Forsyth County School Calendar 2026-2027: Important Dates

Forsyth County School Calendar 2026-2027 starts on Thursday, August 6, 2026, through Thursday, May 27, 2027 — 178 instructional days. Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools (North Carolina) runs Monday, August 10, 2026, to Friday, May 21, 2027.

Two separate public school districts named “Forsyth County” publish a 2026-2027 school calendar, and they are not interchangeable.

Forsyth County Schools (FCS) in Cumming, Georgia, runs its 2026-2027 academic year from Thursday, August 6, 2026, through Thursday, May 27, 2027, while Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools (WS/FCS) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, runs a different calendar entirely.

Which Forsyth County School Calendar Do You Need?

The correct calendar depends on the state, since Forsyth County, Georgia, and Forsyth County, North Carolina, operate entirely independent school systems with different boards, superintendents, and academic calendars.

Forsyth County Schools (Georgia) serves Cumming, Georgia, as a public school district established in 1873, and it is the fifth largest school system in Georgia out of 180 districts statewide.

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools (North Carolina) serves Winston-Salem and the surrounding county, and it was formed in 1963 by the merger of the Forsyth County School System and the Winston-Salem School System.

The table below compares both districts side by side for the 2026-2027 school year.

This is not a comparison of two campuses in the same system. It is a comparison of two unrelated public school districts that happen to share a county name in two different states.

Forsyth County School Calendar 2026-2027 (Georgia): Key Dates

The Forsyth County Schools 2026-2027 student calendar was approved by the Forsyth County Board of Education on December 10, 2024, and it covers instruction from Thursday, August 6, 2026, through Thursday, May 27, 2027.

The calendar totals 178 student days and 190 staff days, split across two semesters with five multi-day breaks and several single-day holidays and planning days.

The table below lists every major date in sequence, with the day of the week spelled out for planning purposes.

First Day and Last Day of School in Forsyth County, Georgia

The first day of school for Forsyth County Schools students is Thursday, August 6, 2026, and the last day is Thursday, May 27, 2027.

This span is confirmed consistently across the district’s official calendar publication and independent calendar-tracking sites, which list August 6, 2026, as the first day and May 27, 2027, as the last day of school.

Both the first and last days fall on a Thursday, which is unusual compared with the more common Monday or Tuesday starts used by some neighboring Georgia districts, though the practice is not unique to Forsyth County.

The last day of school, May 27, 2027, carries two labels on the official calendar: it is both the final instructional day and an All Grades (K-12) Early Release day, meaning students are dismissed early that afternoon before summer break begins.

Fall Break, Thanksgiving Break, Holiday Break, and Spring Break

Forsyth County Schools schedules five multi-day break periods during the 2026-2027 school year: Fall Break, Thanksgiving Break, Holiday Break, a February Student Holiday period, and Spring Break. Fall Break runs September 28 through October 2, 2026; Thanksgiving Break runs November 23 through 27, 2026; Holiday Break spans December 21, 2026, through January 4, 2027; the February Student Holiday period runs February 12 through 16, 2027; and Spring Break runs April 5 through 9, 2027.

Holiday Break is the longest non-summer break on the calendar.

It spans the calendar-year boundary from Monday, December 21, 2026, through Monday, January 4, 2027, and it contains three distinct labels within a single continuous no-school stretch: the general Student/Staff Holiday period (December 21–31), New Year’s Day on Friday, January 1, 2027, and a Professional Development Day on Monday, January 4, 2027.

Students return to class the following day, Tuesday, January 5, 2027.

Fall Break in Georgia is notably a full five-day week rather than a long weekend. A distinctive feature of Georgia’s academic calendar is a fall break in early October that typically spans a full week, a mid-semester rest period not found in many other states.

Forsyth County’s version, September 28–October 2, 2026, fits this statewide pattern rather than being a district-specific outlier.

Early Release Days and High School Exam Schedule

Forsyth County Schools schedules six early release events during 2026-2027: two district-wide early release days for all grades, and two multi-day exam-related early release blocks for high school only.

