Second semester of the current school year might still be in its infancy, but Minooka Community High School District 111 officials are in the process of planning many of the intricate details for the upcoming 2026-27 school year.

MCHS Superintendent Robert Schiffbauer discussed the preliminary calendar for the 2026-27 school year at a board of education meeting Jan. 21.

The plans in motion call for a start date of Wednesday, Aug. 19, with teachers officially beginning their assignments two days earlier — Monday, Aug. 17 — for a pair of institute days.

Schiffbauer said MCHS administrators and other staffers have been working with the Minooka Education Association, the local teachers union, on terms within the calendar. The 2026-27 school year could wrap before Memorial Day, though five emergency days have been included in the calendar, running from Tuesday, June 1, to Monday, June 7, 2027.

The proposed calendar also reflects two full weeks of winter break, beginning Monday, Dec. 21. Based on the tentative details, classes would resume in the new year on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2027.

“That was very important to the MEA, that there was still the two Monday through Friday full weeks,” Schiffbauer said, noting the practice’s popularity in recent years.

Spring break is slated to begin Friday, March 26, and continue through the following Friday, April 2, 2027, based on the proposal.

Another practice that has been implemented in more recent years — splitting up the semesters between winter break — also is expected to continue in the upcoming school year.

Speaking to the past practice of wrapping up the first semester after the start of the new year, Schiffbauer said, “It’s not good. You’re better off just truncating the (first) semester and get those finals in and, if you’re a yearlong course, just adjust a little bit.”

Schiffbauer’s discussion with the board about the upcoming school year also touched on fall sports, which he described as a “moving target” at the moment because of a new set of timelines with the Illinois High School Association that might mean earlier start days that deviate from past practice.

Of note, Schiffbauer said IHSA is planning a start date of Wednesday, Aug. 5 for the football season, which might pose challenges to families accustomed to a “dead week” in the first stretch of that month.

“This is a big topic of discussion,” Schiffbauer said. “I wish (the IHSA) would put this all off a year, to let people adjust their own lives to this calendar. This is a bigger move than just adjusting a calendar. People plan ahead.”

Badminton coming to MCHS?

Schiffbauer and the MCHS board of education also discussed a proposal that could result in the addition of badminton for female students to the roster of sports offered through the athletic department.

“The athletic department sent out a survey to our female students to gauge interest in adding this sport to our spring sports offerings,” Schiffbauer said as he gave his routine superintendent report to the board.

Through mid-January, Schiffbauer said student responses were mixed, with most receptive to adding the sport.

Of the 106 responses received, Schiffbauer said 57 students expressed interest in playing the sport, and an additional 44 female students said they might play. Of the respondents, five gave a firm “no” to the question in the survey, Schiffbauer said.