The District 205 School Board approved a new calendar for the 2023/24 school year this week. Board members considered two different calendars with only two glaring differences. One starts the year on Aug. 10 and includes a weeklong fall break. The other starts the year on Aug. 16 and does not include the fall break. Superintendent Dr. John Asplund said that he was recommending the earlier start to the school year to combat learning loss better and to experiment and see if giving a fall break would help fight truancy. "We feel like this fall break may increase attendance if people have shorter times where they have to get to a break and they'll come to school more and we'll have better attendance," Dr. Asplund told the board on Monday. "We feel like it's worth a year-shot and if it doesn't go well then we say, 'okay, we tried that and it didn't work.' But we feel like it's something that is not that big of a departure from this current calendar." Asplund said staff members were split on the two calendars but were open to either one. Ultimately, the calendar committee recommended an earlier start date. Each quarter in the school year will be split by a week break. The first day of classes for students will be Aug. 10. Fall Break comes the week of Oct. 16-20. Winter break falls from Dec. 21-Jan. 5. Spring break is the week of April 1-5. And the last day of school is May 23.