All Grades K-12 Early Release falls on September 4, 2026, and December 18, 2026, while High School Early Release for exams falls on

December 16 and 17, 2026, and again on May 24 and 25, 2027, with additional entries in the full date table.

Cross-referencing the district’s published bell-time key against the calendar confirms a third high school exam release day, May 26, 2027, immediately preceding the final early release/last day on May 27, 2027.

District-wide early release days (September 4 and December 18) apply to elementary, middle, and high school students on the same afternoon. High school exam early release days (December 16–17 and May 24–26) apply only to grades 9–12, so elementary and middle school students follow a normal schedule on those dates unless otherwise noted by their individual school.

Forsyth County Schools Early Release Schedule by School Level

The Forsyth County school calendar sets different early release dismissal times by grade band rather than a single district-wide time.

The district’s published bell-time key lists a 7:40 a.m. start for Elementary I schools, an 8:20 a.m. start for Elementary II schools, an 8:25 a.m. start for high schools, and a 9:00 a.m. start for middle schools and Alliance Academy.

On early release days, Elementary I schools dismiss at 11:50 a.m., and high schools dismiss at 12:55 p.m.; middle schools run an early release schedule that ends in the early afternoon, generally around 1:30 p.m.

Elementary II dismissal times on early release days vary by individual school and are not listed as a single uniform time on the district-wide calendar, so families at Elementary II schools should confirm the exact time with their specific campus.

The two grade bands within elementary school reflect a two-tier elementary bell schedule rather than an error: Elementary I schools include Big Creek, Brandywine, Brookwood, Chattahoochee, Chestatee, Coal Mountain, Cumming, Haw Creek, Kelly Mill, Matt, Midway, New Hope, Poole’s Mill, Settles Bridge, Sharon, Shiloh Point, and Vickery Creek.

Elementary II schools include Daves Creek, Johns Creek, Mashburn, Sawnee, and Silver City, among others on the district’s published list.

Teacher Preplanning, Professional Development, and Post-Planning Days

Forsyth County Schools schedules staff-only workdays before, during, and after the student calendar to prepare classrooms, complete grading, and deliver professional training.

Preplanning runs July 28–31, 2026, and again on August 5, 2026, ahead of the August 6 start; Open Houses for Middle School (August 3) and Elementary School (August 4) fall within this same preplanning window.

Four additional single-day Professional Development days fall on October 19, 2026, January 4, 2027, February 16, 2027, and March 15, 2027 — each a student holiday but a staff workday. Post-Planning, the final staff-only workday, falls on May 28, 2027, the day after the last day of school.

These planning days are not interchangeable with the district-wide K-12 Online Learning/Parent Conference days (October 16, 2026, and March 12, 2027), which are non-instructional for students but involve scheduled remote learning activities and parent-teacher conferences rather than pure staff planning.

Total Instructional Days in the Forsyth County Schools 2026-2027 Calendar: 178 for Students, 190 for Staff

The Forsyth County Schools 2026-2027 calendar totals 178 instructional days for students and 190 workdays for staff, a 12-day gap that accounts for preplanning, post-planning, and professional development days built around the student calendar. The 178 student days split into 85 days in the first semester and 93 days in the second semester.

Georgia’s state regulation sets a general 180-day standard but permits fewer days when a district demonstrates equivalent instructional hours.

Georgia’s local school calendar regulation requires an LEA to submit its calendar to the state education department by May 31, and any local board approving a calendar with fewer than 180 school days must also submit the number of daily instructional hours used to justify the reduction.

Forsyth County’s 178-day calendar falls under this hours-based equivalency provision rather than the flat 180-day count, which is why the total is two days below the commonly cited Georgia standard without the calendar being out of compliance.

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools (North Carolina) 2026-2027 Calendar

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools runs its 2026-2027 school year from Monday, August 10, 2026, through Friday, May 21, 2027, under a modified-start calendar the board finalized after reversing an earlier decision.

This calendar differs from the Georgia district’s in start date, end date, spring break timing, and its use of an A/B block schedule for secondary students.

