Few things get parents talking like the school calendar and Jim Thorpe Area School District’s 2023-24 version is now official following unanimous approval Wednesday night.

Superintendent Robert Presley said Jim Thorpe will join the rest of Carbon County’s school districts in opening before Labor Day. The Olympians started the day after Labor Day in 2022.

“The first day for students will be Aug. 29 and that first week will include three full days and a half-day on Friday,” Presley said.

Winter break begins Dec. 22, and students will return to the classroom Jan. 2, but it’s the extended spring break that is a change from the status quo.

Currently, students would have off March 25 to 29, which is the entire week leading up to Easter, and April 1, the day after Easter.

Three of those days, March 25 to 27, could be taken away if snow makeup days are needed.

“I think in the future we should try not to have that spring break as potential makeup days,” Amber Everett told the board on Wednesday. “It comes right before the PSSA tests and it’s a nice time for the students and staff to use that time to relax and reboot. I know we’ve always done it this way, but that is really our last time off before the end of the year and I think it’s really important for families to have those days.”

Jim Thorpe students and staff only had off the Thursday, Friday and Monday surrounding Easter this year.

Presley said the five snow makeup days built in to the 2023-24 calendar are more than the district has had in the past. In fact, only April 6 was designated as a snow makeup day in 2023.

“We do have Dec. 22 and Feb. 19 as makeup days scheduled before that extended spring break, so hopefully the weather cooperates and we can have that entire break as it is scheduled,” Presley said.

Flexible instruction days will only be utilized, he added, when multiple days of school are missed due to large storms or other emergencies that may arise, and once all of the make up days are used.

“We’re trying to stay away from those because it isn’t even close to being on par with having kids in school,” Presley said. “If we have a big storm and there are multiple days where we have to close school, so be it, but otherwise we’d like to try to have our students in school for all of our instructional days.”

The last day of school and tentative 2024 graduation date would be June 5.