COURTLAND
The Southampton County Public School board revealed and unanimously approved the school calendar for the 2015-16 school year at the May 11 board meeting. Director of Instruction Rodney Brown and a committee comprised of several teachers and other staff members met four times prior to last Monday’s presentation to discuss and revise the calendar.

Brown said that the committee’s priorities were to maximize instructional time for students, allow time for teachers to work in the classroom and professional development, and to fall in accordance with other school districts to allow for meetings, athletic events and other interscholastic opportunities.

The committee also allowed for other staff members to give input on holidays in which they believed should be included on the calendar. Among those, the school will be closed on Nov. 11 for Veterans Day.

“We felt that was a holiday we should recognize,” Brown said to the board.

Because state law requires school districts within the Commonwealth of Virginia to meet for a minimum of 180 school days and the proposed calendar has exactly that, Brown noted that the committee was required to find another day to trade with.

That said, fall break will be one day shorter in the upcoming year. Students will no longer have the day prior to Thanksgiving — Wednesday, Nov. 25 — off because of the switch.

In case of an unexpected closing, the district has also added an inclement weather makeup day on March 25, 2016.

“This is also something we have wanted to do because we’ve had so many snow days over the last two years,” Brown said.