Why Somers schools start Sept. 2: Inside the district's 2026–27 calendar

SOMERS, N.Y. - It’s official, the first day of school in Somers next year will be Wednesday, Sept. 2.

The Board of Education unanimously adopted a 2026-2027 district calendar – with 185 total days – at its Jan. 20 meeting.

Previously, schools Superintendent Dr. Adam Bronstein had presented trustees with a draft calendar, explaining the various “constraints” and key dates.

He also thanked all the folks who provided “feedback” to develop the calendar, including the district’s administrative team, its cabinet, and unions representing teachers, administrators, and non-instructional staff.

Noting that Somers’ calendar has 185 days, he explained how student days and professional learning days are structured to give the district some flexibility if schools have to be shut due to the weather.

“Every district is a little bit different,” Bronstein explained, noting that New York state only requires 180 days of “student contact.”

Districts proactively build in days beyond the 180 for the purposes of weather-related closings and other emergencies.

Five professional learning days are woven into the 2026-2027 timetable, the first two of which will take place on Monday, Aug. 31 and Tuesday, Sept. 1.

Students return to school the next day.

According to the calendar, if more than four days are needed for emergency closings, make-up days would be required.

One of the “notable” things about the calendar is that Labor Day “is as late as it possibly can be,” Bronstein said.

The first Monday of the month is Sept. 7 and so there’ll be only four days of school that week.

Bronstein consulted the Putnam Northern Westchester BOCES calendar and those of several neighboring school districts that had “already begun this process” and found that many were returning to school prior to Labor Day.

If the calendar hadn’t been synced up that way it would have meant a shorter winter or spring recess.

“It was simply not possible to construct the calendar any other way,” Bronstein said.

Holidays and elections will also have an impact on scheduling.

Rosh Hashanah, for instance, falls on the weekend this year – from sundown on Friday, Sept. 11 through Sunday, Sept. 13.

There will be no athletic or other school events on those evenings.

However, Yom Kippur starts at sundown Sunday, Sept. 20 runs through the next day, meaning schools will be closed Monday, Sept. 21.

October is pretty uncomplicated. Columbus Day is Monday, Oct. 12, and schools will be closed.

Tuesday, Nov. 3, is Election Day. It’s scheduled as a professional learning day in order to allow staff training while supporting the voting process at the Middle School.

There will be the “obligatory” half day of school prior to the Thanksgiving recess, which is set for Thursday, Nov. 26, and Friday, Nov. 27.

The half-day parent-teacher conferences at Primrose Elementary School and Somers Intermediate School are scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 1, Thursday, Dec 3 and Wednesday, Dec. 9, the same day there are professional learning days at the middle and high schools.

The December holiday recess, typically two weeks long, will be a week and a half instead.

There will be a half day on Wednesday, Dec. 23. School remains closed for the recess from Thursday, Dec. 24, through Friday, Jan. 1, New Year’s Day.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a national holiday, is Monday, Jan. 18, 2027.

Lunar New Year, is now a state holiday if it’s on a weekday.

However, next year it falls on Saturday, Feb. 6, It would be different if it were a federal holiday, Bronstein said, reiterating that the district will “be mindful of athletic events and that sort of thing.”

Winter recess will be Monday, Feb. 15 through Friday, Feb. 19 and absorbs the Presidents Day holiday. Spring break is set for Monday, March 22 through Monday, March 29.

(Easter is very early next year. Good Friday is Friday, March 26. Easter Sunday is March 28.)

Passover is almost a full month afterwards so where the district would normally absorb the holiday into that week, next year it’s two separate weeks entirely.

Thursday, April 8, is a professional learning day and schools will be closed on Thursday, April 22, and Friday, April 23 for Passover, which begins at sundown Wednesday, April 21.

That will also affect athletics and other after-school events.

The Memorial Day recess will run from Friday, May 28 through Monday, May 31.

The fifth of the five professional learning days is Tuesday, June 1.

Juneteenth actually falls on Saturday, June 19, in 2027 but because it’s a federal holiday, school districts are required to observe it on Friday, June 18.

Wednesday, June 23 through Friday, June 25 (the last day of school) will be half days for all students.

Noting that spring and Memorial Day recesses were “subject to change,” Bronstein urged folks to refrain from making “irrevocable plans” at those times.

That’s because if more than four emergency closings were needed, the district would have make-up days on April 8 and June 1. If it had to go beyond that, it would start hitting the day prior to Memorial Day recess and also the beginning and the end of the spring break.

According to Bronstein, the last day of the school year typically falls on “rating day,” which is when the district consolidates all the Regents scoring at the high school level.

Because Somers has Regents, it doesn’t have the option of ending school two or three weeks earlier.

“Once we get our days in, we have to go through the end of the Regents calendar,” Bronstein said. Students aren’t required to come in to school unless they are taking the test.

The calendar meets the state requirements for 990 instructional hours for secondary level students and 900 for elementary level students.

“With this calendar, our elementary and secondary schools are beyond those hours, so we’re good,” Bronstein said.

Trustee Chadwick Olsen asked what happens to the professional learning days if they have to be converted to student days.

“Fortunately, our faculty and staff are very resourceful so even if we had to miss out on a couple of professional learning opportunities, we do a lot of summer curriculum writing, for example,” Bronstein responded.

“I always hope that we don’t have to use it, but I also know that we value professional learning days so I want to make sure the teachers and the staff get everything they need too,” said Board President Amanda Kandel.