Cabarrus County Schools Calendar 2026-27: Off Dec. 21 to Jan. 4

Cabarrus County Schools students are out Monday, Dec. 21, 2026 through Monday, Jan. 4, 2027 by our reading of the district’s 2026-27 Traditional Academic Calendar, and spring break is March 8-12, 2027. The calendar’s own Winter Break line reads “December 23, 2026 - Jan 1, 2027,” but Dec. 21-22 and Jan. 4 are staff development days, and the district says students are out of school on all of them.

The dates come from the district’s plain text calendar and its PDF, both read Nov. 13, 2026; the PDF’s file name dates the approval Oct. 13, 2025. Weekdays and return days are our calendar check. The first day of school for all students was Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026.

Cabarrus County Schools breaks in 2026-27

Break	Students out	Students return (our reading)
Thanksgiving Break	Wed., Nov. 25 to Fri., Nov. 27, 2026	Mon., Nov. 30, 2026
Winter break, with staff development days	Mon., Dec. 21, 2026 to Mon., Jan. 4, 2027	Tue., Jan. 5, 2027
Spring Break	Mon., March 8 to Fri., March 12, 2027	Mon., March 15, 2027

Plan the weeks on the December 2026 calendar and the March 2027 calendar.

When is Cabarrus County Schools’ winter break in 2026?

The district’s Winter Break line runs from Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2026 to Friday, Jan. 1, 2027, eight weekdays by our count.

Students are out longer. The district lists staff development days on Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 21-22, and on Monday, Jan. 4, and states: “Capped/Uncapped designations for staff only. Students are out of school on all staff development days.” That makes 11 weekdays without school, from Monday, Dec. 21 to Monday, Jan. 4, and students return Tuesday, Jan. 5. The calendar does not print a return date; that follows from its entries. Quarter 2 ends Friday, Dec. 18, with early dismissal.

Which Cabarrus County days are off for students?

Every break, holiday and staff development day on the traditional calendar, with weekdays. Entries before Nov. 13 are past.

Date	Weekday	What the calendar lists
Sept. 7, 2026	Monday	Labor Day
Sept. 25, 2026	Friday	Staff Development Day (capped for staff)
Oct. 12-13, 2026	Monday-Tuesday	Staff Development Days (uncapped, then capped for staff)
Nov. 11, 2026	Wednesday	Veterans Day
Nov. 25-27, 2026	Wednesday-Friday	Thanksgiving Break
Dec. 21-22, 2026	Monday-Tuesday	Staff Development Days (uncapped for staff)
Dec. 23, 2026 to Jan. 1, 2027	Wednesday-Friday	Winter Break
Jan. 4, 2027	Monday	Staff Development Day (capped for staff)
Jan. 18, 2027	Monday	Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Feb. 15-16, 2027	Monday-Tuesday	Staff Development Days (uncapped, then capped for staff)
March 8-12, 2027	Monday-Friday	Spring Break
March 26, 2027	Friday	Good Friday
March 29, 2027	Monday	Staff Development Day (uncapped for staff)
April 16, 2027	Friday	Staff Development Day (uncapped for staff)
April 19, 2027	Monday	Staff Development Day (capped for staff)
May 31, 2027	Monday	Memorial Day

The calendar has no line named Presidents’ Day, and the staff development days on Feb. 15-16, 2027 are the nearest entries. Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, is listed among the district’s breaks and holidays as an uncapped workday for staff; the calendar does not separately say whether students attend, so it is not in the table.

Which Cabarrus County weekends run long in 2026-27?

By our count from the dates above:

Weekend	Days off	Why
Sept. 5-7, 2026	Sat.-Mon.	Labor Day
Oct. 10-13, 2026	Sat.-Tue.	Staff development days Oct. 12-13
Jan. 16-18, 2027	Sat.-Mon.	Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Feb. 13-16, 2027	Sat.-Tue.	Staff development days Feb. 15-16
March 26-29, 2027	Fri.-Mon.	Good Friday and a staff development day
April 16-19, 2027	Fri.-Mon.	Staff development days
May 29-31, 2027	Sat.-Mon.	Memorial Day

Good Friday, March 26, and Monday, March 29, 2027 give a four-day weekend, and so do Friday, April 16 and Monday, April 19. The calendar lists no Easter Monday.

Which days have early dismissal?

The calendar states: “Each end-of-quarter day includes early dismissal (capped for staff).” Quarter 1 ends Oct. 9, 2026, Quarter 2 ends Dec. 18, 2026 and Quarter 3 ends March 19, 2027, all Fridays. The PDF also marks Wednesday, May 26, 2027, the last day of school for traditional students, as “End Of Quarter; Early Dismissal.”

What is the school year length and the weather make-up rule?

The PDF lists Semester 1 at 84 days, Semester 2 at 90 days and 1045.76 total hours of instruction. Its inclement weather note says North Carolina law requires that all hours missed be made up to provide 1,025 hours of instruction per academic year, and that up to 30 hours may be used for remote learning. The calendar lists no make-up days.

What about the Early College and Restart schools?

The district posts a separate Early College calendar, marked “Approved 10/13/2025” in its PDF. It uses the same dates for Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Break, winter break, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, spring break and Good Friday. The last day of school for Early Colleges is Thursday, May 13, 2027, and graduation is Saturday, May 15 at West Cabarrus High School.

A separate Restart Calendar PDF covers a group of schools the district lists. Those schools follow different dates that this story does not cover. Traditional high school exams run Dec. 14-18, 2026 and May 20, 21 and 24-26, 2027, and graduation ceremonies are May 26, 27 and 28, 2027 at Cabarrus Arena & Events Center.

How does Cabarrus County compare with Charlotte-Mecklenburg and Guilford County?

District	Winter break (district’s wording)	Spring break	Last day
Cabarrus County Schools	Dec. 23, 2026 to Jan. 1, 2027, with staff days Dec. 21-22 and Jan. 4	March 8-12, 2027	May 26, 2027
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS)	Dec. 21, 2026 to Jan. 1, 2027	March 29 to April 2, 2027	June 9, 2027
Guilford County Schools (GCS)	Dec. 21, 2026 to Jan. 1, 2027, plus a Jan. 4 workday	March 22-26, 2027	June 10, 2027

Cabarrus County’s spring break comes the earliest of the three and its last day is two weeks or more before the others, by the dates each district lists. For Wake County, see the Wake County Public School System calendar.

The free printable carries these dates on one page, and the printable school-year calendar page has more layouts.