I'm in Richmond today. This morning I testified before the Senate Committee on Health & Education in favor of SB 1266, which would give School Boards full control over setting the school calendar. Currently we are unable to schedule a school start date prior to Labor Day, a law that has been on the books since 1986. The law's original sponsor is on the committee and defended it vigorously this morning, but for the first time in 22 years of trying the committee referred the bill to the full Senate.
Many thanks to Senator Jill Holtzman Vogel for sponsoring this legislation and inviting me to come to testify on its behalf.
Previous Posts:
2009-2010 School Calendar
Back to School Before Labor Day?
I'll write more later. Right now I need to come back to Loudoun for tonight's budget work session, which starts at 6:30.
I hope your efforts are successful. It only makes sense for local school boards to have the authority to start school before Labor Day. There are school districts that start early enough in August to administer Semester exams before the Winter Break, instead of the third week of January. AP Exams are given on the same dates in May no matter where in the United States you happen to reside. Thus, Virginia students have less instructional time than students from other states that start the school year earlier than Labor Day.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I vote for no school before labor day. Most school systems around the country start after Labor Day. Many families plan vacation for the week before Labor day (ours included), and it seems ridiculous to start school for a week and then have a day off. Further, August can be much hotter than June. My kids (and many others) would miss the first week of school.
ReplyDeleteFinally, we have many snow days built into the calendar. Why can't we just give some of them back?
I agree with the poster who says we should have the days given back at the end of the year if we do not use the snow days. However, I disagree that school should not start before Labor Day. If you know school starts before Labor Day why would you, or anyone else plan a vacation at that time and have your child miss the first week or few days of school? Seems like irresponsible parenting.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to know where you got your information from when you said that "most school systems start after Labor Day". I think if you looked into that topic more fully, you would see that many start before Labor Day and not after. Parents with students in systems that start before Labor Day just adjust their vacations accordingly.
ReplyDeleteIt is also incorrect when you state that Loudoun Co. Schools have many snow days built into the calendar. We are required to attend school 190 days each year and I believe that we have 193 days scheduled on the calendar. Not quite what I would say is many.
Adjusting the calendar to a pre/post Labor Day beginning will not make everyone happy. The point is that it should be up to each individual school division to make that decision and not the tourist industry in Virginia.
Our instructional days are longer so we do have about 15 extra days in our calendar.
ReplyDeleteThe code mandates hours of instruction or days, whichever meets the minimum.
I'd like to see us go year round with 2 weeks off each quarter. I know my off cycle vacations would be less expensive too.
I know that LCPS should be focusing on teaching the children, and not be worried about which days they are doing it.
ReplyDelete