Medford 2026-27 school calendar leaves no ‘wiggle room’ for extra days off

School administrators are taking on the task of trying to come up with an equitable solution to the problems facing the district when it comes to next year’s school calendar.

Superintendent Dr. Suzanne Galusi said the 2026-27 calendar looks pretty much like the one currently being followed. That includes the same issues that forced the closure of school on Good Friday, April 3.

On March 31, Galusi announced that classes would be cancelled at all Medford schools on April 3 “due to a districtwide staff shortage.” A reported 145 staffers put in for time off, despite meetings between the administration and union leaders.

On April 2, the Medford Teachers Association (MTA) and Medford Paraprofessionals Association (MPA) put out a joint statement on Facebook, refuting “any suggested connection between Superintendent Galusi’s meeting with union leadership and the rate of reported absences on this coming Friday (April 3, 2026).”

Union leaders said they supported the rights of their members to use their time off how they liked. However, the unions also stated they were looking “forward to working with the district to ensure next year’s calendar better reflects our community.”

And that’s where school officials began during their meeting on April 13, when Galusi addressed the ongoing calendar issues.

“I am here in a collaborative, problem-solving kind of stance and in an effort to frame a little bit of next year,” Galusi said. “I received some feedback and information regarding school calendars, as would be typical, from caregivers, from staff,0 and so there are three things that will impact the calendar.”

Professional development days

Galusi said the first item is the placement of professional development days, which are contracted with the MTA and will fall on Nov. 3, 2026, and Jan. 19 and March 2, 2027.

Galusi said caregivers have reached out to ask why all these days are always scheduled on Tuesdays. The superintendent said Nov. 3 is a fixed date because it’s Election Day in Massachusetts and schools are closed because the buildings are used as polling locations.

Jan. 19, 2027, follows the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Galusi said it was an intentional move to take that Tuesday off to give caregivers an opportunity for a longer weekend.

March 2, 2027, she said, is just a random day.

Those five extra days

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) requires school districts to build in an extra five days into their calendars for snow, health, or emergencies. This year, Medford used four of its five days due to snow.

Galusi said doing the math, the last day of school for 2027 with the five days built in brings Medford’s final day to June 30.

“So, there’s no wiggle room,” she said, adding there’s “not an extra day to account for Good Friday.”

The religious days dilemma

Galusi said it was important to acknowledge the effects the Good Friday closure caused for the entire community. And, she added, those effects will be the same for 2027.

But all those issues actually start with Labor Day, which is Sept. 7.

“Typically, we’ve gone back to school the week before Labor Day,” Galusi said. “But next year, our teachers go back on Monday, Aug. 31, and the students start Sept. 2. We lose a whole week in August because of where Labor Day falls.”

Galusi said right now, the three religious holidays on the Medford calendar include Yom Kippur, Christmas and Eid al-Fitr. Medford School Committee in 2020 changed its policy in regards to how the public schools acknowledge religious holidays in order to be more inclusive.

Good Friday has not been scheduled as a day off as of now.

Next steps

Galusi said she has spoken with MTA President Anthony Geehan about what the next steps are to see if there’s something that can be done to incorporate Good Friday into next year’s calendar.

She said the two discussed forming a committee to figure out how to “work collaboratively within the constraints of the calendar for next year.”

Geehan, who was in attendance at the April 13 meeting, said the union is very open to discussing the issue with Galusi, but “a solution does have to include Good Friday.”

“The strain of wondering about next year and the sort of anxiety that it brought out…We want to foster a sense of belonging amongst our staff and our students and our community,” Geehan said. “When they have this uncertainty and the anxiety it raises, that doesn’t help us foster belonging. We are looking forward to working with everyone.”

Galusi said the School Committee will also have input into the decisions being made by the administration and unions, especially where professional days and holidays are concerned.

“There will be further review of the Medford Public Schools protocols and structures for use of religious holidays by staff members across the district and throughout the school year,” Galusi added.

She said it will also be important to hear from and include the community in the feedback.

“Having the public involved is essential,” said Erika Reinfeld.

Galusi said once all the data is gathered, she will bring it back to the School Committee for a proposal on the best way to update the 2026-27 calendar.

Reactions from School Committee

Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn was first out of the gate with a question: Will the schools be looking at April 2027 and potentially taking off Good Friday?

“Yes, 100%,” Galusi said. “The School Committee policy represents our schools and our city, but it doesn’t necessarily represent our staff. We have to absolutely account for that in next year’s calendar. What that looks like, I’m not quite sure of because we have to engage in those conversations with the teachers union.”

Galusi said she can’t promise Good Friday will be added back into the calendar.

“I don’t have that wiggle room,” she added. “This may not be a problem in the ‘27/’28 calendar or the ‘28/’29 calendar, but it’s a big problem for the ‘26/’27 calendar. We have to have these conversations before we proceed.”

School Committee Vice President Jenny Graham said she’s had the opportunity to gather feedback from the community on the school calendar issue. She said the original intent of the School Committee policy change was to “try to create a more inclusive community and a place of belonging, even though we didn’t use that word belong at that time.”

She acknowledged the committee knew there would be times when there would be issues. And, Graham added, next year is unique in that in order to fulfill the School Committee policy, Medford schools would need to add two extra days into the calendar.

“If we could find two more days, we could carry out our objectives under the policy,” she said.

Graham said she did some research and had a few ideas about what the school system could do.

First, there’s an option to not observe Juneteenth on Friday, June 18, because the holiday is on Saturday. Graham said the secretary of state says that if a holiday falls on a Saturday, an organization must remain open on both the Friday before and Monday after and split the time between employees.

“We could do that,” Graham said. “But that’s not promoting a sense of belonging, either.”

Then there’s option to start school the Friday before Labor Day, or on Sept. 4. The schools could also remain open all day on Dec. 23 instead of it being a half-day.

Graham said both of those options would allow for Good Friday to be taken as a day off in 2027.

“Most of the parents I’ve talked to have suggested we just start school earlier,” Graham said. “Other districts have made the decision to start earlier.”

Reinfeld pointed out families are making plans right now for the summer and that includes when the kids go back to school. And like Jessica Parks, she also wanted to know what the timeline is for all these decisions to be made.

“Time is of the essence,” Galusi said. “We have a lot of families who need to know for their caregiving.”

But, the superintendent reminded all involved that in order for all these things to happen, discussions with the unions will be imperative, as will community feedback. And of course, that means finding what will work for Good Friday.

“Based on the population of our staff it would be irresponsible to proceed next year – into next year’s calendar – without the acknowledgement of Good Friday,” Galusi said. “We want to get to a point where we can operationalize school and acknowledge Good Friday as a holiday, but we also know the constraints of next year.”

Galusi said the plan is to speak with union leaders and elicit feedback from parents and hopefully be back before the School Committee at the end of May with some sort of solution.