There are slight changes coming to Oxford School District’s academic calendar for the 2020-21 school year.

During their Nov. 18 meeting, the OSD Board of Trustees approved the changes. The only authority the Board has is to approve the start date and end date of each school year. The rest of the days are based on operational needs and subject to further adjustment.

School will begin three days later in 2020 than it did this year. The first day of classes at all OSD schools is Aug.10, moved from the Aug. 7 start date in 2019. During the presentation of the calendar, assistant superintendent Bradley Roberson noted it is only one school day later due to 2020 being a Leap Year.

The request to push the start date back three days is to allow completion of current projects at different campuses.

“The reason those three days are so significant to us is because of all the construction we have going on at the Fine Arts facility, as well as the construction at Central Elementary,” Roberson told the Board. “Our technology department will have to work hastily to get all of the cabling done for all the networking at both of those facilities.”

The turnkey date for final completion of the projects is scheduled for Aug. 1, giving OSD staff 10 days to get all the proper connections made prior to the new school year.

Starting classes three days later comes with a price for the students. Fall Break will be cut in half, from two days to one, next year. Fall Break will take place on Oct. 12 to coincide with a date in which the University of Mississippi will not have classes.

Board president Ray Hill noticed the change and stating there could be some parents who are not happy about losing a day of the break which has lately been an extended weekend.

“That’s the trade-off,” Roberson said. “We start one day later, we lose a day of fall break. That’s where we gain it back.”

With the changes there will now be 89 school days in the fall semester and 91 days in the spring. Traditionally, the district has balanced it with 90 days each semester but they did not want to extend the fall semester past Christmas.

Thanksgiving break will be Nov. 23 through 27 and Christmas break will be Dec. 22 through Jan. 1. Spring Break will take place March 15 through 19.

The Board also approved two designated make-up days for April 5 and May 25.