NEW ULM – The approval of District 88’s school calendars for years 2026-2027 and 2027-2028 will take place another day.

The New Ulm School board voted to table the adoption of the school year calendar until next month.

Superintendent Sean Koster had presented the board with the two calendars recommended by the district’s calendar committee. In both years, the school years were set to start before Labor Day. For the 2026-2027 school year, Sept 1 would be the first day. In 2027-2028, the first day would be August 30. Both calendars would have a short winter break, eliminate spring break and end the year early in May.

Since the committee recommended these calendars, other area schools have announced plans to start the school year even earlier on August 25. This includes Sleepy Eye, New Ulm Area Catholic Schools and St. Paul’s Elementary.

School board member Amanda Groebner said in light of this new information it might be a good idea to have the public provide feedback and determine if New Ulm Public wanted to align with the other schools. She said aligning with the other schools could make busing easier at the start of the year.

There were also questions on whether the school needed a spring break built into the schedule.

Koster said typically the school would have a spring break every other year, but the next two calendars had eliminated spring breaks.

Board Chair Steve Gag said having a spring break every other year came about from survey data. Half the people surveyed wanted a spring break in the calendar and the other half did not. Alternating spring breaks kept things fair.

Groebner confirmed there was no consensus on whether or not to have a spring break; however there was consensus that an early out in May was preferred over letting students out in June. She said most people surveyed were willing to have students start in August if school let out in May.

Koster said the 2027-2028 school year calendar does have school starting on Aug. 30, however there is no information on when the other schools would start.

Board member Sarah Leslie said no matter which choice the district takes on start date and spring break, about 40% of the population will be unhappy.

Board member Christie Dewanz said she was OK with tabling the calendar decision to get more feedback, but said she was not certain additional feedback would help.

Leslie asked if school start time impacted fall sports.

Koster said fall sports were not impacted, however some of the students showing animals at the State Fair could have an interrupted schedule. If students do not have the Friday before Labor Day off, they might not be able show animals at the fair.

Koster said that though the current calendars had eliminated spring breaks, he personally appreciated having them in the schedule as it gave teachers and students time off.

Board Member Jonathan Schiro said he wanted to be consistent with how spring breaks are scheduled to give families time to plan. He ultimately made the motion to table the calendar discussion. It was passed by the board.

Koster said there was no immediate need to approve the calendars this month. He said the board has approved calendars in March and revisions are always possible based on snow days.