First Day and Last Day of School in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County, North Carolina

The first day of school for WS/FCS students in 2026-2027 is Monday, August 10, 2026, and the last day is Friday, May 21, 2027. The last day of school is Friday, May 21, 2027, and spring break for Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools is scheduled for March 26 through April 2, 2027.

Both dates are roughly two weeks earlier than the Georgia district’s May 27, 2027, closing date, and the spring break window falls later in the calendar than Forsyth County, Georgia’s April 5–9, 2027, spring break.

Why the WS/FCS Board Changed Its 2026-2027 Calendar in December 2025

The 2026-2027 WS/FCS calendar was adopted twice within one week after the board reversed its own initial decision.

On Tuesday, December 16, 2025, the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Board of Education voted 5-4 to return to a traditional academic calendar for 2026-27, choosing a start date of August 24, 2026, after using a modified calendar with earlier start and end dates for the two prior school years.

Six days later, at a specially called meeting on Monday, December 22, 2025, board members voted to rescind that decision and instead adopt a modified-start calendar with the first day of school set for August 10, 2026, citing teacher and family preference for a calendar that allows high schools to complete first-semester exams before winter break.

This reversal happened against a backdrop of pending state legislation. The North Carolina General Assembly was considering legislation that would introduce financial penalties for districts that don’t comply with the law requiring public schools to open no earlier than the Monday closest to August 26.

Even so, the board’s final August 10, 2026, start date sits earlier than the standard legal window and earlier than the extended waiver window discussed below, which means WS/FCS continues to rely on a separate legislative allowance to run a modified calendar rather than the standard “good cause” weather waiver available to most districts.

The A/B Day Block Schedule for Middle and High School

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools middle and high schools follow an A/B Day block schedule, not a standard five-day rotation.

Under this system, every semester begins on an “A” day, and if school is cancelled for weather or another emergency, the eventual make-up day is matched to whichever day, A or B, was missed, so the rotation stays consistent for the rest of the term.

The district publishes this A/B Day calendar separately from the standard student calendar, in both English and Spanish.

This is not the same system Forsyth County, Georgia, uses. Georgia’s district runs a standard weekly schedule without an A/B rotation, so a “day off” in Georgia does not require the same kind of rotation make-up logic that WS/FCS uses for its secondary schools.

Spring Break, Professional Development Days, and Additional Calendars

Beyond the primary student calendar, WS/FCS maintains several parallel calendars for different populations. The district publishes a separate Student Calendar, Staff Calendar, Calendario de Estudiantes (the Spanish-language student calendar), and an Early/Middle College Calendar.

Third-party calendar trackers list four non-instructional Teacher Professional Development days for 2026-2027 — October 12, 2026; November 3, 2026; February 15, 2027; and March 10, 2027 — though these dates come from an independent tracking site rather than the district’s own published list, so confirming them directly on wsfcs.k12.nc.us before finalizing personal or childcare plans is advisable.

Notably, February 15, 2027, is also Presidents’ Day, the same federal holiday observed on the Georgia district’s calendar that week.

Georgia vs. North Carolina School Calendar Law: Why the Start Dates Differ

Forsyth County, Georgia, and Forsyth County, North Carolina, start their school years roughly a month apart in this cycle for a legal reason, not a scheduling coincidence: Georgia leaves start and end dates to local school boards, while North Carolina imposes a statewide start-date window by statute.

In Georgia, state law allows local school districts to set their own calendars, requiring only that the school year consist of 180 days or the equivalent, with no fixed statewide start or end date.

A Georgia Department of Education spokesperson confirmed this directly, noting that district start dates for one recent school year ranged from as early as July 26 to as late as September 4, with a growing trend toward earlier starts. This is why Forsyth County, Georgia’s, August 6 start date is unremarkable within the state.

North Carolina imposes a firmer rule. Except for year-round schools, North Carolina General Statute 115C-84.2 requires the opening date for students to be no earlier than the Monday closest to August 26 and the closing date to be no later than the Friday closest to June 11, with a minimum of 185 days or 1,025 instructional hours.

