Important dates for students in 2015

With the spring semester, which started today for public school students in St. Mary Parish, comes a long list of important dates.
There is no school Jan. 19 in celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King/Great Leaders Day for public or parochial students.
Holy Cross Catholic Elementary School has a parent-teacher conference day Jan. 20. Students will not attend school on that day. Also, the school has an open house scheduled at 8:15 a.m. Jan. 13. Students will be in attendance that day.
National Catholic School Week is Jan. 25 to 31. Both Holy Cross and Central Catholic High School will be hosting activities to celebrate.
Public school students are out of classes Feb. 16 to 18 in celebration of Mardi Gras, while students at Central Catholic and Holy Cross are off the entire week beginning Feb. 16.
March 13 is a parent-teacher conference day for public schools, all of which will be closed to students.
All schools are closed April 3 to 10 for Easter week.
Graduation for Central Catholic students is May 9.
The last day of school in eastern St. Mary Parish is May 26.
Testing dates also are upcoming for public and parochial students.
Public school students and those in private schools through the voucher system take state-mandated Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, Louisiana Educational Assessment Program, end of course and ACT testing.
Private school students take the Assessment of Children/Youth Religious Education and the ACT Aspire.
For public schools:
—PARCC testing in English and math for grades 3-8 will have two phases March 16 to 20 and May 4 to 7.
—LEAP and iLEAP testing in science and social studies for grades three through eight will be April 14 and 15.
—End of Course testing for eighth through 12th graders taking English 2, English 3, algebra 1, geometry, biology and U.S. history has a window of April 22 through May 22.
—ACT Explore testing for eighth and ninth grades and Plan testing for 10th grade have a window of March 9-13.
—ACT testing for 11th graders is March 17.
Central Catholic students:
—ACRE test for eighth and 11th grades is the week of March 16.
—The ACT Aspire window for grades seven through 10 is April 13 through May 8.
—ACT testing for all 11th graders is March 17.
—Six students attending the school on the state’s voucher system will take LEAP and end of course testing at their school following the public school schedule.
Holy Cross students:
—ACRE testing will be conducted for 5th grader but the date is to be determined.
—ACT Aspire testing for students will be between April 13 and May 8.