PEORIA – To combat learning loss from COVID-19 and long summer vacations, Peoria Public Schools is considering changing its calendar for students and teachers. But that would come at the price of shortening summer break. The idea is known as a balanced calendar and is one of three options being considered by the school board for the 2022-2023 school year. The first option is to leave things the way they are — or the so-called traditional plan. The other two are the balanced calendar and the modified calendar. What does 'balanced calendar' mean? A balanced calendar distributes intermittent breaks that are longer throughout the year. Although there are different options, a common balanced calendar may have a 15-day break between 45 days of learning. To accommodate this, summer break is shortened, so the school year would start in July instead of mid-August.