wellness Committee meeting held on September 11th. During that meeting, committee members reviewed what the 2024-25 calendar would look like with a pre-Labor Day and post-Labor Day start. 

Voting against the pre-Labor Day start were board members Cathy Peduzzi and Susan Moore. Peduzzi stated while she supports starting prior to Labor Day, she would prefer to start it after for the 2025-26 school year to provide families more notice. Moore supports a post-Labor Day start to school, however, believes that if the change is going to be made, it should start in 2025-26 and go forward from there.

The rest of the calendar for the 2024-25 is not yet determined.