In the past, Bernards High School students have enjoyed the luxury of not returning to school from summer break until after Labor Day. However, in the next school year, this precedent of returning to the classroom after the holiday will be amended, as the current first day of the 2026-27 school year is set for August 31st, 2026.
At the October 15th Board of Education meeting, it was announced that the first day of school is set to occur before Labor Day. This change, planned for next year, is expected to continue, including the 2027-28 school year and beyond. According to the presentation from the Board of Education at the meeting, the school district’s reasoning for moving up the start date for school is to provide students with more instructional time before standardized tests, such as the NJSLA and Advanced Placement (AP) tests, to improve student performance.
With the start date for school being pushed forward, the rest of the school schedule is to adapt. Per the meeting presentation, teacher staff orientation will be moved from the last week of August to the week prior. Accordingly, the start date for students’ summer is set to be moved forward to the school year ending on June 11th, about a week earlier than in past school years.
Board of Education president Mrs. Frenda weighs in on what influenced the Board’s decision to implement this change, sharing, “As a board we need to ensure that we are building the school year in a way that best supports student success and that includes how prepared they are for mandated testing, internal assessments, co-curricular obligations, access to guidance and counseling professionals at critical moments, and appropriate time to acclimate to expectations and routines at the start of the school year and before and after all school breaks.”
The change had been under discussion among the Board of Education committee for the last several months. Meanwhile, districts across the state and the nation have begun pushing up their school start times, ultimately deciding to enact it for the numerous benefits it provides. Starting school earlier would give more time not only for high schoolers to learn and prepare for standardized tests like APs and the NJSLA, but also give more time to students in elementary and middle schools, who also have to take standardized state-required tests. In addition to the benefits an early start brings to testing, it also benefits incoming high school seniors, specifically by giving them more time to meet with their guidance counselors to discuss college applications before the fall submission deadlines.
While it’s too early to say how students as a whole feel about the schedule change, it appears that some students are open to it. Jessica Fu ‘26 shares her thoughts on the schedule change, sharing, “In APUSH last year, we skipped unit nine because we didn’t have enough time for it at the end, and students had to learn it by themselves,” concluding from her experience that, “While it may be annoying to cut your summer off early, I think being able to help your education by getting more time for students taking academically rigorous courses is beneficial.”
While the earlier start may be an adjustment for some students who are accustomed to not starting school until after Labor Day, the hope is that it will benefit the students as the Board of Education intended.
