Students and faculty of Stanly County Schools will once again start school earlier in August than in previous years.

The Stanly County Board of Education approved the 2024-25 early start calendar unanimously at Tuesday’s board meeting.

Next academic year’s calendar has Aug. 11 as the first day for students, two weeks earlier than the traditional calendar which would have had school opening Aug. 25.

Students will have Sept. 1, Oct. 13 and Nov. 11 off before the Thanksgiving holiday, which has early release Nov. 26 and the next two days off.

Christmas holidays will start with early release Dec. 19 and students will not be back until Jan. 6, 2026.

Ahead of spring break, students are scheduled to have Jan. 19, Feb. 13 and March 13. Spring break will be April 3 and April 6-10.

The last day of school for the 2025-26 academic year will be May 20.

Lydia Hedrick, assistant superintendent of human resources for SCS, presented the calendar, which she said was finalized by a committee “comprised of representatives from each school.”

Regarding the early calendar, Hedrick said, “I will state overwhelmingly in the feedback we received, we did receive requests to continue with an early start calendar.”