(a) (1) (A) In each school year, the first day of the school year for student attendance in the public elementary and secondary schools of the State of Arkansas shall be:
(i) On or after the Monday of the week in which August 19 falls;
(ii) Not earlier than August 14; and
(iii) Not later than August 26.
(B) The date for beginning the school year shall be determined by the board of directors of the school district.
(C) Labor Day shall be celebrated as a school holiday in all the school districts of the state, and school shall not be held on that date.
(D) As used in this section, "week" means a seven-day period that begins on a Sunday and ends on a Saturday.
(2) The Department of Education may grant a school district a waiver to begin school on an earlier or later date if the department determines that there exists a material and substantial reason for the school district to begin on an earlier or later date due to very exceptional or emergency circumstances such as a contagious disease outbreak, inclement weather, or other acts of God.
(b) Contracts of employment for employees in licensed personnel positions and employees in nonlicensed personnel positions of school districts may require school district employees to begin performance under their contract of employment prior to the first day of student attendance.
(c) (1) If the school year in any school district extends beyond the date observed as Memorial Day, such date shall be a holiday in the school district.
(2) Provided, upon approval of the department, this date may be used as a make-up day in any school district which has unavoidably lost more than five (5) scheduled days of student attendance during the course of the school year due to contagious disease outbreaks, inclement weather, or other acts of God.
(d) (1) A public school district that provides a week-long holiday for spring break shall schedule the spring break holiday for five (5) consecutive school days beginning on the Monday of the thirty-eighth week of the school year.
(2) The thirty-eighth week of the school year shall be calculated by counting as week one the first week in July that begins on a Sunday.
(3) Nothing in this subsection shall prevent a public school district from providing fewer than five (5) consecutive school days for the spring break holiday to comply with the department's requirement for a minimum number of days for student attendance under the Standards for Accreditation of Arkansas Public Schools and School Districts.
(e) The department shall not grant a waiver from the requirements of this section unless this section specifically authorizes the waiver.
(f) A school district shall adopt an academic calendar that includes five (5) make-up days, in addition to the number of student-teacher interaction days required by the Standards for Accreditation of Arkansas Public Schools and School Districts established by the State Board of Education, for days unavoidably lost due to exceptional or emergency circumstances resulting from a contagious disease outbreak, inclement weather, or other acts of God.
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