Marshfield School Board approves 2026-27, 2027-28 academic calendars

MARSHFIELD – During its Nov. 12 regular board meeting, the Marshfield School District Board of Education approved the district’s 2026-27 academic calendar as well as the calendar for 2027-28.

The 2026-27 calendar, bought forward by the employee relations committee, shows the first day of school on Aug. 27, 2026, with the school year ending May 28, 2027.

The calendar passed by a 5-1 vote, with School Board Member Dan Griesbach voting “no.”

Griesbach expressed concern over starting the school year during the Central Wisconsin State Fair, which School Board Member Nicole Forst said was discussed on the committee level.

“One of the benefits of this is we'd be done with school before Memorial Day. If we start later, we'd have to go back to school for two more days after Memorial Day,” Forst said.

“When the initial drafts of these calendars were created, we were not aware of the fair conflicting with the early start. The initial proposal for the early start date was two days earlier than what we have on the current version, which is literally opening day of the state fair as well — Tuesday, Aug. 25,” added School Superintendent Dr. Ryan Christianson.

“The revised proposal did back it up two more days to a Thursday, the 27th of August start date. Driven by what Nicole just mentioned is that really the starting point of this conversation looked at waiting until Monday of the next week, which ironically, is also an early start, because Monday is Aug. 31, we still have to go through the entire exemption process to start one day early.

“The other issue at play is the construction work that's happening in the high school. That's the other underlying component to the calendar proposal, is that in the springtime of this calendar — so this 2026-27 calendar — with the renovation work being done at the high school and the phasing of projects. The kitchen remodel renovation, a new addition on the north end of the commons is going to be worked on in that time period. We know now from phasing out the proposed work at the high school, that our kitchen at the high school is actually going to be taken offline starting spring break of that year, 2027, putting us in a position where we're going to have to shift food preparation arrangements through the end of the school year. So that was another motivator of wanting to try to get the school year done as early as possible, even two days earlier, is that it's two fewer days of modified food preparation arrangements. The high school kitchen not only prepares hot meals for the high school, but for the elementary schools as well. “

The board also voted on the 2027-28 calendar, which shows the first day of school on Sept. 1, 2027, and the school year ending June 2, 2028.

That calendar was approved with a 6-0 vote.

School board elections

Christianson also announced the 2026 school board election dates.

“We do have this information available on our website, but to review through it all: the last day for incumbent office holders not intending to seek re-election, the deadline to file a notice of non-candidacy is Dec. 26, 2025,” he said.

“The deadline for declaring candidacy is Jan. 6, 2026, by 5 p.m.

“The spring primary, if required, will be held on Feb. 17, 2026, and this year's spring election will be held on April 7, 2026.

“The appropriate forms for running for school board can be obtained from the websites of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, the Wisconsin Ethics Commission or on the School District of Marshfield website.”

More information is available at www.marshfieldschools.org/district-mfld/school-board/board-election-information.