[SchoolMatters] The King/Queen of School Start Dates

[Brian Wheeler]

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
This message is not an official communication of the Albemarle County School
Board. It is a private, e-mail-only newsletter written by Brian Wheeler,
At-Large Member of the Albemarle County School Board. 
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

[Want to share some public comments on this message?  See the weblog version
here:
http://schoolmatters.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/02/the_kingqueen_o.html ]

Who is the king/queen of school start dates?  Who decides if we start before
Labor Day?  It is the time of year I get constituent emails asking when
school will start in August.  Or is it September?!  Schools around the
country are wrestling with when to set school start dates.  Many are
starting much earlier than Albemarle.

See: http://www.nsba.org/site/doc_sbn_issue.asp?TRACKID=
<http://www.nsba.org/site/doc_sbn_issue.asp?TRACKID=&VID=55&CID=682&DID=3787
7> &VID=55&CID=682&DID=37877

The king is Kings Dominion (the amusement park).  The queen is Mother
Nature.  I think they both live in Richmond at the General Assembly. I am
not making this up... Virginia has what we call the "Kings Dominion Law"
named after the theme park outside Richmond, which requires schools to start
AFTER Labor Day (the thinking is that way theme parks will not lose their
workforce).

Each year Albemarle County has to pray for snow from Mother Nature and hope
the King in Richmond will grant us a waiver to start school in August.  If
we get enough snow days (averaged over a number of years), we are eligible
for a waiver from this law.  During the past decade, I don't believe we have
ever started after Labor Day because Albemarle has always successfully
gotten a waiver.

There was a recent attempt (which failed) to kill the law by the General
Assembly. An article in the Hampton Roads Daily Press reported:

"A law enacted nearly 20 years ago requires schools to open after Labor Day
unless they get a waiver from the board. The statute was informally called
the "Kings Dominion law" because it was championed by summertime tourist
attractions that rely on teenage workers through Labor Day. According to the
state Department of Education, 79 of the state's 132 school divisions had
permission to start this academic year earlier, mostly to compensate for
days missed because of bad weather."

This year, because we have not had enough snow days, staff are preparing two
calendar drafts.  One that has us starting before Labor Day and one after.
If we don't get another couple days of snow, we may be forced to comply with
Virginia law and start after Labor Day.  I can tell you the Wheeler Family
is not making any vacation plans past August 20th.  

Brian Wheeler

______________________________________________
If you wish to be removed from this mailing list, just send me a message and
I will immediately unsubscribe you.  To view the archive of past
SchoolMatters messages, visit:
<http://listserv.bnsi.net/pipermail/schoolmatters/>
http://listserv.bnsi.net/pipermail/schoolmatters/
 
If someone forwarded you this message, you may visit this web page to
subscribe:  <http://listserv.bnsi.net/mailman/listinfo/schoolmatters>
http://listserv.bnsi.net/mailman/listinfo/schoolmatters
 
Brian Wheeler
 <mailto:bwheeler at albemarlematters.com> bwheeler at albemarlematters.com
 <http://www.wheeleronboard.com/> http://www.wheeleronboard.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://listserv.bnsi.net/pipermail/schoolmatters/attachments/20060221/dd734328/attachment.htm