The school website year: a month-by-month maintenance calendar

A school website has its own calendar, and it runs about a month ahead of the school’s. The testing calendar is due on the site by October 1, the literacy plan by June 15, the New York annual report by August 1, board minutes within 30 days of every meeting, and the lottery pages have to be right in the weeks when families are deciding. Add closures, Ramadan, graduation, and a new staff directory every August, and there are roughly forty days a year on which the site has to be exactly right.

This is the calendar I keep for the school sites we maintain, August through July. The Minnesota charter items carry their statute, because they are duties. The private-school items are a mix of law, accreditor expectation, and plain sense. The New York items are flagged for the charter and nonpublic schools there, and the Islamic-school dates sit in the months they land. The statutory detail behind the charter items is in Minnesota charter school website requirements; this article is about when.

General information, not legal advice.

August

The heaviest month, because everything that describes the year goes up before the year starts.

• Everyone. The new calendar, bell schedule, supply lists, bus routes, back-to-school night, and the staff directory with the summer’s hires and departures. Rehearse the closure banner with the office now, not in December.
• Minnesota charter. The meals and unpaid-meal policy under 124D.111; the e-learning plan notice to families under 120A.414; Title I notices on teacher qualifications and assessments; the health-care program link under 256.962; the annual lead-testing notice under 121A.335; data access policies updated by August 1 under 13.025, where the website is optional but convenient.
• Minnesota private. The racially nondiscriminatory notice on the homepage. Under Rev. Proc. 2019-22, a 501(c)(3) school that relies on its website for the notice must display it on its primary publicly accessible homepage at all times, in a way a visitor would notice; a link to another page, a carousel slide, a dropdown, or a hover state does not count. Check it is still there after every homepage change.
• New York charter. The annual report, with the report card and certified financial statement, issued by August 1 and posted on the website under Education Law 2857; the Department set August 3 for 2026 because the first fell on a Saturday.
• New York nonpublic. Student data to the state’s reporting system by August 21.

September

• Everyone. Labor Day falls on September 7, 2026. The board’s meeting schedule for the year goes on file at the office and on the site. Photos from the first week, with the releases checked.
• Minnesota charter. Refresh the link to the school’s state report card once the Department posts them, no later than September 1 under 120B.36. Start the annual report; authorizer deadlines vary, so get yours in writing.
• New York nonpublic. Certify the state data submission by September 4.
• Islamic schools. The weekend and after-school Quran program registration pages, with capacity and sibling rates current.

October

• Minnesota charter. The standardized testing calendar is due on the website by October 1 under 120B.306, at least a week before any assessment that falls earlier. The immunization report goes to the state within 60 days of the term’s start under 121A.15. The comprehensive achievement and civic readiness report and its annual public meeting fall in this season under 120B.11; the Department’s own deadline for its summary is one to confirm each year.
• Minnesota private. The letter of intent to continue goes to the resident district superintendent by October 1 under 120A.24, with the student reporting that section requires. Not a website item, but the office that files it is the office that updates the site.
• New York nonpublic. The state’s institutional data form opens October 1.
• Everyone. Test the closure banner before the first storm, and confirm the person who posts it from a phone still has the login.

November

• Everyone. Enrollment pages for next year. The application window, the lottery date, the seats expected by grade, and the tour dates all go up as soon as the board sets them. Some Minnesota charters open applications November 1 and draw in mid-February; others close in March. Whatever yours is, the page should say the year.
• New York nonpublic. The institutional data form is due November 13, 2026.
• Private schools. Open house and admissions events; next year’s tuition if the board has approved it.

December

• Minnesota charter. The audit goes to the Department and the authorizer by December 31 under 124E.16 subd. 1; the board-approved annual report is posted on the site when it is adopted, often this month. A building corporation files on the same date under 124E.13.
• Private schools. Many boards approve next year’s tuition and open re-enrollment in December; the tuition page, sibling discounts, and payment plans need the new numbers the day they are approved, and the old PDF needs to come down.
• New York nonpublic. The immunization survey by December 15 and the fire-safety report under Education Law 807-a by December 16, 2026.
• Everyone. The holiday closure dates on the site and on the Google Business Profile, which Google will prompt you to confirm.

January

• Minnesota charter. Lottery deadlines for schools on a January window; the authorizer’s own annual report is due to the Department by January 15 under 124E.16 subd. 2. Minutes from the December meeting inside 30 days.
• Private schools. Re-enrollment contracts and the financial aid application window.
• New York. Regents examinations January 26 to 29, 2027.
• Islamic schools. The Ramadan page drafted now: adjusted hours, the prayer schedule, whether lunch service pauses, and the dates marked as projected.

