Parents, change your Grafton school calendars again. The Friday half-days are changing.

In a normal school year, the Grafton School Committee sets up the school calendar in the spring and it seldom varies, save for snow days, for the next school year.

This isn’t a normal school year.

Between hybrid learning, tweaks to allow for teacher planning, changes to bring kindergarten and first grade back full time, and now the state’s requirement that all students return to the classroom by the end of the year, Superintendent of Schools Jay Cummings once again brought out the 2020-21 school calendar out for another update.

“We have a lot going on almost every spring, this spring more than others,” Cummings said, bringing up a copy of the new calendar on screen.

The Friday half days, set up to allow teachers to work together on lesson planning, will now change due to the state’s time on learning requirements. While March 26 and April 2 will still be half days, all dates apart from April 30, May 21, and June 11 will now be full days.

As for students switching from hybrid to full-time in school, the schedule is:

• Students in grades 2 and 3 (hybrid) will return to full-time in-person schooling on March 29.
• Students in grades 4, 5, and 6 (hybrid) will return to full-time in-person schooling on April 5.
• Students in grades 7 and 8 (hybrid)  will return to full-time in-person schooling on April 28.
• High school students are expected to return in early May, at a date to be announced in April.
  

“Hopefully we’ll have more subs with kids coming back,” Cummings said.

The last day of school — barring additional snow days, always a threat in a New England spring — is June 23.

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