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School year changes possible
Spotsylvania considers starting school before Labor Day; parents vehemently opposedDate published: 5/20/2004 By KRISTIN DAVIS Spotsylvania eyes August start, shorter breaks Spotsylvania County families counting on end-of-August vacations and long winter and spring breaks may have to reschedule. The School Board is considering a 2004-2005 calendar that would break an 18-year tradition by having students start school Aug. 30. A second calendar option starts school after Labor Day, on Sept. 7. Under both plans--developed by a committee of parents, teachers and principals--Spotsylvania schools would get shorter spring and winter breaks than usual. Those prospects have drawn fierce opposition from many parents, who say children and teachers need the longer vacations to rejuvenate and connect with their families. So why is the School Board considering calendar changes? For the first time, Spotsylvania has gotten a waiver to the so-called "Kings Dominion" law--established in 1986 to require Virginia schools to start after Labor Day so theme parks, hotels and restaurants won't lose young workers and vacationing families before the holiday weekend. The Virginia Department of Education issues waivers based on histories of bad weather or for academic reasons, like special programs that must start early. Spotsylvania qualified because of a decadelong pattern of days lost to snow and ice. This academic year, nearly half of Virginia's 133 school districts got waivers--51 were weather-related. Locally, Culpeper, Fauquier and Louisa counties qualified. Starting school Aug. 30--and shortening breaks--has academic benefits, said Edlow Barker, Spotsylvania's assistant superintendent of instruction. It gives students more classroom time prior to May Standards of Learning tests, he said. SOL results are critical because they determine high school graduation and school accreditation. Frank Douglas, who has a second-grader in Spotsylvania, opposes the calendars and the reasoning behind them. "While I appreciate my son has to learn about Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, he's also got to know his family," Douglas said. "There's more to life than SOLs." Shelley Whitt, who has two children in Spotsylvania schools, agreed, adding: "A full week off [in the spring] allows kids to come back rested and prepared for SOLs." Whitt said several parents plan to present a petition to the School Board at its Monday night meeting to rally for longer breaks and a post-Labor Day start. Another concern for Whitt: "A lot of people take their vacations at the end of August because that's when off-season rates kick in."
Date published: 5/20/2004
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