MATTAPOISETT — Tri-Town families can look forward to 20 vacation days and a number of early dismissals and professional development days, following a Jan. 29 Joint School Committee vote to approve the 2024-2025 Old Rochester Regional School District academic calendar.

The 2024-2025 academic year will begin on Wednesday, Aug. 28 and end on Wednesday, June 11, 2025, according to the calendar. However, any school closures could extend the school year to Wednesday, June 18, 2025, said Old Rochester Regional School District Superintendent Mike Nelson.

According to Nelson, having a shared calendar across all six schools in the Old Rochester Regional School District is “important for a lot of reasons” including coordinating the district’s shared resources and bus routes.

The Old Rochester Regional Joint School Committee went through several drafts before settling on the version that was accepted. One piece of feedback heard from community stakeholders, noted the committee, was a request for two full weeks of vacation time during the holiday season.

However, this was not implemented in the 2024-2025 academic calendar in part because it would require school to continue further into the summer, according to the committee.

Christmas vacation will begin with an early dismissal on Friday, Dec. 20 and will run through Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025.

Thanksgiving break will begin with an early dismissal on Wednesday, Nov. 27 and will run through Friday, Nov. 29.

February vacation will run Monday, Feb. 17, 2025 through Friday, Feb. 21. April vacation will run from Monday, April 21, 2025, through Friday, April 26.

There will be several professional development days that will either include early dismissals or no school entirely. Notably, Tuesday, Nov. 5 will be a professional development day and will allow for Mattapoisett’s Old Hammondtown Elementary School to be used as a polling place for the 2024 presidential election without having students in the building.

According to Nelson, building the draft calendar was “pretty easy” this year.