On a showing of good cause, the State Board of Education may waive the opening-date requirement and allow a local board to open as early as the Monday closest to August 19, but WS/FCS’s August 10, 2026, start date falls outside even that extended waiver window, which is consistent with the district operating under a separate, longer-standing legislative exception rather than the standard weather-related waiver.

This regulation, enacted in 2004, was intended to create uniformity across districts and to accommodate industries such as tourism that benefit from a longer summer break.

The practical result: Georgia’s 180-day-or-equivalent standard gives Forsyth County Schools flexibility to open in early August, while North Carolina’s 185-day/1,025-hour statute, combined with its fixed opening window, is the reason WS/FCS’s board needed a specific legislative allowance to open on August 10, 2026, rather than the traditional late-August date it briefly adopted and then reversed.

How to Download and Sync the Forsyth County School Calendar 2026-2027

Downloading the correct PDF starts with confirming the correct district, since both Georgia’s and North Carolina’s official sites publish similarly named files.

1. Go to the correct official calendar page. For Georgia, use forsyth.k12.ga.us/calendar. For North Carolina, use the WS/FCS 2026-2027 Calendar page.
2. Select the correct calendar type. Georgia’s site separates the “2026-27 Student Calendar” from employee and Early/Middle College versions; North Carolina’s site separates the Student Calendar, Staff Calendar, Calendario de Estudiantes, and A/B Day Calendar into distinct links.
3. Download the PDF for printing. Save the file locally before printing, since district sites periodically update calendar pages with corrected links.
4. Add key dates to a digital calendar manually if no feed is offered. Open Google Calendar, click the “+” next to “Other calendars,” choose “Create new event,” and enter each break or holiday as an all-day event using the full dates from the tables above.
5. Recheck the page after any severe weather event. Districts amend published calendars for emergency closures, and revised PDFs typically replace the original file on the same URL without a version notice.

Planning Around the Calendar: Childcare, Registration, and Weather Make-Up Days

Several planning needs extend beyond simply knowing the break dates, since non-instructional days affect childcare, and closures can shift dates after the calendar is published.

Non-Instructional Days and Childcare Planning

Non-instructional days fall into two categories that require different planning: multi-day breaks (Fall Break, Thanksgiving Break, Holiday Break, Spring Break) and single-day events (Professional Development Days, K-12 Online Learning/Parent Conference days).

Multi-day breaks are predictable far in advance and typically drive the highest demand for school-break camps and extended family travel.

Single-day events, such as October 19, 2026, or March 15, 2027, in the Georgia calendar, are easy to miss when scanning only for major breaks, since they appear as isolated dates rather than blocks on a printed calendar.

Weather-Related Closures and Make-Up Days

Weather closures are not built into either district’s published calendar in advance, so make-up days typically come from one of two sources after the fact: a scheduled non-instructional day converted into an instructional day, or an extension of the school year past the original last day.

Forsyth County, Georgia’s hours-based flexibility under state regulation gives the district more room to absorb a small number of closures without extending the calendar, since it can rely on instructional-hour equivalency rather than a fixed day count.

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, operating under North Carolina’s 185-day/1,025-hour statute, generally needs to identify specific make-up dates when closures occur, and the A/B Day system determines which day (A or B) a make-up session becomes.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Forsyth County School Calendar 2026-2027

What This Guide Does Not Cover

This guide does not cover private or parochial school calendars in either county, since schools such as those operating independently of FCS or WS/FCS set their own academic years without district board approval.

It does not cover individual school-level events, such as specific classroom party schedules, athletics calendars, or club meeting dates, which fall under each school’s own communications rather than the district-wide calendar.

It does not cover postsecondary academic calendars, including dual-enrollment partners such as community colleges, which run on separate semester schedules that do not align day-for-day with K-12 breaks.

It does not guarantee that any date listed remains unchanged after publication, since both boards retain authority to amend the calendar for emergency closures, and it does not apply without modification to Alliance Academy’s or the Early/Middle College’s calendars, which can vary from the standard student calendar referenced above.

Readers relying on this guide for legal, enrollment, or attendance-compliance purposes should verify current dates directly with the applicable district office before acting on them.