How we build and check each calendar

Every date on this site comes from the school district's own calendar. This is how we turn it into a page, and how we check it.

1. The source

We download the calendar the district publishes (usually a PDF) and keep a copy with the date we retrieved it. When a district site blocks automated downloads, we use a copy from the Internet Archive and say so on the page. Each calendar page links to its source.

2. Reading it

Many district calendars mark days only with a color or a symbol: a pink square for a remote learning day, a blue circle for a teacher workday. We read the whole page, legend first, and record every marked day. For each day we keep the district's own wording (“the district calls it”) and describe what it means for a family: whether there is school, whether students learn from home, whether the day ends early or starts late, whether it may become a make-up day, and which grades or schools it applies to. When a document is unclear about who a day applies to, we record the narrower scope it states.

3. Four checks before a calendar is published

1. Total of school days. We count the school days ourselves and compare them with the total the district prints (or the sum of the days in each grading period). Some districts count professional-development days without students as school days; we follow the district's own rule and say so.
2. A second source. When the district also publishes a list of dates in text, we compare it with the calendar grid.
3. The colors of the PDF. We read the colored cells of the original file and check that every colored day is in our data. This catches days that do not change the total, like early releases.
4. Approval. A calendar marked as draft, proposed or pending approval is not published. When a district has not approved next year's calendar, we show the real first and last days of past years instead of guessing.

If any check fails, the calendar goes to a person for review and is not published until it passes.

4. What we do not do

• We do not project or estimate dates the district has not approved.
• We do not present our own notes as the district's words.
• Holiday names like “Labor Day” are added by us when the date matches the federal holiday.

5. Always confirm with your district

Districts revise calendars during the year, and make-up days depend on the weather. Before booking travel or childcare, confirm with your school district. If you find a date that does not match the official calendar, tell us and we will check it again.