March 27, 2026
Good afternoon Prince George Families,
This message is to share important information regarding a calendar adjustment for the 2025-26 School Year.
Due to the upcoming special election on Tuesday, April 21, 2026, the Prince George County School Board has approved the following calendar adjustment for our school community during their meeting this week:
- Tuesday, April 21, 2026: This day will be converted from a regular day of instruction to a Teacher Workday. Students will not report to school on this day.
All schools will reopen for students at their normal time on Wednesday, April 22, 2026.
As a result of this change to our calendar, combined with this year’s active winter, resulting in closures in the interest of our community’s safety, we will need to recover some learning time lost during the school year, as required by the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) and Virginia State Code.
How will PGCPS make up lost instructional time?
Following the Prince George County School Board’s approval during their meeting on Wednesday, March 26, 2026, beginning Wednesday, April 15, 2026, the school day for all PGCPS campuses will be extended by eight (8) minutes, with this time being added to the end of the day through the end of the school year on May 28. In simple terms, this means:
- Prince George High School, N.B. Clements Jr. High School, J.E.J. Moore Middle School, and Prince George Education Center’s dismissal time will move from 2:34 p.m. to 2:42 p.m.
- Updated bell schedules will be shared by your building principal after we return from Spring Break.
- All PGCPS elementary schools’ dismissal time will move from 3:30 p.m. to 3:38 p.m.
The new times also mean your child will get home slightly later from school.
It’s important to highlight that any school division requesting a waiver to deviate from the state’s required school year length of 180 days or 990 hours must show every reasonable effort (Va. Code § 22.1-98(e)) for making up lost instructional time was exhausted before doing so.
What isn’t changing in PGCPS’ calendar?
When making up lost teaching time, our top priority is minimizing disruption to families and staff. We understand families have planned vacations and activities throughout the year based on the structure of our annual calendar.
As such, we committed to keeping PGCPS’ entire scheduled Spring Break (March 30-April 6), and Memorial Day (May 25) as holidays for our school community. These are important times for our families, staff, and community, so we wanted to ensure those dates remain unchanged as we approach the spring.
We are grateful for the continued collaboration of our school community, and thank the Prince George County School Board for their support of these adjustments. We wish you a happy and restful Spring Break ahead.
Sincerely,
Dr. Wayne Lyle
Superintendent
Prince George County Public Schools