Guilford County Schools offers great options and choices for our students, from extended-year schools to high schools located on college campuses. Our range of choices means students may be on different academic calendars. For example, early and middle college students take classes at local universities, so those schools follow the university calendars. 

How are GCS calendars created? 

North Carolina law lays out specific guidelines for school district calendars. Details include requiring schools to start no earlier than the Monday closest to Aug. 26 and to end no later than the Friday closest to June 11. Click here for more information on the legislation.

In GCS, calendars are created by a calendar committee, comprised of parents, community/faith representatives, teachers, principals and district personnel.

Read more about school calendars and inclement weather. 

How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting GCS calendars?

A new state law adopted this spring mandates a new start date – August 17 – for all North Carolina public schools for the 2020-2021 academic year. State legislators also mandated that all public schools add five additional instructional days for students while keeping the number of teacher work days the same. As a result, teachers will have five fewer work days this year to prepare their classrooms and participate in professional learning opportunities.

Due to the new state law and increasing operating costs associated with the pandemic, extended-year schools will follow the traditional academic calendar during 2020-2021 as well.