February

• Minnesota charter. Board election notices at least 30 calendar days before the vote under 124E.07 subd. 5. WIDA ACCESS testing runs February 1 to March 26, 2027 in Minnesota, so the testing calendar should already show it.
• New York. WIDA runs February 1 to April 9, 2027; registered nonpublic high schools’ registration applications are due February 10, 2027.
• Islamic schools. Ramadan 1448 is projected to begin Monday, February 8, 2027, with tarawih the night of the 7th; the moon sighting can move it a day. The announcement bar goes up the night the date is confirmed, and the adjusted schedule page replaces the normal one.
• Everyone. Snow and cold closures. The banner, the ParentSquare or Remind message, and the Google Business Profile should all say the same thing, posted by whoever is awake at 5:40.

March

• Minnesota charter. The MCAs run March 8 to May 7, 2027, with science to May 14, according to the testing calendars districts have posted from the Department’s schedule. Candidate names and statements at least 10 calendar days before a board election. For schools with a March lottery, seat counts and waitlist status change weekly.
• Islamic schools. Eid al-Fitr on or about March 9, 2027, or the 10th if Ramadan runs thirty days. The closure and the Eid prayer details go up the night before, and the Ramadan page comes down the week after.
• Everyone. E-learning days: Minnesota requires families to be told by two hours before the start of the day under 120A.414, which in practice means the banner and the message go out the night before.

April

• Minnesota charter. Lottery results and waitlist status for schools that draw in spring. April 26, 2027 is the ADA Title II web accessibility date for public entities serving 50,000 or more; whether a charter school counts as a special district with the 2028 date is unsettled, so treat April 2027 as yours.
• New York charter. Applications due by April 1 under Education Law 2854, followed by a random selection whose time and place must be publicized. Minutes and the Open Meetings Law postings continue: notices online 72 hours ahead where the school is able, documents 24 hours ahead to the extent practicable.
• New York nonpublic. Mandated services and comparable aid claims by April 1, 2027.
• Private schools. Waitlists and admissions decisions; the summer program pages.

May

• Everyone. MCAs end May 7 and May 14, 2027. Graduation details, the last day, summer office hours, and the first staff changes for next year, which go on the directory the week they are known.
• Islamic schools. Eid al-Adha on or about May 16, 2027, with the day of Arafah the day before. Closure dates on the calendar in advance, confirmed when the Hajj authorities announce.
• Everyone. Summer program registration with capacity caps.

June

• Minnesota charter. The local literacy plan is due on the website by June 15 under 120B.12 subd. 4a, and from 2026-27 it must cover library media centers. The anonymous threat-reporting policy required by the 2026 session is due by June 30, 2027, according to the Minnesota School Boards Association’s recap of chapter 117.
• Everyone. Archive the year’s minutes once they pass the 365-day retention, archive last year’s calendar and handbook, and take down anything that describes the year that just ended. Summer hours on the site and the Google Business Profile.
• Private schools. The nondiscrimination notice survives the summer homepage refresh, which is when it most often disappears.

July

• Minnesota charter. A management organization’s financial report goes to the board by July 31 under 124E.27. The handbook revision for the new year is approved and posted.
• New York charter. The annual report drafted for the August 1 posting.
• Private schools. Tuition and policy revisions for the new year; the photo library refreshed with releases checked.
• Everyone. A full accessibility and speed pass before August traffic, because every PDF uploaded since last July needs tags and headings and every image needs alt text, and August is when the whole community arrives at once.

What happens every month, whatever the season

Four things run on their own clock and do not care what month it is.

• Minutes within 30 days of approval for a Minnesota charter board, kept for 365 days; New York charters post meeting documents a day ahead and notices three days ahead.
• Software updates every week, taken after a backup, because the way a school website gets compromised is an unpatched plugin found by a script, not a person.
• Every form submitted by a person, with the notification email confirmed to arrive. Enrollment inquiries that land in a dead inbox are the most expensive failure a school site has.
• New documents and images checked for accessibility as they go up, so the quarterly pass finds nothing surprising.

Who does what

The calendar only works if the names are on it. The board clerk sends minutes and election notices. The director sends the annual report, the testing calendar, the literacy plan, and anything an authorizer asks for. The office manager sends calendar, staff, handbook, and tuition changes, and posts closures from a phone. Whoever holds the care plan, in-house or a vendor, does the posting in the same place every time, runs the updates, tests the forms, and checks accessibility, and sends a short report at month end saying what went up. The year above, with the plan that usually fits, is laid out on our charter school and private school maintenance pages.

What to do next

Copy the twelve months into your own calendar with your dates filled in, and put a name next to every line. Then check today’s site against this month’s list.

If you would rather hand the calendar to someone, send us the URL. We will tell you what is already stale, what the accessibility pass turns up, and what keeping the year current would involve for your school, before anybody talks about money.