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The Russellville Independent school board approved next year’s school calendar at last week’s meeting.

The 2013-14 school year will start a little earlier than the past one.

The first day of class for students will be on Tuesday, Aug. 6. Teachers will report on Thursday, Aug. 1 for their first of two professional development days.

With the earlier start, school administrators will have a little more wiggle room with the calendar in case there is bad weather next winter.

“We have the teachers and staff vote on the calendar and there was about a 50-50 split on which one they liked,” said Russellville schools superintendent Leon Smith. “So we opted to go for the second one, which starts just a little bit earlier. With the concern of a few snow days, the board wants to make sure that we get out before Memorial Day.”

Memorial Day 2014 will be on May 26. If there are no missed days, the last day of school for students will fall on Tuesday, May 20. May 21, 22 and 23 are all possible makeup days. There is also no school scheduled for Monday, Feb. 17 (President’s Day) and Friday, April 18 (Good Friday) but both of those days can also be used to make up snow days as well.

Fall and spring breaks will be at the same time of year. The fall break will be Sept. 30 through Oct. 4 and spring break will be March 31 through April 4.

“We try to coordinate it very closely with Todd and Logan counties, because of the tech school,” Smith said. “If we don’t all have our spring and fall break at the same time, the teachers there don’t get a break.”

The winter break next year will begin on Wednesday, Dec. 27 and go through Friday, Jan. 4.