Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The school year will look a bit different starting next fall for Buckingham County students and staff. During their meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 18, the Buckingham school board unanimously finalized next year’s instructional calendar, including adding a holiday. 

Melissa Hanes works as Director of Student Services for Buckingham County Public Schools. She told the board the calendar committee developed three options for next year’s calendar and presented them all to the staff. That includes everyone in the building, not just teachers. Each had the opportunity to vote, both on which option they wanted to see and a holiday question. 

“There was a comment from the school board (previously) about Veterans Day and so we posed that to the staff,” Hanes said. “(We asked) how would you feel about having that as a holiday, because we do a lot of activities that day.” 

There was no ambiguity about how the district staff felt at all. A total of 76% of staff across the district said they would prefer to have Veterans Day off, with 24% wanting to be in school instead. School board members said they didn’t have anything to add about Veterans Day. If the staff wanted it off, then that’s what they would do, since the opportunity exists. 

“It seems like the teachers have already spoken,” Buckingham School Board Vice Chair Joe Snoddy said. 

By a unanimous vote, the school board decided that starting this coming fall, Veterans Day will be a holiday for students and staff at Buckingham County Public Schools. 

Buckingham school board considers options

District staff also gave their thoughts on the three calendar options, which each had different start dates and slightly different times for both Winter Break and Spring Break. 

With Option One, teachers would report on July 31, with students coming back to class on Aug. 7. Under this plan, Winter Break would be Dec. 18 through Jan. 2, with spring break running that first week of April. May 21, 2026 would be the last day of class. 

Option Two is very similar to Option One. In fact, the fall start date is the only thing different. Under this plan, teachers would report July 30, with students coming back to class on Aug. 6. Winter Break dates would be the same as Option One, as would the final day of school. With Veterans Day as a holiday, it just takes away one day of Spring Break. 

The third option presented was the most different. It had teachers reporting Aug. 4, with students starting on Aug. 11, which is a Monday. Winter Break would have been shortened as a result, only running Dec. 22 through Jan. 2. Spring Break and the last day of class would be the same as Option One. 

Hanes said that 46% of teachers preferred Option Two, so that’s what the school board unanimously agreed to move forward with. 

That means teachers report in Buckingham on July 30, 2025, with students coming back to class on Aug. 6, 2025.