By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – Students in the Alabaster City School System will begin school on Aug. 11, will have the Wednesday-Friday of Thanksgiving week off, and will have several holidays and inclement weather days built in to the 2016-2017 calendar after the city’s Board of Education approved the document during a March 14 meeting.

The School Board voted unanimously to approve the calendar, which was built by a committee composed of several ACS employees who met twice with ACS Superintendent Dr. Wayne Vickers.

After releasing the proposed calendar to the public a few weeks ago, Vickers said he received 10 emails from parents. Seven of those emails lobbied for students to have the full week of Thanksgiving off, he said.

“Having that full week of Thanksgiving did not receive the support of anyone in the superintendent’s advisory council, so I recommend the calendar be passed as submitted,” Vickers told School Board members.

Teachers will return to school on Aug. 8 for institute and professional development day after working one day between Aug. 1-5. Teachers will hold work days from Aug. 9-10 before students return to classes on Thursday, Aug. 11.

During the fall semester, students will be out for Labor Day on Sept. 5, for Columbus Day on Oct. 10, for Veterans’ Day on Nov. 11 and for Thanksgiving break from Nov. 23-25.

The first semester will end on Dec. 16, and students will be out for Christmas holidays from Dec. 19-30.

Teachers will have a work day on Jan. 2, and students will return to classes on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017.

Spring semester holidays will be Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 16, 2017, Presidents’ Day on Feb. 20, 2017, on March 10, 2017, for a teacher workday, spring break from March 27-31, 2017, and Good Friday on April 14.

Thompson High School’s graduation will be on Tuesday, May 23, 2017, and the spring semester will end on May 25, 2017, before a teacher work day the following day.

To view the entire proposed calendar, visit Alabasterschools.org and click the “Approved School Calendar 2016-2017” link near the bottom of the page.