Sherman students begin senior year as classes open Aug. 11; Gainesville, Muenster start Wednesday

By GvilleTX Newsroom

Sherman ISD opened the 2026-27 school year on Tuesday, Aug. 11, and two Sherman High School students starting their senior year appeared in KTEN's Back to School coverage, which the station's own listing credits to reporter Kennedi Patterson. Gainesville ISD and Muenster ISD each set Wednesday, Aug. 12, as the first day of school.

KTEN's first-party listing for the item, "Back to School: Sherman students begin senior year," says Patterson highlighted the pair as they began their final year. The listing places the segment within the station's regional Back to School reporting across Texoma.

Sherman High PTA planned its own marker for the day. A PTA notice invited the Sherman High School Class of 2027 to a Senior Sunrise on Tuesday, Aug. 11 to celebrate the opening of the seniors' last year, and it listed donuts, a group photo and a caravan. Neither the PTA notice nor KTEN's listing says the station's segment came from that gathering.

The start date comes from Sherman ISD directly. The district's official back-to-school page gives Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026 as the first day of the 2026-27 year, and the same page tells families that Sherman High School schedules are available for the new year.

That date falls ahead of the state's default. Texas points districts to a first day on the fourth Monday in August. Sherman ISD starts earlier because its renewed District of Innovation plan keeps an exemption from the uniform start date, which the district describes as calendar flexibility.

Gainesville ISD, the Cooke County comparison, begins Aug. 12. Its board approved a hybrid calendar for 2026-27 under which Monday student days change later in the year, according to the district's announcement of the approved calendar. The same announcement says student days rise from 158 to 165.

Muenster ISD landed on the same opening day as Gainesville. The district set Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026 as its first day of school.

The exemption Sherman uses is not unique in the area. Denison ISD, Sherman's neighbor in Grayson County, says on its innovation plan page that it became a District of Innovation in 2016. The Denison board approved the uniform-start-date exemption again on April 19, 2022, and the district says the exemption lets it consider earlier August starts and finish the school year before Memorial Day.

Sherman ISD points families to its back-to-school page for schedules and first-day details. Gainesville ISD posted its approved 2026-27 calendar through district news, and Muenster ISD published its first-day date on the district site.