The announcement gives Bauxite families and school employees several dates to put on their calendars. Students in grades 1 through 12 are scheduled for an open house on Thursday, Aug. 6, from 5 to 7 p.m. A separate kindergarten open house is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 12, from 6 to 7 p.m.

Dates for families

The Aug. 6 event comes before the first day of classes and is the district’s listed open house for grades 1-12. Families with students in those grades can plan around the two-hour event, which begins at 5 p.m. and ends at 7 p.m.

The school year then begins Aug. 11. Kindergarten families have a separate event the next evening, Aug. 12, from 6 to 7 p.m. That timing means the kindergarten open house is not the districtwide first day of school; it is a distinct event listed for kindergarten families after classes begin.

For parents and students, the immediate planning point is to keep the three dates separate: the grades 1-12 open house on Aug. 6, the first day of the 2026-27 school year on Aug. 11, and the kindergarten open house on Aug. 12.

Calendar background

Bauxite Public Schools identified the update as part of preparations for the 2026-27 school year. The district’s official news page also publishes the approved 2026-27 school calendar and states that the Bauxite School Board approved it on Feb. 23, 2026.

The July 23 announcement does not establish that the calendar was changed. Instead, it provides the opening date and the two open-house dates currently listed by the district.

The available district page does not provide the full academic calendar beyond those opening and open-house events. It therefore does not establish additional dates for the school year, including dates that were not included in the announcement.

The next scheduled event in the posted sequence is the grades 1-12 open house on Aug. 6. The first day of school follows on Aug. 11, and the kindergarten open house is listed for Aug. 12. Families using the district’s back-to-school information should distinguish the general school opening from the separate kindergarten event.

The district’s homepage and official student calendar identify August 6 as the first day all students returned. That date marked the shift to the regular school-year routine for students, parents and school staff in the Ellicott community, with practical implications for transportation, attendance, childcare and daily scheduling.

A four-day opening sequence

The opening schedule began Monday, August 3, when district staff were scheduled to return. The calendar identifies that date as the start of the week’s preparation before students came back.

On Tuesday, August 4, the district listed open-house activities for kindergarten and fifth grade. Those events were part of the preparation for students and families before the full return.

Wednesday, August 5, included orientation for selected students in kindergarten, fifth, sixth and ninth grades. The same date also included a district-wide back-to-school open house, according to the district’s posted schedule.

All students were then listed to return on August 6. The sequence moved from staff preparation to grade-specific open houses, selected-grade orientation and a district-wide event before the full student return.

What the official record shows

The Ellicott School District 22 student calendar provides the primary date record for the 2026-27 school year and its August opening sequence. The district homepage also lists the individual activities and the August 6 all-student return.

The available material establishes the district’s planned and listed schedule. It does not provide enrollment totals, report staffing changes or identify transportation disruptions connected with the opening. It also does not announce a new capital project or state that new safety measures were implemented.

The source material does not independently document whether every listed activity occurred exactly as scheduled. Accordingly, the dates above are described as district-listed or scheduled activities, while August 6 is the district’s listed all-student return date.

What comes next

For Ellicott families, the immediate next step identified in the approved record was the August 6 return of all students and the start of the 2026-27 school-year routine. The packet does not identify a later deadline, additional opening-related event or separate next step after that date.

The available record therefore documents a scheduled, staged opening rather than a reported change in enrollment, staffing, facilities or safety policy. It gives families the four key dates: staff return on August 3, kindergarten and fifth-grade open houses on August 4, selected-grade orientations and the district open house on August 5, and the all-student return on August 6.