Wilmington School Committee Votes 5-1 to Approve Calendar With Good Friday Half Day

WILMINGTON -- March 11, 2026, Wilmington School Committee votes 5-1 to set Good Friday as a half day and keep Juneteenth off the 2026-27 calendar. The vote came after three meetings of debate and a 306-response community survey in which 58 percent of respondents chose a half-day option over a full school day or no school on Good Friday. Member David Reixach, the lone dissenter, argued the district is not legally required to close on Friday, June 18, the observed date for Juneteenth, which falls on a Saturday in 2027, citing state holiday law and specific contract language in the educational assistants' agreement making the day a paid holiday only if "declared to be a holiday in the school calendar." Superintendent Dr. Robert Thompson countered that Juneteenth is a federal holiday and as a Saturday holiday would be observed on the preceding Friday; he said he had emailed district counsel the same night seeking a legal opinion. The committee left the door open to revisiting the June 18 question if counsel's guidance changes the picture. In other business, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Celia Elliott reported that the district's multilingual learner median student growth percentile on the ACCESS test climbed from 34 in 2023 to 80 in 2025, well above the state median, while secondary math performance for students with disabilities and low-income students remains an area requiring focused intervention and deeper analysis.