School Calendar — Indian River County, Florida

Students at every district school from Fellsmere to Vero Beach started the 2026-27 year on Monday, August 10, 2026, and their last day is Friday, May 28, 2027, a shortened modified instructional day.

Both dates come from the date list on page 2 of the district's 2026-2027 Instructional Calendar (2026-2027 Instructional Calendar, page 2). Teachers came back a week ahead of students: August 3 was a teacher planning day, August 4 a district professional learning day, and orientation ran August 5 for elementary and K-8 schools such as Sebastian Elementary and Pelican Island Classical Magnet, August 6 for middle schools and August 7 for high schools such as Sebastian River High.

The year is split into four grading quarters. The month grid on page 1 gives them 43, 42, 44 and 49 days (Instructional Calendar, page 1), which adds up to 178 student days for the Sebastian, Fellsmere and Vero Beach campuses alike.

The page 1 legend lists report cards for the 16th of October, the 8th of January and the 19th of March. The 2026-27 bell schedule the School Board approved on February 23, 2026 starts high schools at 7:20 a.m. and elementary schools at 9:00 a.m. (district bell-time notice).

Schools in Sebastian, Fellsmere and Vero Beach close for Thanksgiving Break November 23 to 27, 2026, Winter Break beginning December 21, 2026, with students back January 6, 2027, and Spring Break March 22 to 26, 2027.

Winter Break begins Monday, December 21, 2026. In January, Monday the 4th is an optional teacher planning day with no school for students, and Tuesday the 5th is a teacher planning and school-based professional learning day with no school for students, so classrooms at Sebastian River Middle and Fellsmere Academy reopen on Wednesday, January 6, 2027 (calendar date list).

Spring Break begins on Monday, March 22, ten days after the third quarter closes on Friday, March 12, at Sebastian River High and every other district campus.

Besides the three breaks, the 2026-27 calendar lists eleven weekdays with no school for Sebastian, Fellsmere and Vero Beach students: four holidays, two conference days and five other closures.

Ten of the eleven fall on a Monday or a Friday, giving long weekends at Sebastian River High and the other campuses. The Wednesday off on November 11, 2026 is the only midweek closure outside the breaks, and the next ones after October 12, 2026 are the October 23 conference day and the October 30 professional learning day (2026-2027 Instructional Calendar). Memorial Day on May 31 comes after the last student day of May 28, so it does not shorten the Sebastian or Vero Beach school year.

Conference nights run by school level on October 20 to 22, 2026 and February 9 to 11, 2027, and the early dismissal on the five modified days at Sebastian and Vero Beach schools depends on any need for emergency makeup.

Each round of conference nights goes high school first, then middle school, then elementary and K-8. In October that is Tuesday the 20th for Sebastian River High and Vero Beach High, Wednesday the 21st for middle schools and Thursday the 22nd for elementary and K-8 schools, followed by the Friday, October 23 no-school day; the February round repeats the order on the 9th, 10th and 11th, with no school on February 12 (calendar date list). Open houses ran the same way on September 15, 16 and 17, 2026.

For Sebastian Elementary, Sebastian River Middle and the rest of the district, modified instructional days are set for Thursday, December 17 and Friday, December 18, 2026 and for Wednesday, May 26 through Friday, May 28, 2027. Page 13 of the Parent Guide puts those dismissals at 1:50 p.m. for elementary schools, 1:00 p.m. for middle and K-8 schools and 12:20 p.m. for high schools (2026-2027 Parent Guide).

The calendar legend attaches a condition to those early releases: modified instructional day dismissal time is pending need for emergency makeup (calendar legend). The legend does not spell out how makeup time would be scheduled; it only ties those early dismissals at Treasure Coast Elementary, Fellsmere Academy and the other campuses to whether emergency makeup is needed.

The district has a 2027-28 draft for Sebastian, Fellsmere and Vero Beach schools, but it is marked a tentative calendar pending approval, so its dates can still change.

For the Sebastian, Fellsmere and Vero Beach campuses, the draft keeps the same shape as 2026-27: four quarters, here of 43, 41, 45 and 49 days (178 in total), a week-long Thanksgiving Break listed as the 22nd through the 26th, a Winter Break listed as the 20th through the 31st with students returning on the 5th, and a Spring Break listed as the 20th through the 24th, which by the draft's month grid fall in November 2027, December 2027 to January 2028 and March 2028 (2027-2028 draft calendar). It again ends the year with three modified instructional days, the 24th, 25th and 26th of May 2028, before Memorial Day on the 29th.

The draft repeats the 2026-27 legend note that modified-day dismissal is pending the need for emergency makeup days. The Parent Guide says the district posts both the current calendar and the proposed one for the next school year under Students and Families, Instructional Calendars, on its website (Parent Guide, Instructional Calendar), and the district's Instructional Calendar Committee reviews future calendar considerations at the District Office on 57th Street in Vero Beach (committee notice).

An Instructional Calendar Committee reviews future calendar considerations and meets at the District Office in Vero Beach, 4:00 to 5:00 p.m., on September 10, October 8 and November 12, 2026.

The district's July 20, 2026 notice invites educators, instructional leaders, staff and community members to take part, and places the meetings in the Large Instructional Room of the District Office (SDIRC Instructional Calendar Committee notice). The District Office is at 6500 57th Street, Vero Beach, with a main number of (772) 564-3000, according to the district site footer. The committee weighs instructional time, state requirements, holidays, professional learning opportunities and operational considerations, and its feedback informs recommendations to the district. The notice directs anyone interested in serving or learning about the process to Dr. David Erickson at (772) 564-5050.

The Parent Guide points families to the district's current instructional calendar, and its school directory runs from Fellsmere Academy on N. Cypress Street to Sebastian Elementary on Sebastian Boulevard, Pelican Island Classical Magnet on Schumann Drive and Sebastian River High on Shark Boulevard (Parent Guide, school directory), and continues with Sebastian River Middle on CR 512, Treasure Coast Elementary on 85th Street and Wabasso School on U.S. 1 (Parent Guide, school directory, continued). Last verified: October 12, 2026, against both pages of the 2026-2027 Instructional Calendar, the tentative 2027-2028 draft and the July 20, 2026 notice of the Instructional Calendar Committee.