Conroe ISD students will keep their four-day Easter weekend but spend a few extra minutes in class each day for the rest of the school year.

The district's board of trustees voted 6-1 at its Oct. 20 meeting to reject a motion that would have used the March 29 inclement weather makeup day, Community Impact Newspaper reported. The board instead moved forward with adding minutes to remaining school days to meet the state's instructional time requirement.

Board member Melissa Dungan made the motion to use March 29 as a makeup day rather than extend daily schedules. She was the lone vote in favor.

The decision traces back to a weather closure earlier this fall. Conroe ISD shut down all schools and offices due to Tropical Storm Edouard, according to a district notice. The district's closure notice listed the date as Wednesday, Sept. 2, though Community Impact reported the closure occurred Sept. 1. The district had already begun adding time to school days starting Oct. 13 to compensate for the lost day, according to a separate CISD announcement.

Texas law requires school districts to provide at least 75,600 minutes of instruction per year, including recess. Under House Bill 2610 (HB 2610), districts can add minutes to remaining school days to make up for weather closures. Districts that fall short of the threshold face proportional funding cuts.

Mark Murrel, assistant superintendent for high schools, presented results from an employee survey with 3,917 responses. The largest group, 43.4%, supported adding five minutes per day for the rest of the year. Another 25.3% preferred adding two to three minutes daily. Only 15.6% wanted to use the March 29 date.

"We got their opinion and what we got was a very substantial nod to add minutes to the day, and we want their voice to be counted," Murrel said at the meeting, according to Community Impact.

March 29 had been built into the calendar as an inclement weather day but was being treated as a holiday, giving families a planned four-day Easter weekend. Murrel said using that day would affect family and staff trips and district morale.

The district also released initial plans for the 2027-28 school calendar. The board is expected to vote on that calendar by Jan. 19.