EVANSVILLE — EVSC school board members on Monday unanimously approved a calendar for 2025-26 with a “soft start” alphabet flip, an extra day for staff development and a July start for teachers.
The new calendar is public and available on EVSC’s website . The 2025-26 school calendar begins on July 31, 2025 with teacher meetings and work days and ends on May 22, 2026 with high school commencements.
Aside from meeting the state requirement of 180 instructional days for students, the calendar includes two “soft start” days for students for each half of the alphabet. Those are set for Aug. 4-7, with all students set to be in school on Friday, Aug. 8.
But the alphabet flip has been the lead talking point for EVSC officials, who said certain parents made it clear that was kind of a big deal to them.
Next year, unlike past years, students with last names K through Z will go first Aug. 4 and 5, and those with last names A through J will go second Aug. 6 and 7.
“We truly do listen to our families that said, ‘Hey, we’re in the second half of the alphabet, can we go first?” Superintendent David Smith said in a recent EVSC podcast.