This year, Frisco ISD schools had their first day of school on Thursday, Aug. 16th. This came to a surprise by many students who were upset that their summer got cut short.

“The district did it because the start of the school is decided through a recommendation by the district calendar committee,” Principal Mark Mimms said.

“The district moved up the start of the school year in an effort to have the semester end at winter break,” Associate Principal Kathryn Gray said. “Their goal was that students wouldn’t have any projects or homework to worry about during the holidays.”

Certain students didn’t mind the change from the first day starting on Monday.

“I thought it was nice to have one A and B day,” junior Ashley Burns said. “I was happy because I looked forward to the weekend that was so close ahead.”

“The first two days gave students an idea of what their upcoming year was going to be like, get to know who is in their classes, where their classes are and who their teachers are,” English Teacher Misti Perry said. “The weekend allowed all the students and teachers to re-energize and gave [the teachers] an idea of how [their] classes were going to go and to make some tweaking before [they] started the curriculum.”

Teachers usually spend the first two days establishing rules and setting a routine so on Monday they can get right into their first lesson without having to worry about introducing themselves and taking up class time. Some teachers said it helped them develop relationships with their students beforehand, although some of the AP teachers felt they had to get started right away, according to Mr. Mimms.

The district does not know if they will continue to start school on a Thursday for the upcoming years. Before decisions are made, they want to hear input from the students and teachers.