Pender County School Board discusses changes to 2026-2027 school calendar

PENDER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) –The Pender County School Board is currently reviewing potential changes to its 2026-2027 school calendar.

With discussions focused on balancing instructional days and addressing concerns about test scores that have yet to fully recover since the COVID-19 pandemic.

We spoke with Pender County Schools Superintendent Brad Breedlove, who explained that the current calendar leaves 14 instructional days unaccounted for, as well as teacher workdays that aren’t spread out evenly.

Breedlove believes that adjusting the calendar could help restore some balance to the schedule.

“Currently, we have 79 days in the first semester and then 90 in the second. It’s unbalanced, so if we start two weeks earlier, everything balances out and we get more instructional days.”

Breedlove also mentioned that no changes have been finalized yet, and the board will continue discussing the proposal.